Be that. Phil. Sarah, youre talking about a comprehensive immigration fix from congress in a span of six months. Im not sure the president s frustration, congress hansnt been able to do much at all this year. What gives him confidence theyre going to be able to act on immigration . Has he spoken to any congressional members. Hes spoken to a number of leaders. They just came back from a threeweek vacation. I think they should be rested and ready to take on some big challenges that america faces. Why would the its congresss job to legislate. Its not the president s job to create law. Its not its congresss job to create legislation. I think thats something we all learned in 8th grade civics. I know i certainly did and i think that every member of congress should know that is their duty and were asking them to fulfill it. Its pretty simple. I think that the American People elected them to do it and if they cant, they should get out of the way and let somebody else take their job that can actually get something done. What consideration are you giving to negotiations with north korea over the Nuclear Program . Look, i think in terms of negotiations, were looking at putting aggressive measures, both dihel both diplomatically, economically, and as weve said, all options are on the table and were going continue to push for a safer and denuclearized Korean Peninsula and thats the priority here. It sounds like the president is saying, and youre saying, that if were going allow the d. R. E. A. M. Ers to stay in this country, we want a wall. Is that accurate . I dont think that the president s been shy about the fact that he wants a wall and certainly something that he feels is an important part of a responsible Immigration Reform package. Can i ask you one followup question. Why did the president not come out and make this announcement himself today . Why did he leave it to his attorney general . Its his decision. These kids, their lives are on the line because of what hes doing. Its in large part a big part of the legal process. This was deemed illegal by, i think, just about every legal expert that you can find in the country, including many of obamas own attorneys said that this was not lawful program. And therefore, it would be the department of justice to make a legal recommendation and thats what they did. But the attorney general thank you, sarah. Quick question, yes or no, and then a followup. Would the president sign a standalone daca extension . Again, ive addressed this. The president is hoping to work with congress on responsible Immigration Reform and i laid out the priorities that the administration has on that front. So the president s voiced and you voiced some objections to the constitutionality of daca. Where does the president stand on the program itself . I think that in the answers that ive given is that the president has been and i think part of the reason that this is complicated and one of the reasons hes wrestled with this back and forth in large part is because this is not an easy one, and certainly something where he wants to be able to make a decision with compassion but at the same time you cant allow emotion to govern and this has to be something where the law is put in place and its something that he would support if Congress Puts it before him. So he would support it if it came with again, responsible Immigration Reform. We cant just have one tweak to the immigration system. We need really big fixes and big reform in this process and we laid out the principles that we feel are important in that. Thanks, sarah. The president has recently as february had expressed sympathy for the Daca Recipients. Today, we heard in a statement from House Speaker paul ryan, who said that these socalled d. R. E. A. M. Ers have done nothing wrong. Was this a difficult decision for the president to take this drastic action, given what he said as recently as february, and does he agree with House Speaker paul ryan that these individuals, 800,000 individuals, have done nothing wrong. I think largely, yes, and thats why i said it was one of the things that the president wrestled with this decision all throughout the weekend. I kind of addressed that. I think thats pretty clear. It was just that weekend that he wrestled with it . It wasnt leading up to it. I think weve been clear about the process, there wasnt a final decision made until the weekend because of the back and forth and the complexity of the issue and the ability to make the right decision and allow congress to actually do their job and provide a fix instead of just stopping the program, and that was a big point for the president. I want to drill down a little more on what you mean when you said the president wants to act with heart and compassion with regard to these Daca Recipients. Does that mean offering them a pathway to citizenship . I think it means providing a more permanent solution thats done through the legislative process. Done legally and responsibly, unlike the Previous Administration. Permanent solution, does that mean youre, like, giving them legal status, legislatively . Like what is the permanent solution . I think thats something we want to work with congress to determine exactly what that looks like, but there has to be something needs to be done. Its congresss job to do that, and we want to be part of that process and make sure that there is a fix put in place, and that this isnt ignored like it has been for the last five years. If congress doesnt get it done by the march 5th deadline, considering his feelings about these Daca Recipients, would the president consider giving them additional time. Were going to z congress do their job and allow us to work with them and be part of that process, but again, if congress doesnt want to do the job that they were elected to do, then maybe they should get out of the way and let someone else do it. We heard from the attorney general this morning, he repeatedly referred to Daca Recipients as illegal aliens and intimated that hundreds of thousands of americans did not get jobs that were taken by Daca Recipients. Does the president share that view . I think that its a known fact that there are over 4 million unemployed americans in the same age group as those that are Daca Recipients, that over 950,000 of those are africanamericans in the same age group, over 870,000 unemployed hispanics in the same age group. Those are large groups of people that are unemployed that could possibly have those jobs, but again, were looking for fixes. Were not looking for complaints. But were looking for solutions and thats our focus moving forward. How do you reconcile those statistics with the idea that hundreds of those of people if the president gets what he wants would achieve legal status . How do you reconcile those two competing interests. I think one of the first things is the president is looking to create a whole lot more jobs in america so that it addresses both problems. Theres a reason hes focused largely since day one of taking office in creating a better market for businesses to create jobs, to hire more people, higher wages, hes gotten rid of over 800 regulations that have helped do just that. 1. 2 million jobs have been created since he came into office and every single day, were looking for more ways to grow that number so were doing our part to address and create an environment that allows people to have more jobs and were going to continue doing that. The president vowed to treat d. R. E. A. M. Ers with, quote, great heart. How is this move treating them with great heart . I think by allowing an orderly process to take place. You know, theres a lot of people that ive seen attacking the president for not showing the level of compassion that they feel like he should. To me, the most heartless thing that ive seen all day today is that democrats like nancy pelosi are using this decision today for fundraising while the president s trying to fix the situation. They are politicizing an issue. If they would spend less time fundraising and more time focusing on solutions, we wouldnt even be in this problem in the first place. The president s decision where all of this stems from, d. R. E. A. M. Ers, supporters of d. R. E. A. M. Ers say this is coldhearted. Youre leaving the future of 800,000 people uncertain, up in the air. Whats your message to them . Its not coldhearted for the president to uphold the law. We are a nation of law and order and the day that we start to ignore the fact that we are that, then we throw away everything that gives these people a reason to want to come to our country. If we stop becoming the country that we were envisioned to be, then we throw away what makes us special, which makes america unique. This president s not willing to do that. The Previous Administration was, this one isnt. But we want to have real solutions. We want to have laws that address these problems, but its congresss job to legislate, not the president s. And we actually want to uphold the constitution, and i think people across this country should be slacelebrating the fa that they have a president that is standing up and upholding the constitution as he was elected to do. Margaret. Id like to ask you about north korea but quickly on daca, is the president committed to honoring the will of congress, essentially, whatever Congress Passes on daca, or does he reserve the right to veto a daca fix if he feels that it doesnt kind of wholistically do what youre talking about, a Bigger Picture thing. As ive said, we want responsible Immigration Reform and that would be part of that package and part of that process. Something on north korea, if i could just ask. Vladimir putin has said that he doesnt believe that sanctions are going to work at all against north korea and im wondering whether the president himself is coming around to that perspective or whether he Still Believes sanctions can be effective and if he has any plans that he can share with us to talk with the chinese president or the russian president himself. Look, weve been clear about what our priorities are, that now is not the time for us to spend a lot of time focused on talking with north korea, but putting all measures of pressure that we can and were going to continue through that process. Weve also said that everybody, including russia, including china, need to do more to address the threat. This is a global threat, and Everybody Needs to take part in putting pressure on north korea, and as weve said many times before, both secretary mattis and the president , that all options are on the table and were going to continue to keep them on the table until we get the results that were looking for. Sarah, the president has said that the Daca Recipients should rest easy. Hes also said on several occasions that he loves them. Is he giving them his personal assurance that at the end off sx months they will not be deported. I think he is giving congress the ability to do their job. Ive said that earlier. He said they should rest easy. Look, the president gave the ability for us to have a sixmonth process for congress to actually step up and fix this problem, and they certainly have the ability to and certainly should take that opportunity. One other question about, during the other immigration moves that the administration has made, youve made the argument that the president s powers over immigration are very, very broad and unquestioned. Why, in this case, does he feel he cant do anything by himself and he has to turn it over to congress . That was a specific statute within the constitution that allows the president to take action to protect americans. These are two very different things, and certainly not apples to apples. Thank you, sarah. Two questions. On daca, twoquestion tuesday. Kansas secretary of state chr chris coback denounced the decision because of the sixmonth delay and said there should be no phaseout. It should have been implemented immediately. Whats your response to that criticism from a strong supporter and ally of the president. I think our response is pretty clear. The president made a decision and we feel very much that it was the right one. The other thing is that you talk about forming in jobs that could go to other people. Has the president ever discussed this part of daca with some of the leaders of organized labor to try to involve them in the process . President trump, the afl, the cio, the steteamsteres and othe they work with. Im not sure about exact specifics on that. I know hes had conversations with individuals and relevant stakeholders in this process on both sides that know that is an issue. Whether daca existed or not, the fact that there are 4 Million People in this age group that are unemployed and certainly why creating a better job market is a priority for the administration. I wanted to follow up on what jim asked. I dont know that we heard back here the rest of your answer. You said that the reason that attorney general Jeff Sessions put out the earlier statement on camera was because it was a legal argument. But a lot of what weve been talking about in here is a legislative argument. Why have we not heard from the president directly on this day, and can we expect to hear from him later today on this. You have heard directly from the president. He issued a pretty lengthy statement directly from the president. Why was it attorney general Jeff Sessions that went on the camera when the president hasnt went on camera to make this case today about what a big heart he has and how compassionate he is and how he wants congress to take legislative action on this to essentially save daca. The president s spoken about this numerous times in the past, but at the same time, this was a legal issue because there was a Court Decision that had to be made with a time line not placed that the administration created, but a time line that was created by the attorney generals in those states that were forcing this issue and this decision to take place by today. It was a legal decision, and that would fall to the attorney general, and thats why he would be the one making the announcement. Has the president met any enrollees in the daca program. I believe he has had several conversations with enrollees and those that have been part of the program. Can you tell us anything about that, in what context and what he got out of those conversation. Look, again, i think that the president s goal was to talk to a lot of people on both sides of the issue, and one, do what it takes to uphold the law, uphold the constitution, but also allow congress to create a permanent solution and fix the problem, which hes done by allowing for that sixmonth period. Has he had those conversations recently as part of this recent deliberation . Im not sure on the exact time line but i know he has had many conversations with people on both sides of this issue, certainly people that support keeping it as is and those that support getting rid of it. People that would be affected by it, though, right. I know hes had conversations with people that have been part of the program. You said the president wrestled with the decision all weekend. Can you walk us through any of the process he went throw get to this, when did he make the decision, how this came about. He made the final decision over the weekend and as i said, he spoke to many relevant stakeholders and individuals that support a variety of positions on this program. Can you tell us anything about the meeting today of the big six, what are you expecting out of that, anything youre hoping to get out of that. Well continue to keep you guys posted. I think the ultimate goal is as congress is coming back into session to talk about some of the big priorities, certainly tax reform, Immigration Reform, among many other things that are going to be on the agenda for the fall. The president ill go here and come back to you. The president s basically told congress to do this, but he hasnt written any legislation similar to how he approached i didnt know it was the president s job to write out specific details of legislation. I think thats other president s with their major initiatives have taken a greater role in helping to craft that legislation. They found friendly allies in congress to propose it but this president has not. Why has he made that shift and is he reconsidering it in light of the fact that some of the other major pushes hes tried to make have not been successful legislatively. Weve laid out detailed principles and worked with congress on specific pieces of legislation and will continue to do that. Quick international question. The situation in myanmar is quickly escalating into a major humanitarian vic humanitarian crisis. Is the president planning to speak to any of the leaders about this situation. I know this is something that were monitoring closely, but im not aware of any specific conversations that are planned at this time. But as always, in calls like that, we will keep you guys posted and put a readout after. The president says that d. R. E. A. M. Ers wont be a priority for enforcement but thats not a guarantee of protection. Is this white house willing to offer one . Those are certainly, again, theyre not a targeted priority, but the goal here is that Congress Actually fixes the problem and then that isnt an issue. And so thats the focus over the next six months is making sure that something takes place that congress does their job and a real solution implement. But is there a way to put this in writing so that these 800,000 people who are very fearful of ending up in a country that they dont know have some guarantee that, in fact, they wont be deported in six months. I think that the statement that the president put out earlier today is lays out what the priorities are and lays out what the focus of the administration is, and that if they are not targeted, they are not certainly not priority targets of this administration. They werent before and they wont be now. And again, congress has six months, which is a pretty long time to get something done, and we hope they do and theres a solution in that so that this isnt a problem moving forward. I was wondering,