Share. Both covered amenities. Good afternoon, everybody. Thanks for coming. Last night the president was honored to announce judge neil gorsuch as his nominee to serve as the next justice of the Supreme Court. It was an unbelievably phenomenal evening. After being announced, judge gorsuch met with maureen and father scalia as someone of you have reported, his first call after coming back behind the podium was to Merrick Garland who also has come out to say judge gorsuch deserves a fair hearing. In less than 24 hours, he received a widespread praise from across the political spectrum as an inspired choice with sterling academic credentials, a brilliant legal mind, and a steadfast commitment to constitutional principles. During his long career in public service, judge gorsuch enjoyed bipartisan approval having previously been confirmed by voice vote to the u. S. Court of appeals for the 10th circuit. In fact, 12 current Democratic Senators including minority leader Chuck Schumer, fine fiei, leahy, all in office when he was confirmed without opposition in 2006. With as many as eight democrats like senators blumenthal, durbin, mccaskill, already supporting a full hearing and vote for judge gorsuch, there is no question that hes a widely respected jurist who deserves to have his nomination fairly decided upon by the United States senate. Now the judge gorsuch has been officially named, i hope youll allow me to talk about how exceptionally qualified he is to succeed the late great antonin scalia. Judge gorsuchs academic record is impeccable. The president holds education in the highest regard. Judge gorsuchs graduated Kappa Phi Kappa beta, graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School and attended oxford as a precip yens ercipient of t scholarship. The cornerstone of his judicial philosophy is fidelity to the text. He believes that judges should not base their decisions solely on the law and the he believes sorry, i dont want to screw that one up that his decision should be based solely on the law and not on personal feelings. Hell be reliable voice on the bench. I would note, i think, i want to caveat this, but to my understanding i think he would be the first justice that would serve with a with the as someone he clerked for on a bench. A sort of first when hes confirmed by the senate. Now on to the issues of the day. Todays february 1st, which means we are kicking off black history month. The president has events planned throughout the month starting today with a listening session that occurred earlier this morning with africanamerican leaders in the roosevelt room. The meeting also included some of the administrations africanamerican appointees. Later today, the president will issue a proclamation. The u. S. Postal service kicked off the month by issuing the Dorothy Height forever stamp. The 40th stamp in their black heritage series. Dr. Height led the National Council of negro women for four decades and was order a warded the president ial medal of freedom by president bill clinton in 1994. And the congressional medal of freedom by president george w. Bush in 2004 excuse me, 1994 and 2004. President trump is proud that the post office is honoring her incredible legacy as a civil rights icon. At events throughout this entire month well celebrate the contributions of courageous africanamerican leaders, from harriet tubman, frederick douglas, Martin Luther king jr. And clarence thomas. This month is a great reminder of that. Continuing with todays schedule, the Vice President went to the hill with judge gorsuch to meet with lawmakers for First Time Since being named last night. On the hill, the Vice President will met with majority leader mcconnell, and the staff spearheading judge gorsuchs nomination will meet with senators cornyn, grassley, hatch and gardener. With judge gorsuch on capitol hill, it is a good time to talk about the confirmation process. Neither of the two Supreme Court justices that president obama nominated were subject to the 60 vote threshold of the senate filibuster. They received bipartisan support because republicans despite political and philosophical differences viewed them as mainstream and qualified and judge gorsuch should receive the same fair treatment. Also this morning, the president met in the roosevelt room with representatives of outside groups to discuss judge gorsuchs nomination including david osteen, paula white of the new destiny christiansen terre, Wayne Lapierre of the National Rifle association, peggy nance, Juanita Dugan of the National Federation of independent businesses, tom colimore, leonard leo of the federalist society, marjorie dansfelter, and Morton Blackwell of the leadership institute. President trump told the group his decision on the Supreme Court is among the most important decisions hell ever make as president. He praised judge gorsuch for his academic and professional achievements and his lifelong devotion to the law. The attendees thanked the president for making an inspired choice and delivering what was for many of them the number one issue in the campaign. They committed vocally to supporting him throughout the confirmation process and expressed their desire for the senate to move swiftly to give him a fair hearing and vote. The meeting closed with the president inviting the group in the oval office of which several candidates enjoyed that honor. The president had lunch with secretary of state designee tillerson. Mr. Tillersons tenacity, broad experience and deep understanding of the geopolitics are going to make him an outstanding chief diplomat for the United States. And the president is looking forward to the full vote of the senate on his nomination. Later this evening, the president will participate in a standing legislationive Affairs Strategy meeting with his meeting with his team who has been working closely with congress tone act the president s agenda. So far between the Vice President and staff weve had as many productive conversationes with members of both parties in both chambers on a variety issues from trade to the president s nomination for his cabinet and now the Supreme Court. Now starting this week, our legislative affairs team will conduct excessive outreach on the nomination process. Clearly this administration has made reaching out to congress a top priority, but you know where im going with that. Democrats in the Senate Continue to use every tool at their disposal to try to get way of the president s attempts to make America Great again. Democrats also boycotted epa administrator designee pruitts hearing. They are doing their constituents and our country a disservice by resorting to these childish tactics. The nominees will be confirmed once democrats allow them to get a fair vote. In other cabinet news, senator Jeff Sessions was voted out of committee and we look forward to his vote as attorney general. Rex tillerson designee is expected to give a vote by full senate this afternoon and Veterans Administration designee dr. David shulkan will go before the senate at 2 30 this afternoon. A few more things before i open it for questions in terms of the schedule the president will attend the National Prayer breakfast and have breakfast with harley david sobs executives here at the white house. Also meeting with senator hatch, widen, congressman neil and brady. Further guidance will come soon. A few personnel announcements. Today the president sent the following nominations to the senate. Rachel brand of iowa to be associate attorney general. Steven andrew ingel of d. C. To be assistant attorney general and rod osteen to be Deputy Attorney general. On another note, yesterday we talked about reporting of the president s executive order protecting the nation from foreign terrorist entry. I want to draw your attention to some polls that have come out on that subject. For all of the his tieysteria, as a whole have positive reaction to the action the president is taking. There is a clear majority of likely u. S. Voters for a temporary ban. A reuters poll found that 66 of americans believe that United States should limit the refugees for the safety of the American People and are are the president s Top Priorities and most americans agree with the steps he is taking to keep our country safe. Further today the united arab em rates foreign minister voiced his support for the president to Tags National security so seriously. His support for the po Tags National security so seriously. I know there is a question on monday regarding irans firing of a missile and an attack on navy vessel. I would like to introduce general Michael Flynn to provide a quick update. Good afternoon, everyone. A blissic launch on a saudi vessel underscore which should have been clear to the International Community all along with irans destabilizing behavior across the entire middle east. The recent Missile Launch is in defiance of u. N. Security Council Resolution 2231 which calls upon iran not to undertake any activity related to Ballistic Missiles designed to be capable of delivering Nuclear Weapons including launches using such Ballistic Missile technology. These are the latest ef of a series of incidents in the past six months in which forces that iran trained and armed have struck saudi vessels and threatened United States and allied vessels transiting the red sea. In these and other similar activities iran continues to threaten u. S. Friends and allies in the region. The Obama Administration failed to respond adequately to teherans ma line actions including weapones a transfers, support for terrorism and other violations of international norms. The Trump Administration condemns such actions by iran that undermine security, prosperity and stability throughout and beyond the middle east and place, which places american lives at risk. President trump has severely criticized the various agreements reached between iran and the Obama Administration as well as United Nations as being weak and ineffective. Instead of being thankful to the United States and these agreements, iran is feeling emboldened. As of today we are officially putting iran on notice. Thank you. Thanks, general. We will have background briefing with nsa staff today at 4 00 here in the Briefing Room. Further details will be provided on that subject. So thank you, general. With that, as we start off, i mentioned yesterday im pleased we have expanded the Briefing Room at least virtually. And so with that, as i begin to take your questions, im pleased to over the first ever skype question from wpi in rhode island. Kim . Thank you. Can you hear me okay . We can. Great. Just this week the mayor of providence, rhode island began calling our city a sanctuary city. Trumps order he is the white house will begin publicizing a weekly list of municipalities and promise to withdraw federal grant money from them. I wonder how soon we can expect to see the list and how soon should cities like providence expect to see their federal funding cut . Thanks, kim. I think the president s goal in ending sanctuary city is pretty clear. We want to, as we mentioned, with other actions keep america safe. On two fronts. One, we are doing everything we can to protect american institutions and ending sanctuary cities is one way we can continue to do that. Furthermore the president has been clear through his executive order that federal funds paid for by Hardworking Taxpayers should not be used to help fund sanctuary cities. As we continue to implement the executive order and fulfill the pledge he made we will have further updates on how that list will come out and when it will come out. So i look forward to following up on that as well. With that, david jackson. Dave sid not he david is not here. But ill ask a question. Go ahead. Maybe he is on skype. The president s Daily Briefing has been a daily intelligence briefing. Can you tell me how that differs from the pvb. He is receiving it in writing or orally . He did receive an intelligence briefing today. Director pompeiio was here. General flynn. So he receives an intelligence briefing and pvb everyday. [ inaudible ] we went through this during the transition period, right . There is a different between raw intelligence and analysis. He is constantly updated by his National Security team and officials. But every single day he did receive the pvd and on top of that he receives Intelligence Briefings from his team. Oral briefing does not happen everyday . I can get back to you on that. On a daily basis he meets with his intelligence team, yes. Hunter . Two quick questions were not going to do this again. On black history month, is President Trump invited to any black history celebration . Not that i know of. This is day one. We just started off. We will get back to you. There is a lot of activity as i mentioned that the president is going to do to celebrate and honor this month. This is just the first day of the month for him. Today he made the comment about douglas being recognized more and more. Do you have any idea what specifically he was referring to . I think he wants to highlight contributions that has made and i think through a lot of actions and statements he will make, the contribution of frederick lo douglass will become more and more. Very quickly, can you clarify what was meant by putting iran on notice . As we mentioned, general flynn and nsc staff will have a briefing at 4 00. We can go forward. We wanted to make very clear that we felt as though that their actions were both provocative and in violation and in making sure that they understood we werent going to sit by and not act on those actions. Im not going any further than that, kristin. Let me just ask you about the confirmation hearings. How does the president plan to get Chuck Schumer on board when he referred to him as a clown and accused him of fake tears . I think there are two things. You look at the support that has come out. I think there is eight senators already that talked about the need to have a vote in his qualifications and not just the senate but you look at widespread support that came out for judge last night. I think his qualifications, academic background, make him an unbelievably highly qualified person. So it is not just Chuck Schumer. I think the rest of the senate as he goes up there. I understand that and i think Chuck Schumer has shown time and time again through this confirmation process with the cabinet that he is more interested in politics than actually moving the government along. And i think that is troubling. I would ask you that i think that question needs to be asked to Chuck Schumer, why are you stalling all of these nominees . Why are you insisting on new requirements that you didnt assume for sotomayor or kagan . There is a point in which they need to get asked at why are they obstructing government a every step of the way. There is an element that they need to be held accountable as well. They held certain nominees in place for their bench and cabinet. The question is, are they going to live up to the same standards that they impose ownd on republicaned when they had nominees in the white house. This is insulting Chuck Schumer again, when i would go back, there is a lot of politics that played. At some point chuck shchumer needs to be held accountable for his access and his words. Blake . For the possible nominee on the Supreme Court possibility, going the route of the nuclear option, if it goats that point, is the white house comfortable with that path . I think the president made clear his goal today which is number one he believes that judge gorsuch is unbelievably qualified and he will be confirm end done so by a large bipartisan vote. As i said at the outset, republicans look at qualifications of the two justices that got through in the Obama Administration and while they may not have agreed with the judicial philosophy, agreed they were qualified on the merits to be confirmed and they did so. I think we would ask that we be held to the same standard that democrats used when they had nominees up. But i think the president made very clear that decision is something that we would rather not have to go down but also, that it ultimately with senator mcconnell. One question today, leading up to judge gorsuchs announcement last night and him coming out after and there are still rumors that judge hardman