Press Briefing by Press Secretary Sarah Sanders and Legislative Affairs Director Marc Short | Eastern North Carolina Now

    The Senate has an advise-and-consent role but why should we be offering making a deal on something that should be the normal process of the United States Senate. For us, that would be kind of hard to understand.

    Q I mean, in his conversations on DACA, has there been any suggestion - you know, we would make some concessions on DACA if you help get some of nominations through?

    MR. SHORT: Well, I think on DACA, the President has been very clear that he wants to make a deal. I think he put forward a very rational proposal. One that even provided a pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million people. I think we're frustrated that, so far, Democrats don't seem to actually want to come to the table; they want to politicize the issue.

    We stand ready to make a deal on that. But again, I reject the notion that this is something that should be offered for them just doing their job. They should just do the job for the American people. I shouldn't be something we have to barter in order for them to just do what they're supposed to do.

    Q On DACA, is there room for a smaller deal? Are you working a smaller deal now - one that doesn't have all four pillars but that might be part of the omnibus?

    MR. SHORT: As I said, the President has been very open to continuing negations on this. He's anxious to get a deal. He believes that it's important to secure our border, but he also believes passionately that these are people who have been in our country working productively and, in order to get a DACA permit, have been obeying the law. So he wants to protect them. We're anxious to find a way to get a deal.

    Q That's a yes, Marc?

    MR. SHORT: (Inaudible.) Please.

    Q Thanks. Just to be clear, Marc, do the challenges of getting personnel cleared through the U.S. Congress prevent the President from changing the makeup of his Cabinet right now if he wanted to?

    MR. SHORT: No, I think - and I don't - I believe that the President always has the ability to make the changes that he wants and I don't think that - when he's ready to make a change, he'll do that. I'm not sure that he's worried about what that process is.

    But again, I think our challenge is - our requirement is to put forward quality people. And if you look at Gina and Director Pompeo, they're incredibly qualified. We think they'll make enormous contributions to the administration and for the American people. And so we certainly hope the United States Senate will confirm them quickly.

    MR. SHORT: Thank you all.

    Q Thanks for coming.

    MS. SANDERS: Thank you, Marc. And because it's Friday and it's St. Patrick's Day weekend, I'm sure you all have very exciting plans. We'll take a few questions and then let everybody get out of here.

    Phil, go ahead.

    Q Yeah, Sarah, an attorney for the porn star known as Stormy Daniels said this morning on a television interview that she was physically threatened to stay silent about her affair with President Trump. I'm wondering if you talked to the President about that? If he knows who might have threatened her? And more generally, if he has concerns about women accusers being threatened in that way?

    MS. SANDERS: Obviously, we take the safety and security of any person seriously. Certainly would condemn anyone threating any individual. But I have no knowledge of that situation and would refer you to the President's outside personal attorneys.

    Q Did the President have anything to say about it?

    MS. SANDERS: I haven't spoken with him about that specifically.

    Catherine.

    Q Sarah, we're hearing a lot from staff, behind the scenes, saying they're "on edge," "people are worried," they "don't know what's happening," in terms of staffing, exits, firings. Has the President or the Chief of Staff made any kind of assurances to staffers today about what is to come?

    MS. SANDERS: The Chief of Staff actually spoke to number of staff this morning, reassuring them that there were personnel changes - no immediate personnel changes at this time, and that people shouldn't be concerned. We should do exactly what we do every day and that's come to work and do the very best job that we can. And that's as exactly what we're doing. That's exactly what we're focused on.

    And many of us have relayed that to other staffers that weren't part of that meeting. And we're going to continue to focus on having record success in this second year, as we had in our first year. And we fully expect to do that. And we expect to do that as a staff and as a team.

    Kevin.

    Q Thank you, Sarah. Life sentences for drug dealers, as part of the effort to fight opioid abuse and distribution - I'm just curious about the President's plan with respect to that, and his thoughts on that. I know that you don't want to get ahead of what he may be about to announce. But broadly speaking, is the ultimate penalty something that should be on the table when it comes to dealing with drug dealers and opioid abuse?

    MS. SANDERS: I'm not going to get ahead, as you said, of any potential policy rollouts that we may or may not have here at the White House. I can tell you, the President is headed to New Hampshire on Monday to reinforce the administration's commitment to combatting the opioid crisis. This builds on some of the previous action that the administration has taken, and we're going to continue to look for ways that we can combat that crisis. But in terms of the specifics on a rollout, I don't have that.

    What I can tell you are some of the things that we have done, particularly with the President's budget, where it included $10 billion for HHS to combat the opioid epidemic by preventing opioid abuse and helping those who are addicted get access to overdose reversal drugs, treatment, and recovery support services. It also empowered Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and he has announced the establishment of a team to help federal enforcement disrupt online illicit opioid sales.

    The Department of Veterans Affairs became the first hospital system to release opioid prescribing rates, and President Trump also signed the Interdict Act, which authorizes the appropriation of $9 million to U.S. Customs and Border Protection to prevent, detect, and interdict the unlawful importation of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids.

    Those are some things and steps that the administration has taken. In terms of additional things and policies that we may roll out, I'm not going to get ahead of any potential announcements that may or may not happen next week.

    Q Thank you. Sarah, you took to Twitter last night to ensure the public that McMaster's job was safe. But has the President spoken directly to either McMaster, Carson, or Shulkin to tell them that their jobs are, in fact, safe?

    MS. SANDERS: I - again, like I said last night, and I'll echo it again, I spoke directly to the President last night. He asked me to pass that message along to General McMaster. I know the two of them have been in meetings today. Whether or not that came up, I don't know.

    But again, our focus is not on a lot of the news stories that you guys would like us to be focused on, but we're actually focused on what the American people want us to do, and that's to come here and do our jobs.

    General McMaster is a dedicated public servant, and he is here not focused on the news stories that many of you are writing, but on some really big issues: things like North Korea; things like Russia; things like Iran. That's what he's doing, and that's what we're going to continue to be focused on every single day that we show up for work.

    Q But as Mr. Short just pointed out, there is an issue when you look at the number of people that you're hoping to confirm. So to look at the people in these top positions that continue to change - just wanting to know if the President gave assurances to Carson, to Shulkin, as well as McMaster that their jobs are, in fact, safe.

    MS. SANDERS: Look, we aren't making - as I just said, we don't have any personnel changes at this time, but the President shouldn't be bound because Democrats in the Senate can't do their job. If the President wants to be able to make a change because he feels like it's the right thing for the American people, his hands shouldn't be tied because Democrats fail to do what they were elected to do.

    This President was elected to put forward policies and push those policies forward with a team that he selects, not the team that the Democrats think he should have. That's not how the system works. And just because they don't want the President to have his full team, that doesn't mean, if he decided to make changes, he shouldn't be able to.

    Peter.

    Q Sarah, just for clarity on this, though, I know you said that this is something that media wants to talk about right now, but frankly it's the President who has repeatedly sort of stoked the speculation. Just yesterday, he said, "I think you want to see change." Earlier this week, he said, "I'm really at a point where we're getting very close to having the Cabinet and other things that I want." So isn't it the President himself who is sort of creating this aura of - some use the word "chaos," but simply put, turmoil or a potential upheaval within the West Wing and, frankly, across the administration?

    MS. SANDERS: Taking two sentences out of the thousands of remarks that the President makes, and trying to make it look like that's the entire focus of his administration is -

    Q Sarah, the President said, "I'm [really] at point where we're getting close to having the Cabinet and other things [that] I want." "There will always be change. I think you want to see change." Those aren't my words; they're his words.

    MS. SANDERS: Yeah, and he just - yeah, he just nominated two new people to be part of his Cabinet. So we are getting close. We'd like those two individuals to be quickly confirmed, quickly put through that process so that they can take a seat at the table, so that they can continue to engage with the President on big issues that actually matter to the American people.

    Q But initially he said -

    MS. SANDERS: Sorry, I'm going to keep moving here.

    Q It's been a week since the U.S. accepted the North Koreans' offer for a meeting. Can you give us any update - has the U.S. had any direct or indirect contact with the North Koreans? Or are you still relying, right now, on this offer from the South Korean delegation?

    MS. SANDERS: I'm not going to go into details on the internal U.S. government preparations, but I will say that this is a comprehensive approach in support of the President, and we're continuing to move forward with those conversations.

    Q Anything on timing? I know there's been talk of May.

    MS. SANDERS: Still no updates on time or location.

    Dave.

    Q Thank you, Sarah. The government said this week that we've reached a point now where the government has added a trillion dollars to the debt since President Trump took office. Obviously, that's not the direction he promised to go in the campaign. And he really doesn't talk about deficits much anymore. Has he given up on cutting deficits? Is he still concerned about it? Or what can he do about it?

    MS. SANDERS: Yeah, of course he's still concerned. That's one of the reasons that the very first budget they put forward tried to address some of those concerns. We're continuing to look for ways that we can cut government. I think we've done that in a number of ways through the deregulation process, cutting out a lot of inefficiencies in government. And we're going to continue to do that and continue to push for policies that will help us reduce that.

    Q Thanks a lot, Sarah. It's also been a week since the President announced that he will impose both stiff sanctions on imported steel and imported aluminum. And today the EU published a list of American products that would be targeted in retaliation for the tariffs the President intends to impose. It's an exhaustive list: agriculture products; orange juice; motorcycles, like Harley Davidson; (inaudible); blue jeans; tobacco; motorboats. What's your reaction to this threat of retaliation to the President's plan to impose those tariffs?

    MS. SANDERS: Look, the President is going to continue fighting for the American worker. He's also working with a number of individual countries and negotiating on areas of national security where we can work together. And there's some flexibility there. And we're continuing to have those conversations and will continue through the next part of - the end of next week, which is, when I believe the deadline happens.

    Q Just real quickly on that, in your view and the administration's view, would those EU tariffs hurt American workers? Would they hurt American industry?

    MS. SANDERS: Again, we're going to continue to have those conversations with individual countries, and we'll keep you posted on specific policies that happen.

    Q Sarah, you called for quick confirmation of the CIA Director and Senator John McCain put out a statement calling for further scrutiny of her record, and in particular of what he called a really "dark period" of torture and - what he calls "torture." So are you concerned about that nomination? It looks like there could be one or two Republican Senators who would be against it.

    MS. SANDERS: Again, we're highly confident and certainly very excited about the nomination of Deputy Director Gina Haspel to take over at the CIA. She is incredibly qualified. She's someone who has been in the CIA for over 30 years, has the respect of both Republicans and Democrats.

    There have been a number of Republicans who have come out and praised this nomination - including Senator Feinstein, a Democrat, who came out in support of her today, as well as people that have worked with her a number of years from both sides of the aisle that have a very good understanding of the type of individual she is. But everyone from Leon Panetta to James Clapper - that have praised her work and support her in this process.

    Q You're going to brief committees -

    Q Thanks, Sarah, two -

    MS. SANDERS: I'm sorry?

    Q Well, you'll brief committees about whatever they want to know about her tenure running the CIA black site?

    MS. SANDERS: I'm sorry; can you speak up a little bit?

    Q You're going to be - the White House is going to be as fulfilling as possible of that request to - regarding her tenure running a CIA black site in Thailand?

    MS. SANDERS: Certainly, we'll be as cooperative as we can. But we specifically want to make sure that people actually have an accurate reflection, which I know some of the Senators, including Rand Paul, made comments off of incorrect information.

    So we certainly want to make sure that they actually have accurate information, particularly, before they go out and speak on behalf of their constituents. And as a member of the United States Senate, we hope that they take that role very seriously and get accurate information before they peddle it out in front of the American people.