Press Briefing by Press Secretary Sarah Sanders | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Major.

    Q Sarah, just so I understand the standard that the President is applying, you outlined two areas of either contradictory or erroneous testimony from Brennan. Is that the only standard by which this administration is asserting he should have his security clearance revoked?

    MS. SANDERS: Again, I laid out the reasons in the opening statement -

    Q Right. But you cited those two instances.

    MS. SANDERS: - specific to Director Brennan. The others are currently under review. I don't any have any specifics on those at this point.

    Q So my question is, is that the standard? If you give erroneous testimony, you say something and you have to correct at a certain date in the future - if you work for this administration, for example - does that mean you could lose your security clearance?

    MS. SANDERS: My understanding is this is being looked at on a case-by-case basis, which is why each individual is being reviewed, and determination made at that point.

    Q Does this administration have any reason to believe, or evidence to suggest, Brennan has misused classified information or monetized his access to it, as was alleged earlier by this administration?

    MS. SANDERS: Again, I've laid out the reasons for the decision that was made on this specific instance, and we'll continue to review the other actions.

    Q Can we assume by the absence of you not saying those things, you didn't find any evidence of that?

    MS. SANDERS: No, I wouldn't make any assumptions. I'm telling you what the decision was based off on in this case.

    Andrew.

    Q Thank you very much. I wanted to follow up on a question yesterday about Afghanistan. Today, there was another suicide attack in Kabul, which killed 37 people in a school. A military base in the North has been overrun by the Taliban. They have also seized parts of an eastern provincial capital. Why do you think President Trump's strategy in Afghanistan is working?

    MS. SANDERS: As always, we're going to continue to review and look at the best ways to move forward. I'll leave it to the Department of Defense to get into specifics about tactical situations on the ground.

    What I can tell you is that we're committed to finding a political solution to end the conflict in Afghanistan. We're exploring all avenues for dialogue in close coordination with the Afghan government, and we're going to continue to do that.

    If we have announcements or changes in the policy, we'll certainly let you know.

    Q I just wanted to follow up on a Turkey question, if I may. Have you guys assessed whether the liquidity situation in Turkey's financial sector is a risk, in light of the fall of the lira? It's fallen like a quarter in the last three or four days.

    MS. SANDERS: Certainly we're monitoring the situation with respect to the Turkish economy and the decline of the lira. But Turkey's economic problems, those are a part of a long-term trend - something of its own making, and not the result of any actions the United States has taken.

    Saagar.

    Q Thank you, Sarah. One of the individuals that you listed on that list of clearances that is under review is Bruce Ohr. He's a current employee of the Department of Justice. So instead of putting him under the review, does the President believe he should be fired?

    MS. SANDERS: I don't have any personnel announcements on that front; I can only speak to this specific case.

    Q But why put his security clearance under review, which would render him unable to do his job, and not just fire him?

    MS. SANDERS: Once again, I don't have any personnel announcements on that front. I can just tell you we're looking into that specific matter.

    Peter.

    Q Thank you, Sarah. If people who criticize the President publicly on TV or are public in their criticisms, are they at greater risk of losing their security clearances than people who stay silent?

    MS. SANDERS: Once again, this is looked at on a case-by-case basis, and we'll do an individual review and make that determination.

    Kevin.

    Q Thank you, Sarah. A question about the return of lawmakers on Capitol Hill, and then a follow-up very quickly. Now that they are back, can you sort of lay out the White House strategy for moving forward with this agenda? We've talked about wall funding. Obviously, a lot of people are very curious about the Kavanaugh nomination moving forward, DACA and other issues. Is there a strategy in place to begin to work with lawmakers now that they're back?

    MS. SANDERS: Certainly. We have continued ongoing conversations on a number of fronts with lawmakers, even while they were not here in Washington. We are happy that the hearing dates have been set for Justice Kavanaugh, and we look forward to seeing him get confirmed.

    Q My very quick follow-up was: First of all, you didn't mention anything about a possible shutdown. Is that still something that the President is continuing?

    And my follow was going to be on the farm bill. There are a great number of people and a great number of states that are curious about this work requirement that the USDA is trying to implement. In some places, they already have it; they say you have to work. In other areas, you don't have that requirement. Is that something the White House still supports?

    MS. SANDERS: Something we still support.

    In terms of a shutdown, I don't have any announcements on that front. We certainly still want to see a lot of things happen. We'd love for Congress to actually do its job, particularly when it comes to immigration. We have a completely broken system, and we'd like to see them work with us to fix it.

    Catherine.

    Q Farm Bill?

    Q Thank you, Sarah -

    MS. SANDERS: I don't have any updates for you on that front right now.

    Q Omarosa Manigault Newman was the highest-ranking African American staffer in the West Wing. No black -

    MS. SANDERS: She actually didn't work in the West Wing, but go ahead.

    Q Well, no staffer had been appointed at that level since her absence. Can you tell us exactly how many African American staffers there are in this building? And is it a priority for the administration to reflect the diversity of the country?

    MS. SANDERS: Certainly, as I addressed yesterday, we value diversity not just at the White House, but throughout the entire administration. And we're going continue trying to diversify the staff. We have a large number of diverse staffers from various backgrounds, both race, religion, gender -

    Q But how many black staffers are there in this building, Sarah?

    MS. SANDERS: Look, I'm not going to go through and do a count, the same way I'm not going to do a sit-down and count on the staffers that are in your news organizations.

    Q Thirteen percent of the country is African American.

    MS. SANDERS: And we would love to diversify our staff and continue to do so. We do think it's important. We're going to continue to work to make that happen.

    Raquel.

    Q Sarah, thank you very much. About the election last night - we are seeing the Democrats embracing more diversity, choosing Muslims, also candidates - transgender candidates, rejecting the President's agenda. So my question is, what do you think will be the impact of his agenda, and also these recent controversies about race and minorities on the election in November?

    MS. SANDERS: Again, I think people are looking at the policies that the individuals are implementing and how those are going to affect those communities, and whether or not it's actually going to help individuals, people across this country. That's what we're looking at. That's what we're focused on. That's what we're going to continue to do.

    I'm going to take one last question. Eamon.

    Q Thanks, Sarah. I'd like to ask a couple questions about the President's recent comments, if I could. One is on Harley Davidson. The President commented earlier in the week, "Many @harleydavidson owners plan to boycott the company if manufacturing moves overseas. Great!" Is the President of the United States endorsing a boycott of an iconic American company here?

    MS. SANDERS: Look, the President has made his feelings on that very clear. The President's focus is on making sure that we get good trade deals and that we keep business and industry here in the United States.

    Q Does he want to see a boycott of Harley, though?

    MS. SANDERS: I think he'd rather see them put all their companies back here in the United States and build all of their great machines here in this country.

    Thanks so much, guys. Have a great day.

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