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

    Mike. And congratulations and welcome back.

    Q Thank you.

    MS. SANDERS: You look more well-rested than you should but go ahead. (Laughter.)

    Q Is the White House going to have a representative in these meetings - the conference committee on the Hill?

    MS. SANDERS: I'm not aware of a specific White House attendee that would participate. Certainly we'll be engaged with members across the board, both those that are part of the conference as well as the back-and-forth that will take place before and after.

    Q What's your data point here that -

    MS. SANDERS: But we'll keep you posted when White House is in attendance.


    Q Okay. What is your data point here on the idea that Democrats are ready to, as you say, "get serious" about immigration reform? What is the signal that the President specifically got from Democrats?

    MS. SANDERS: We've had a number of Democrats that have both publically stated support for border security, including a wall, including barriers. We've also had a lot of private conversations in which Democrats have signaled their willingness, if the government is open, to sit down and negotiate. The President is taking them at their word in hopes that they'll negotiate in good faith. And we hope that we'll see that happen.

    Jordan.

    Q Thanks, Sarah. Stephen Miller is quoted in Cliff Sims's book as saying, "I would be happy if not a single refugee foot ever again touched American soil." Is the policy of this administration to eventually get refugee resettlement down to zero?

    MS. SANDERS: I'm not aware of any statement like that that Stephen Miller has ever made, and it's certainly not the policy of the administration.

    Q Sarah, is the President going to have his physical exam soon?

    MS. SANDERS: The President will, as always, undergo a yearly physical exam. We'll keep you posted on the date and time when that happens.

    April.

    Q Sarah, two questions. One, I want to go back to what Darlene asked. I'm going to ask in a different way: Can this economy sustain another -

    MS. SANDERS: Would you mind speaking up? I'm sorry.

    Q I'm sorry. I'm going back to what Darlene asked with Mr. Kudlow. Can this economy sustain with another government shutdown?

    MS. SANDERS: Again, as I told Jonathan, we don't want another government shutdown. We want a deal that actually addresses border security. It seems like it should be so simple. We're all in agreement that we need it. We're all in agreement that there's a problem. So let's fix it so we don't have to go through that process again.

    Q But can the economy - Larry Kudlow was very hopeful and optimistic, even though the numbers show otherwise -

    MS. SANDERS: Actually, the numbers don't show otherwise. The numbers show that we have an incredibly strong economy. The numbers show that jobs continue to grow, wages continue to rise, unemployment continues to drop. The numbers are actually very much in the favor of the things that Larry laid out.

    Again, do we want another shutdown? No. But the President and his team have focused on long-term economic stability, long-term economic fundamentals. And we think that, if we had to, we could sustain that, but certainly we don't want to. That's not the goal.

    Q (Inaudible.)

    MS. SANDERS: go ahead.

    Q So there are several people that are now indicted that have some kind of connection to either the campaign or the President. Have these people tried to make contact with the President via their mutual friends?

    MS. SANDERS: I'm not aware of any contact from those individuals.

    Jon.

    Q Thanks a lot Sarah. On the State of the Union Address that was supposed to take place tomorrow night, I know that House Speaker Pelosi said that she would extend an invitation to the President once the government has reopened. It's reopened. Has she extended an invitation to the President? Do you believe, Sarah, that she's acting in good faith in this regard?


    MS. SANDERS: I certainly don't think she acted in good faith on the front end, considering she cited security concerns that didn't exist, but we're certainly hopeful that, moving forward in the future, that she will.

    The President, as he always does, looks forward to addressing the American people. And we'll do that as soon as that invitation is received.

    Francesca.

    Q One more if I could -

    MS. SANDERS: Sorry, go ahead, Jon.

    Q If I could, Sarah. Do you expect her to extend an invitation to the President in the course of this three-week window while negotiations are ongoing?

    MS. SANDERS: That's a better question for Speaker Pelosi.

    Francesca.

    Q Thank you, Sarah. You're not exactly ruling out another shutdown, and many federal workers who came back today are concerned that there could be another another shutdown. What's your advice or message to them in this three weeks? Should they be saving be their money? Should they be concerned that they might not get another paycheck so soon?

    MS. SANDERS: My advice would be to call your Democrat members of Congress and ask them to fix the problem so that we don't have to continue having this process, and so that we actually secure the border and protect American citizens.

    Go ahead.

    Q On the same subject, Sarah, the President tweeted over the weekend and said that he made no concessions whatsoever. But influential conservatives are saying that he has made concessions in this because he originally said that he would not sign any legislation that did not include money for the border wall, and then he went ahead and did that. And, granted, it only keeps the government open for the next three weeks; he said he wouldn't do that either. And so how can the President say that he made absolutely no concessions to Democrats on this legislation?

    MS. SANDERS: Because the negotiations are still ongoing, and I would argue that conservatives that actually have influence have supported the President throughout this process. They believe in border security; they believe in protecting Americans, just like the President; and they stand with him.

    Again, this is a simple fix. It's easy for Democrats to sit down and come to an agreement and work with us to get border security.

    John.

    Q Thank you, Sarah. The President has spoken increasingly of declaring a state of emergency after February 15th and using funds already there for the building of the wall under the aegis of national security and homeland security. Several conservatives who are normally supporters of the President warned not to go in that direction - that it would create too many problems with federal authority interceding with state authority.

    President Bush in 2005 wouldn't declare a state of emergency over Katrina because he did not want to get into that argument with governors. Has the President considered this and the criticisms and warnings of fellow Republicans, notably Senator Blunt of Missouri?

    MS. SANDERS: Certainly the President listens to members of Congress, as well as constituents across the country, but the President's number one duty and the number one responsibility he sees as Commander-in-Chief is protecting the American people. He sees the crisis at the border to be a real one. I don't think anybody in the country can argue the fact that there is a real problem at our border. It needs to be fixed and the President is going to do what it takes to address it.

    Hallie.

    Q Okay thanks. I have a question for you on the shutdown, but first I want to ask: Has the President ruled out a pardon for Roger Stone?

    MS. SANDERS: I'm not aware of that. I haven't had any conversations regarding that matter.

    Q Will you discuss it with him and let us know?

    MS. SANDERS: I'm not going to get into that at this point, but, if need be, we'll let you know.

    Q You talked about the possibility that the President may use his executive authority. He has put that option on the table many times, most recently Friday in the Rose Garden. If the President truly believes that what is happening is an emergency, why would he wait three weeks to declare it?

    MS. SANDERS: Because it's real simple: As the President has said, as most of us in the administration have said on a number of fronts, the best fix is to be able to do it legislatively. But if Congress, particularly Democrats in Congress, would rather play political games than actually do their jobs and fix the problem, then the President will be forced to take a different path. Again, ideally, that doesn't happen, but we'll see what happens.

    Q But, legally, it's either an emergency, Sarah, or it's not an emergency. You can't have a half-emergency. Right? So which is it?

    MS. SANDERS: You're missing the point. It is not just an emergency, it's a crisis at the border - both a national security and a humanitarian crisis. But there is a process in which the President wants to exhaust all options, primarily doing what we feel is the best one, which is a legislative fix. But if Congress doesn't do their job, then the President will be forced to make up for all of their shortcomings.

    Major.

    Q Two questions, Sarah. You talked about what you're not going to negotiate. I'd like to ask you, is the $5.7 billion request from the President non-negotiable?

    MS. SANDERS: Again, I'm not going to negotiate from here. That's the whole point of the conference is to iron out those details and come back to the President with a deal.

    Q So it could be lower than that?

    MS. SANDERS: At the end of the day, the biggest thing that has to happen is there has to be real and adequate funding for border security, including funding for a wall. And we'll see what the conference comes back with.

    Q Would "real and adequate" be a number possibly less than $5.7 billion?

    MS. SANDERS: Again, Major, I'm not -


    Q (Inaudible.)

    MS. SANDERS: I'm not going to negotiate with you. That's not my role. My job is to communicate where we are in the process, and right now we're in the process of letting the conference do its job - negotiate a deal, and come back to the President.

    Q Thank you, Sarah. Two questions for you, if I may. First, on the government shutdown, the President made several - he made several promises to families, particularly to those who had been affected by crimes committed by illegal immigrants, that they would have a wall at the end of this government shutdown - at the end of this promise. Can he maintain that promise that there will be - to those families - that there will be a wall on the southern border by the end of his first term?

    MS. SANDERS: Again, as you know, the President and his administration have engaged and built roughly 100 - or contracted to build roughly 115 miles of the border. This three-week package that just passed that the Democrats actually voted for included over $200 million in funding for the wall. And the President is not going to stop until the border is secure, and that includes having a border wall.