had is bbc news. i'mjane hill. the headlines at lipm: donald trump hits back at report thatis donald trump hits back at report that is moscow's intelligence agencies obtained compromising details about him. this is the scene live in new york where those claims are expected to dominate a news conference that donald trump is due to begin very shortly. here, health service providers say the nhs can no longer deliver everything that's being asked of it under the current financial arrangements. the death of seven—year—old katie rough, a 15—year—old girl has appeared in court in york charged with her murder. rolf harris goes on trial accused of indecently assaulting seven women and girls. i'm simon mccoy, president obama calls on the american people to defend democracy as he prepares to leave office. protecting our way of life, that's not just the protecting our way of life, that's notjust thejob of protecting our way of life, that's notjust the job of our military.

democracy can buckle when it gives into fear. a couple who met while making lancaster bombers in world war ii celebrate their 73rd wedding anniversary. good afternoon. welcome to bbc news. russia dismissed media reports that it is holding compromising information about donald trump. it comes information about donald trump. it co m es after information about donald trump. it comes after unverified claims in america that russian intelligence agencies are obtained material relating to his businesses and private life. mr trump said: 15 minutes later, he teeted this:

—— tweeted this: well, mr trump is about to hold a news c0 nfe re nce well, mr trump is about to hold a news conference at trump towers. live pictures from there, from trump towers. this is his first conference since his election last november and is expected to tackle head—on those latest claims. initially, this press conference was designed for him to discuss how he was going to separate his business interests during his presidency. but no doubt he's going to be questioned in full about these latest claims. claims that he has taken to twitter to deny. further south in washington, we have

been listening to the confirmation hearing for donald trump's nominee as secretary of state. that is rex tillerson. that is what dominated there in the states for the last couple of hours. the man who ran the company exxon mobile. early on in the hearing, the hearings were interrupted by a woman who started shouting from the back of the room saying, "i reject you. i lost my home in hurricane sandy." so a reflection of antipathy in some quarters to that nominee. but a strong chance that will go through and that rex tillerson will be confirmed as secretary of state and as part of what he was saying to the senate, a lot of that, as you might expect, was about relations with russia as well. well, there was some

question earlier in the day as to whether this news conference was going to go ahead in the light of the lack of this dossier containing unsabs the lack of this dossier containing unsa bs stanciated allegations. the lack of this dossier containing unsabs stanciated allegations. aside from that, there are a large number of issues that have arisen since he last appeared it answer reporters‘ questions. particularly with regards to this russia dossier. also as i was saying, he will be tacking about his business interests. he‘ll be asked why he‘s not divesting himself of his business interests. he will be asked about his confidence in the us intelligence agencies. and whether perhaps they also have confidence in him. he had a private meeting with the bosses of the security services last week. but it is likely to be his relationship with russia which will form the because is of many of the questions particularly after he mocked barack obama and hillary clinton over their

attem pts obama and hillary clinton over their attempts at a reset of relations with russia and he will be pushed on what he sees the relationship with russia developing under his presidency. striking as well, that is this is all happening in new york city. this is where donald trump calls home. it's is where donald trump calls home. it‘s where he has stayed. there has been a huge amount of speculation ever since he was voted in in november that actually he would want as much as possible to continue living in new york and everything so far, all the cabinet appointments and nominations that we have seen in the last few weeks, everything really has been directed from new york. this is from one of the big hotels in manhattan. russia has also got involved in the controversy russia has also got involved in the c0 ntrove rsy over russia has also got involved in the controversy over these claims, unsubstantiated claims about donald trump and his business, workings and

his private life. the spokesman for vladimir putin saying the allegations were pulp fiction and a clear attem pt allegations were pulp fiction and a clear attempt to damage relations. this whilst donald trump took to twitter, not unusually, to directly deal with the allegations. this news conference was scheduled to get under way at lipm. it is now running five minutes late. we‘ve been given repeated warnings of his imminent arrival, but as you can see, an expectant group of journalist arrival, but as you can see, an expectant group ofjournalist are waiting for the arrival of donald trump for what could prove to be quite a testy news conference given that he hasn‘t spoken to the press directly for some 168 days. that room, despite that, very, very full of journalist has that room, despite that, very, very full ofjournalist has been for quite sometime. the fact that those

two anchors are standing there as well, still being allowed to maintain that position for the various american news networks suggest he maybe a little way off, but we were told he was going to be dead on apm. as we say, this was called originally this news conference particularly to talk about the president—elect‘s business interests. and how he was going to separate all of that during his yea rs separate all of that during his years in the white house. so one imagines there will be some reference to his business life, but much, much more besides and certainly, it will be fascinating to see how many questions journalist are allowed to ask and what sort of questions are permitted to be asked bus that‘s often where the very, very interesting observations come from. well, as we await that, let‘s just remind you of donald trump‘s nominee of secretary state. he has been attending a confirmation hearing in the senate. rex tillerson was chief executive of exxon mobile. he was

asked a question on the allegations of russian hacking aimed at the democrats. do you believe during the 2016 election campaign, russian intelligence services hacked e—mails and the lack of these e—mails and the use of internet trolls and the des sem nation of the goal of undermining a financial candidate. senator, i have had no unclassified briefings because i have not received my clearance yet. i did read the report that was released on 6th january. that report read the report that was released on 6thjanuary. that report clearly read the report that was released on 6th january. that report clearly is troubling. and it indicates that all of the actions you described were undertaken. of the actions you described were under taken. based on your knowledge of russian leaders and russian politics, do you believe these activities could have happened without the knowledge and without the consent of vladimir putin? i'm not ina the consent of vladimir putin? i'm not in a position to make that determination. again, that's

indicated in the report, but i know there is additional classified information that might... you have engaged in significant business activities in russia so i‘m sure you‘re aware that few things of a major proportion happen in that country without vladimir putin‘s per murks, i‘m asking based on your experiences for something like this happened without vladimir putin to have known about it and authorising it? i think that's a fair assumption. that he would have? yes. well, that was just part of the confirmation hearing there. in new york, we are waiting for donald trump. there was a lot of talk in that confirmation about russia. rex tillerson among other things saying that america‘s nato allies were right to be alarmed at russia‘s resurgence, but he said washington needed an open and frank dialogue with moscow about its ambition and

he stressed that there could be areas where the two countries could work together. he said for example, particularly, in tackling terrorism. there were common interests there and there could be work together and those areas could be explored, that was his phraseology. he did go on to say that russia did have to be held to account for its actions. well, this 35 page dossier... that contains unsubstantiated claims against donald trump. let‘s talk to gary o‘donohue our correspondent who is standing outside the hotel. gary, so many questions, he has taken to twitter already, but what format are we expecting? well, we're expecting some kind of statement, i‘m sure, the original motivation for the press c0 nfe re nce the original motivation for the press conference delayed from last month was so he could describe how

he was going to divest himself of his business interests and put himself beyond accusationings of a conflict of interest. he has changed his mind a few times and talked about blind trust and talked about not needing to be above the fray as president because presidents are exempt from the conflicts of interest laws, but the main focus, the reporters will want to ask about this morning is this question of whether or not russia was gathering personally compromising details about him. this dossier has appeared. it‘s also been put in abbreviated form and before the eyes of the president—elect and senior members of congress. it is out there. it contains lurid allegations about mr trump‘s behaviour in russia. he has denied it, of course, attacked the intelligence community asa

attacked the intelligence community as a result and asked the question in the result, in the light of it, "are we living in nazi germany?" the atmosphere is even more toxic than it was, if that‘s possible. atmosphere is even more toxic than it was, if that's possible. we are looking at a scene with all the american flags behind a podium. it isa american flags behind a podium. it is a very falseful message and clearly —— forceful message and he will grab the initiative from this, but it‘s a tough ask. will grab the initiative from this, but it's a tough ask. yes, i mean, it‘s a complicated situation. the interesting thing is how he handles this because unquestionably this, the release of this, these unverified allegations puts him in a really difficult position this morning. it is not impossible he wouldn‘t simply not bother and stay at home. it‘s perfectly possible he will walk up for five minutes and say a few things and answer some questions and walk off. he may stay foran questions and walk off. he may stay for an hour—and—a—half, go to your

drop press conference where you try and exhaust everything. any of those things are possible. there is only one man who really knows how he‘s going to handle it. i think he will try, what he normally does, which is to reach out beyond the media scrum there in trump tower, he will choose to a nswer there in trump tower, he will choose to answer the questions, and he may not give direct answers and the extra layer is we‘ve got senior advisers to donald trump like kelly ann conway, tellings, don‘t really listen to what comes out of his mouth, listen to what‘s in her heart. you might have to do a bit of defining of what donald trump means in order to analyse exactly what‘s going on. so, it is a complicated job for us all ahead here, but it is an extraordinary situation these kinds of allegations just nine days before. here we go. here we go. well, with members of his family at

his side. donald trump as ever playing the crowd and waiting and being introduced. let‘s listen in now. after the president-elect makes some remarks he will introduce someone who structured the arrangement for the president‘s business arrangements. i want to bring your attention to a few remarks. it is outrageous and highly irresponsible to draw up false information on the internetjust days before he takes the oath of office. there are some serious reasons to doubt the allegations in the report. the executive editor of the report. the executive editor of the new york times also dismissed the new york times also dismissed the report by saying it was,

"totally unsubstantiated." echoing the concerns that many other reporters expressed on the internet. the fact that buzz feed and cnn made the decision to run with this claim isa sad, the decision to run with this claim is a sad, and pathetic attempt to get clicksment the report is not an intelligence report, plain and simple. one issue that the report talked about was the relationship of three individuals associated with the campaign. these three individuals. carter page is an individuals. carter page is an individual president—elect trump does not know. paul maniford denied any involvement and michael colwyn did not leave or enter the united states. we ask you to produce his passport to confirm his whereabouts and the dates in question and there is no doubt that he was not in prague. he has never been in prague.

a new report actually suggested that michael cowan was at the university of southern california with his son ata of southern california with his son at a baseball gamement one report now suggested apparently it is another michael cowan. for all the talk about fake news, this political wish hunt by some in the media is based on some of the most flimsy reporting and it is shameful and disgraceful. with that, is my hon record to introduce the next vice—president of the united states, mike pens. applause we are nine days away from the inauguration of the 45th president of the united states of america. i‘m profoundly honoured and humbled that i will take the oath of office

to serve as vice—president of the united states, nine days from today, but i‘m even more honoured to stand shoulder—to—shoulder with a new president who will make america great again. now, the president—elect‘s leadership and his energy during the campaign was impressive. but as the chairman of the transition effort, i can assure the american people that his energy and his vision during the course of this transition has been even more inspiring. to see the way he has brought together men and women of extraordinary capability at a historic pace in this cabinet, 19 of the 21 cabinet officials have been announced. nine committee hearings already scheduled and centre more soon to go on the books in the next several days and it is a compilation of men and women with unprecedented calibre of leadership and background to help this

administration move our nation forward. perhaps that‘s why there has been such a concerted effort by some in the mainstream media to delit legitimise this administration. i have been a supporter of a free and independent press and i always will be, but with freedom comes responsibility. and thor irresponsible decision of a few news organisations to run with a false and unsubstantiated report when most news organisations resisted the temptation to propagate this fake news, can only be attributed to media bias and attempt to demean the president—elect and our incoming administration and the american peel are sick and tired of it. applause but today, we‘ll get back to real news. to real facts but today, we‘ll get back to real news. to realfacts and but today, we‘ll get back to real news. to real facts and the real progress our in coming president has

already made in reviving the american economy and assembling a tea m american economy and assembling a team that will make america great again. we‘ll hearfrom team that will make america great again. we‘ll hear from the president—elect about issues that are of paramount importance to the american people today. so it is my honour to introduce to all of you, my friend, and the president—elect of the united states of america, donald trump. applause thank you very much, it is very familiar territory news conferences because we used to give them on a almost daily basis. i think we probably maybe won the nomination because of news conferences and it is good to be with you. we stopped giving them because we were getting quite a bit of inaccurate news, but i have to say and i must say that i wa nt to i have to say and i must say that i want to thank a lot of the news organisations here today because

they looked at that nonsense that was released by maybe the intelligence agencies, who knows, but maybe the intelligence agencies which would be a tremendous blot on their record if they in fact did that, a tremendous blot because a thing like that should never have been written. it should never have been written. it should never have been had and it should certainly never have been released, but i want to thank a lot of the news organisations for some of whom have not treated me very well over the yea rs. not treated me very well over the years. a couple in particular and they came out so strongly against that fake news and the fact that it was written about by primarily one group and one television station. so ijust want group and one television station. so i just want to compliment many of the people in the room. i have great respect for the news and great respect for the news and great respect for the news and great respect for freedom of the press and all of that, but i will tell you,

there were some news organisations with all that was just said that we re with all that was just said that were so professional, so incredibly professional that i‘ve just gone up a notch as to what i think of you! 0k. all a notch as to what i think of you! ok. all right. applause we‘ve had some great news over the last couple of weeks. i have been quite active, i guess you could say in an economic way for the country. a lot of car companies will be moving in. we have other companies, big news will be announced over the next couple of weeks about companies that are going to be building in the mid—west, you saw yesterday fee at chrysler, a big factory going to be built in this country as opposed to another country. ford stopped plans for a billion dollar plant in mexico and they will be moving into michigan and expanding substantially an existing plant. i appreciate that from ford. iappreciate an existing plant. i appreciate that from ford. i appreciate it very much from ford. i appreciate it very much from fee at chrysler. i hope that

general motors will be following. and i think they will be. i think a lot of people will be following. i think a lot of industries will be coming backment we have to get our drug industry coming back. our drug industry has been disastrous. they don‘t make them here to a large extent and we have to create new bidding procedures for the drug industry because they‘re getting away with murder. pharma have a lot of lobbieses and a lot of power and very little bidding on drugs. we‘re the largest buyer of drugs in the world and we don‘t bid. i‘m going to save billions of dollars over a period of time and we‘re going to do that with a lot of other industries. i‘m very much involved with the generals and admirals on the aeroplane, the f35, you have been reading about it and it‘s way, way behind schedule and many, many

billions of dollars over budget. i don‘t like that. and the admirals have been fantastic. the generals have been fantastic. the generals have been fantastic. i have got to know them well and we‘re doing to do big thinkings on the f35 programme and perhaps the f18 programme and we‘re going to get those costs way down and we‘ll get the plane to be even better and we‘re going to have competition and it‘s going to be a beautiful thing. we have been very much involved and other things. we had jack maw, we had so many incredible people coming here, they‘re going to do tremendous things, tremendous things in this country and they‘re very excited and i will say if the election didn‘t turn out the way it turned out, they would not be here, they would be in other countries, there is a great spirit going on right now, a spirit

that many people have told me, they‘ve never seen before, ever. we‘re going to create jobs. i said that, i will be the greatestjobs producer that god ever created and i mean that. i really, i‘m going to work very hard on that. we need certain amounts of other things including a little bit of luck, but i think we‘re going to do a realjob and i‘m very proud of what we‘ve done and we haven‘t even gotten there yet. i look very much forward to the inauguration, it will be a beautiful event. we have great talent, tremendous talent and we have all of the bands, most of the bands from the different segments of the military and i‘ve heard some of these bands over the years, they‘re incredible. we‘re going to have a very, very elegant day. the 20th is going to be something that will be very, very special, very beautiful andi very, very special, very beautiful and i think we‘re going to have massive crowds because we have a movement. it‘s a movement like the world has never seen before. it‘s a

movement that a lot of people didn‘t expect. and even the polls, although some of them did get it right, but many of them didn‘t. that was a beautiful scene on 8th november as those states started to pour in and we focussed very hard on those states and they really reciprocated and those states are going to have a lot of jobs and those states are going to have a lot ofjobs and they‘re going to have a lot of security and they‘re going to have a lot of good news for their veterans and by the way, speaking of veterans, aappointed today, the head secretary of the vetera ns today, the head secretary of the veterans administration, and we‘ll doa veterans administration, and we‘ll do a news release in a little while and tell you about david. he‘s fantastic. he‘s fantastic. he will doa fantastic. he‘s fantastic. he will do a truly greatjob. one of the commitments i made, we‘re going to straighten out the whole situation for our veteransment our veterans have been treated horribly. they‘re waiting in line for 15, 16, have been treated horribly. they‘re waiting in line for15, 16, 17 have been treated horribly. they‘re waiting in line for 15, 16, 17 days. cases where they go and they have a

minor, early stage form of cancer and they can‘t see a doctor. by the time they get to the doctor they‘re terminal. it‘s not going to happen. it's terminal. it‘s not going to happen. it‘s not going to happen. so david is going to do a fantasticjob. we‘re going to be talking to a few people also to help david in some of the great hospitals of the world and going to align themselves with us on the veterans administration like the clevela nd the veterans administration like the cleveland lin k and mike the mayo clinic, a few more that we have and we‘re going to set up a group. these are hospitals which have been the top of the line. the absolute top of the line and they‘re going to get together with their great doctors, dr toby together with their great doctors, dr to by cosg rove together with their great doctors, dr toby cosgrove from the cleveland clinic has been very involved. one of the great men of business has been involved and we‘re going to straighten out the vasmt a for the

vetera ns. straighten out the vasmt a for the veterans. i have been promising that for a long time and something i feel strongly on. you‘ll get the information on david and i think you‘ll be impressed with the job he does. we looked long and hard and interviewed at least 100 people. some good. some not so good, but we had a lot of talent and we think this selection will be something that will with time, with time, straighten it out and straighten it out for good because our veterans have been treated very unfairly. ok. a question, yes, john. thank you. inaudible reporter: if you do, how will that

colour your attempts to build a relationship with a leader who has been accused of committing an act of espionage. these meetings are classified. so i‘m not allowed to talk about what happened in a meeting. we had many witnesses in the meeting. many of them with us. i think it is a disgrace that information would be let out. i saw the information. i read the information outside of that meeting. it's information outside of that meeting. it‘s all fake news. it‘s phoney stuff. didn‘t happen and it was gotten stuff. didn‘t happen and it was gotte n by stuff. didn‘t happen and it was gotten by opponents of ours as you know, because you reported it and so did many of the other people. it was a group of opponents that got together, sick people, and they put that together. so i will tell you that together. so i will tell you that not within the meeting, but outside of the meeting, somebody released it. it should never have been number one, shouldn‘t even have entered paper, but it should never

have been released, but i read what was released and i think it is a disgrace. i think it is it is an absolute disgrace. as far as hacking, i think it was russia, but we also got hacked by other countries and other people and i can say, you know, when we lost 22 million names and everything else that was hacked recently, they didn‘t makea that was hacked recently, they didn‘t make a big deal out of that. that was something that was extraordinary, that was probably china. we had much hacking going on and one of the things we‘re going to do, we have some of the greatest computer minds anywhere in the world that we have assembled, you saw a sample of it two weeks where we had the six top people in the world, we‘re going to put those minds together and we‘re going to form a defence and i have to say this also — the democratic national committee was totally open to be hacked. they

did a very poorjob. they could have had hacking defence which we had and i will give credit because when they saw what was happening in the world and with this country, he went out and with this country, he went out and went to various firms and ordered a very, very strong hacking defence and they tried to hack the republican national committee and they were unable to breakthrough. we have to do that for our country. it is very important. how could this colour your attempts to build a better relationship with vladimir putin. vladimir putin and russia put out a statement that the fa ke russia put out a statement that the fake news was fake news. they said it totally never happened. some would say of course he is going to say that. i respected the fact he said that. i will be honest i think if he did have something they would have been glad to release it. had they broken into the republican

national committee, i think they would have released it like they did about hilary and all the horrible things her people said about her. what was said about her was horrible. if somebody said about me what he said about hillary clinton i would have fired that person immediately. what he said was horrible. but remember this, we talk about the hacking. and hacking‘s bad and it couldn‘t be done. but look at the things that were hacked. look at what was learned. that hillary clinton got the questions to the debate. and didn‘t report it. that isa debate. and didn‘t report it. that is a horrible thing. that is a horrible thing. can you imagine that if donald trump got the questions to the debate, it would have been the biggest story in the history of stories and they would have said immediately you have to get out of the race, nobody even talked about it. it is a very terrible thing. on

that intelligence report, the second pa rt of that intelligence report, the second part of conclusion was that vladimir putin ordered it, because he aspired to help you in the election, do you acce pt to help you in the election, do you accept that part of finding and will you undo what president obama did to punish the russians. vladimir putin likes donald trump, i consider that an asset not a liability. we have a horrible relationship with russia. russia can help us fight isis that is no1 russia can help us fight isis that is no 1 tricky. this administration created isis which leaving at the wrong time. if vladimir putin likes donald trump, guess what folks, that is called an asset not a liability. i don‘t know that i‘m going to get along with vladimir putin. i hope i do. but there is a good chance i won‘t. if i don‘t, do you honestly believe that hillary clinton would believe that hillary clinton would be tougher on vladimir putin than me? does anybody in this room believe that? give me a break! ok.

during your visit to moscow or st petersburg you engaged in conduct that you regret and would a reasonable observer say you're liable to black mail? when i leave our country, i‘m a very high profile person would you say? i am extremely careful. i‘m surrounded by body guards. i‘m surrounded by people. and i always tell them anywhere, but i always tell them if i‘m leaving this country, be very careful. because if your hotel rooms and no matter where you go, you‘re going to probably have cameras. i‘m notjust are referring to russia. but i would put them in that category and no 1 i hope you‘re going to be good, but you have cameras in the strangest places that, are so small with modern technology you can‘t see them and you won‘t know. you better be

careful. or you will be watching yourself on nightly television. i tell this to people all the time. i was in russia years ago with the miss universe contest, that did very well. the moscow area did very well. i told many people, be careful. because you don‘t want to see yourself on television. cameras all over the place. again, notjust russia, all over. does anyone really believe that story? i‘m also a germaphobe. i have to follow up on the russia remarks, do you believe the russia remarks, do you believe the hacking was justified, the russia remarks, do you believe the hacking wasjustified, does russia have any leverage over you.|j have

russia have any leverage over you.” have no dealings with russia. i have no deals in russia. i have no deals that could happen in russia. because we have stayed away. and i have no loa ns we have stayed away. and i have no loans with russia. as a real estate developer, i have very little debt, i have very low debt. but i have no loa ns i have very low debt. but i have no loans with russia. at all. and i thought that was important to put out. i certified that. i have no deals. i have no loans. and i have no dealings. we could make deals in russia very easily if we wanted to. ijust don‘t russia very easily if we wanted to. i just don‘t want to, because think they that would be a conflict. i have no loans s, no dealings and no pending deals. i have to say over the weekend i was offered $2 billion to do the weekend i was offered $2 billion todoa the weekend i was offered $2 billion to do a deal in dubai with a very, very, very... amazing man. a great developer. from the middle east. hussein demak. a friend of mine. i

was offered $2 billion to do a deal in dubai. a number of deals. and i turned it down. i didn‘t have, because i have a no conflict situation, because i‘m president. i didn‘t know that until about three months ago. but i don‘t want to take advantage of something. i have something that others don‘t v vice president pence also has it. i don‘t think he will need it. but i have a no conflict of interest position as a president. it was many years old. because they don‘t presidents getting, i understand, they don‘t wa nt getting, i understand, they don‘t want presidents getting tangled up. i could actually run my business. i could run my business and run government at the same time. i don‘t like the way that looks. but i would

be able do that if i wanted to. i would be the only one that could do that. you can‘t do that in any other capacity. but i could run the trump corporation and run the country. i would do a very good job. but i don‘t want to. all these papers you see here, go ahead... do you believe the hacking wasjustified and see here, go ahead... do you believe the hacking was justified and will you release your tax returns. the tax returns are under order. as president, sir... the only one who ca res president, sir... the only one who cares about my tax returns are the reporter. you don't think the public care? iwon. i reporter. you don't think the public care? i won. i became reporter. you don't think the public care? iwon. i became president. i don‘t think they care at all. i don‘t think they care at all. i don‘t think they care. i think you care. but you learned very lit frl tle from a tax return. people have learned a lot about my company and

now they realise, my company is much bigger and more powerful than they ever thought. we are in many countries and i‘m proud of it and what i‘m going to be doing is my two sons, who are right here, don and eric, are going to be running the company. they are going to be running it in a very professional manner. they‘re not going to discuss it with me. again, i don‘t have to do this. they‘re not going to discuss it with me and with that i‘m going to bring up sherry dylan and she will go, these papers are some of the many documents i have signed turning over complete control to my sons. can we ask one more question on rush? russia? good morning, it is my privilege to be here as president—elect trump‘s request. he has asked me to speak and the conflicts of interest and the steps

he is taking. as you know, the business empire built by president—elect trump is massive. not dissimilar to the fortunes of nelson rockerfeller when he became vice president. president—elect trump wants the american public to rest assured his efforts are directed to the people‘s business. to that end he directed me and my collea g u es to that end he directed me and my colleagues to design a structure for his business empire that will com pletely his business empire that will completely isolate him from the management of the company. he further instructed that we build in protection to make sure that the decisions he takes are for the benefit of people and not to support his financial interests. he is

taking this on. the conflict of interest laws do not apply to the president or the vice—president. the primary conflicts of interests statute and some have questioned it, is section 18 and it is not applicable by its terms. it is co ng ress applicable by its terms. it is congress who have made this clear in 1989 when it amended section 18 to state that exempt as otherwise provided the terms office and employee in section 208 shall not include the president. even so, donald trump wants there to be no doubt in the minds of the public that he is isolating himself from his business interest. he instructed us his business interest. he instructed us to take all steps possible to make it clear that he is not exploiting the office of the presidency for his personal benefit. he also sought the guidance of

individuals familiar with the fields of government ethics and constitutional law. critical to that tea m constitutional law. critical to that team is fred fielding, us with today, whom many of you have known, he has served several presidents, including reagan and george w bush and george hw bush commissions on ethics law reform and held the position of vice chair of the resource centre. he has been extensively involved with and approved this plan. he is here to support the plan and he will continue to provide guidance as the plan is implemented and as eric, don and others take over management of the trump organisation. i‘m going to detail some of the steps that president—elect is taking. first, president—elect is taking. first, president—elect trump investment and business assets, known as the trump

organisation, comprising hundreds of entities, if you look at the disclosure statements have all been or will be conveyed to a trust prior to january 20th. here is some of the paperwork that is taking care of those actions. second, through the trust agreement he has given up leadership of the trump organisation to his sons don and eric and a long time executive. together they will have the authority to manage the organisation and will make decisions for the duration of the presidency without any involvement by president—elect trump. further, at the president—elect‘s direction, the trust agreement provides that to ensure the trump organisation continues to operate in in accordance with the highest ethics standards an advisor will be appointed to the management team.

the approval of the ethics advisor will be required for new deals, actions and transactions that could raise ethics or conflicts of interest concerns. president—ele trump and the organisation are committed to seeing the actions are beyond reproach. president—elect trump from all positions in the trump from all positions in the trump organisation. further in addition his daughter will have no further involvement or management authority with the trump organisation. as she and gerard move to dc, they will be concentrating on their new homes. the president—elect has disposed of his invest. s. as a result the trust will have two types

of assets. first cash, cash equivalents and some positions in a portfolio. second, the trust is going to hold his preexisting assets that people are familiar. trump owned golf clubs, resorts, hotels, rights to royalties from licences. things like trump tower, all his other business interests will be in the trust. through instructions in the trust. through instructions in the trust. through instructions in the trust agreement, donald trump ordered all pending deems be determinated. . this impacted more than 30 deals. as you can imagine, that caused an immediate financial

loss of millions of dollarings. s for donald trump and don and eric. the agreement imposes severe restrictions on new deals. no new foreign deals will be made whatsoever during the duration of president trump‘s presidency. new domestic deals will be aloud, but they will go through a vigorous vetting process. the president—elect will have no role in decide ing whether the trump organisation engages in new deal and he will only know of a deal if he reads it in the newspaper or sees it on tv. because any new deal could be perceived as causing a conflict or as exploiting the office of presidency, new deals must be vetted with te the ethics advisor. the advisor will be a

recognised expert in the field of government experts. again his role will be to scrutinise the new deal and any new deal must receive written approval. further to reinforce the wall we are building between the president—elect and the trump organisation, president—elect trump organisation, president—elect trump hazardered to limit his information rights. reports will only be available on the company as a whole. there will be no separate business by business accounting. another step that the president has taken is he created a new position at the trump organisation. position of chief compliance counsel, whose responsibility will be to ensure that the trump businesses are operated at the highest levels of integrity and not taking any actions that could be perceived as exploiting the office of the presidency. he has directed that no communications of the the trump organisation including social media

accou nts organisation including social media accounts will reference or be tied to the president—elect‘s role as president of the united states or the office of president. in sum, all of these actions, relinquishment of management no, foreign deals, ethics advisor approval, limited information right will sever the president—elect‘s presidency from the trump organisation. some have asked questions — why not divest and sell everything? form a blind trust. i will address those questions. selling fist and foremost would not eliminate possibilities of conflicts of interest. in fact it would be exacerbate them. the trump brand is key to the organisation. if the president—elect sold his brand, he would be entitled to royalty and this would result in the trust retaining an interest in the brand without the ability to assure it

does not exmro it the office of president —— exploit the office of president. any price would be subject to criticism and scrutiny. was it too high. was too much paid toy favour. curry favour. the president—elect should not be expected to destroy the company he built. think plan offers a suitable alternative to address the concerns of the people. and selling the entire trump organisation is not even feasible. some people have suggested that the president sell the business to his aall dult children. this would mean massive third party debt. if the president—elect were to finance the sale he would retain the financial interest. some people have suggested

that the trump, the president—elect trump would bundle the asset and turn the organisation into a public company. anyone who has gone through this extraordinarily cumbersome and complicated process knows that it is a non—starter and not realistic and would be inappropriate for the trump organisation. some peop have suggested a blind trust. you can‘t have a totally blind trust. president trump can‘t unknow he owns trump tao er—— tower. it would be impossible to find an institutional trustee that would be competent to run the trump organisation. the approach he is taking allows don and eric to preserve this great company. it creates a complete separation

from president—elect trump and prevents him from participating in the business and imposes limits on what the trustees can do and requires the assent of any ethics aed advisor to a new deal. i will turn to one last topic that has been of interest. called emoluments. this comes from the constitution. the constitution says officials may not accept gifts or emument. this clause has never been interpreted to apply to fair value exchanges. no one would have

thought that paying your hotel bill was an emolument, but thought of not a gift. since president—elect trump has been elected some people want to define this to cover routine business transactions like paying for hotel rooms. they suggest that the constitution prohibits the businesses from even arm‘s length transactions that the president—elect has nothing to do with. these people are wrong. this is not what the constitution says. paying is not what the constitution says. pay ing for a hotel room is not an emolument. butjust like with conflicts of interests are, he wants to do more than what the constitution requires. the president has decided and we are announcing today he is going to donate all

profits from foreign government payments made to his hotel to the us treasury. so the american people will profit. in sum, i and president—elect‘s advisors have determined the approach we have outlined will avoid conflicts of interest or concerns, regarding exploitation of office of presidency without imposing unnecessary and unreasonable loss on the president—elect and his family. we believe this structure will accomplish the desire to be isolated from his business interest and give people confidence his sole interest is in making america great and securing our borders and rebuilding our infrastructure. the american people are well aware of the president—elect‘s business interests

when they voted. many voted for him because of his business success. president—elect trump wants to bring the suck toess all americans. —— success to all americans. thank you. applause. thank you. what is your response to critics that say you and your cabinet is filled with conflicts of interest and you plan to set an example to make sure that your cabinet and everyone throughout your administration... i really think that when you watch what is going on with, what is happening, i was watching as an example, rex tillerson, i think it‘s brilliant what he is doing and what he is saying. i watched yesterday as you know our great senator, who is going

to bea know our great senator, who is going to be a great attorney general and he was brilliant and what people don‘t know is that he was a great prosecutor and attorney general and i think we have one of great cabinets ever put together and we have been hearing from so many people. people are so happy. in the case of rex, he ran incredibly exxon mobile when there was a find he would get it. when they needed something he would be there. a friend of mine who is substantial in the oil business, harold ham, he said, there is nobody in the business like rex tillerson. that is what i want to bring to government, the greatest people. we are behind. we don‘t make good deals any more. we don‘t make good deals any more. we make bad deals. our trade deals

area we make bad deals. our trade deals are a disaster. we have hundreds of billions of dollars of losses on a yearly basis. hundreds of billions with china on trade and trade imbalance. with japan. with mexico. with just about everybody. we don‘t make good deals economy more. so we need people that are smart, we need people that are successful and they got successful because they‘re smart. i‘m proud of cabinet. i think they‘re doing well. it is very interesting how it is going. i think they‘re doing very well. interesting how it is going. i think they're doing very well.” interesting how it is going. i think they're doing very well. i want to ask some questions on oak machair. obama care and what is the time lean is for repeel and replace. obama ca re is for repeel and replace. obama care i thought it was never going to be asked. plan for what you want the

replace package to look like. would it guarantee coverage? you're going to be very proud as not only the media and reporters you will be proud of what we put forth having to do with health xhar. care. obama xar is care is a complete and total disaster. they can say what they want, they can guide you where they wa nt to want, they can guide you where they want to guide you, in some cases they guide you incorrectly. in most cases you realise it is imploding. some states have over a hundred per cent increase and 17 is going to be the bad year. it is going to be catastrophic. frankly, we could sit back and it was a thought, from a political stand point, but it would. care. n‘t be care. we would could wait and watch and criticise and sit

back and criticise it and people would come, they would come, begging to us, please, we have to do something about obama care. we don‘t wa nt to something about obama care. we don‘t want to own it. we don‘t want to own it politically. they own it right now. so the easiest thing could be to let it implode in 17 and believe me we would get pretty much whatever we wanted. but it would take a long time. we are going to be submitting as soon as our secretaries are approved, almost simultaneously, shortly thereafter, a plan. it will be repeal and replace. it will be essentially simultaneously. it will be very various segments, but most likely on the same day or the same week, but probably the same day. could be the same hour. so we are going to do repeal and replace. very complicated stuff. and we are going to get a health bill and get health

ca re to get a health bill and get health care taken of. you have deductibles that are so high that after people go broke, paying their premiums which are going through the roof, the health care can‘t even be used, because of the deductibles. obama ca re because of the deductibles. obama care is the democrats problem. we are going to take the problem off the shelves for them. we are doing them a tremendous service by doing it. we could sit back and let them hang with it. we are doing the democrats a great service. so as soon as our secretary is approved and gets into the office. we will be filing a plan and it was actually accurately reported today the new york times and the plan will be repeal and replace obama care. we are going to have a health care that is far less expensive. and far

better. when you look at the meetings you have had can people, do you conceive of making that is programme inside a commerce and how soon will we see the programme on corporate tax cuts. if i can save jobs, i was doing individual companies and people said that is only one company. we did a good job with carrier and i want to thank united carriers. they were gone and mike pence and his staff helped us a lot. that was a tough one, they announced a year and a half before that they were leaving. it is tough when they‘re building a start. so i wa nt to when they‘re building a start. so i want to thank you united technologies. we have been meeting with a lot of companies what is happening is the word is now out.

that when you want to move your plant to mexico and you want to fire all of your workers from mick michigan and o‘ heigh—ho, it is not going to happen. you want to move your plant and you think you‘re going to build it in mexico and make yourair going to build it in mexico and make your air conditioners or cars and you‘re going to sell it through what will be a very strong border, not wea k will be a very strong border, not weak border. we don‘t even have a border. it is an open sieve. you‘re going to sill through a strong border. you‘re going to pay a very large border the if you want to move to another country and fire all our great american workers