china has come down tremendously. tremendously. china would have superseded us in two years as an economic power. now they're not even close. china got rid of their china 25 because i found it very insulting. i said that to them. i said, china 25 is very insulting because china 25 means in 2025 they're going to take over economically the world. i said that's not happening. and we've gone way up and they've gone down. i don't want them to go down. we'll have a good meeting and we'll see what we can do but i have to say this, billions of dollars will soon be pour nothing our treasury from taxes that china is paying for us and if you speak to mr. pillsbury who is probably the leading authority on china. he was on the other day saying he has never seen anything like it and you know who else hasn't, china hasn't. >> mr. president -- >> we'll try to make a deal with

china because i want to have great relationships with president xi as i do and also with china. >> you're talking about the economic -- how do you see your role as a moral leader? >> please, please, go ahead. >> there's so many people. i'm sorry. >> as a moral leader, though. >> i think i am a great moral leader and i love our country. go ahead, please. >> thank you, sir. you said earlier at this press conference democrat has a choice you would not work with them on legislation if they were investigating you. do you not have a choice in the matter as well? don't you have responsibility -- >> no, no, i think it's very inappropriate. we should get along and get deals done. now, we can investigate. they look at us, we look at them. it goes on for two years then at the end of two years nothing is done. now, what's bad for them is being in the majority, i'm just going to blame them. you understand. i'm going to blame them. they're the majority. honestly it makes it much simpler for me. they will be blamed but i think

nancy pelosi and you know i put that statement out on social media today about nancy pelosi that if she's short of votes because frankly i think she deserves and a lot of people thought i was being sarcastic or kidding, i wasn't. i think she deserves it. she's been fighting long for this. i mean this. there was nothing sarcastic about it. it was really meant with very good intentions. i think she deserves it. she's fought long and hard and a very capable person and you know you have other people shooting at her trying to take over the speakership and i said, if -- if it's appropriate, i said if we can and if we will, if she has a problem, i think i would be able to very easily supply her the necessary votes. that's not said in any way other than i really believe she deserves that position. i also believe that nancy pelosi and i can work together and get a lot of things done along with mitch and everybody else that we have to work with. i think we'll get a lot done. >> mr. president, why can't you

do that while subpoenas are coming through? >> excuse me? >> why can't you do that while there are investigations in process? >> i think we will. now that the election is over, the election is over. now everybody is in love but then i see the hostility of questions and i come in as a nice person, wanting to answer questions and i have people jumping out of their seats screaming questions at me. no, the election is over and i'm very -- i'm extraordinarily happy. i really am. i would tell you if i wasn't. look at what happened in florida. look at what happened in georgia. look at what happened in so many locations with governorships, nobody talks about the governorships. look at the amount of work that was given to these other candidates against my candidate. and i mean i'm extraordinarily happy and if i wasn't i'd let you know. there's nothing wrong. you look at midterms and you look at elections generally, you see it's very rare that a party

who has the presidency does well. we did unbelievably well to win florida, both the senate and the governorship against two very talented people. i'll tell you what, we did incredibly -- to win georgia when you had some of the biggest stars in the world campaigning endlessly including president obama. you know, i tell you what, this was a great victory for us and, again, from a dealmaking standpoint we are all much better off the way it turned out because i really believe if the democrats want to, we can do a tremendous amount of great legislation, yes, please, go ahead. >> mr. president -- >> should we keep this going for a little while gentleman. >> yes. >> yes, i think you should. >> when you get bored would you please tell me, seriously. tell me -- >> you're never boring? >> hopefully not. >> i don't want to overstay but please, go ahead. >> hi, mr. president.

i'm with pbs news hour. on the campaign trail you called yourself a nationalist. some called that as emboldening white nationalist. >> i don't know why you would say that. >> some say the republican party is seen as supporting white nationalists. >> i don't believe it. >> what do you make of it. >> i just -- i don't know. why do i have my highest poll numbers ever with african-americans. why do i have among the highest poll numbers with african-americans. why do i have my highest poll numbers. that's such a racist question. honestly, i know you have it written down, that's a racist question. >> mr. president -- >> you know what the word is. i love our country. i do. you have nationalists. you have globalists. i also love the world and i don't mind helping the world but we have to straighten out our country first. we have a lot of problems excuse me but to say that what you said is so insulting to me. it's a very terrible thing that you said. >> mr. president, mr. president, people have -- you talked about --

>> excuse me. >> you talked about middle class tax cuts on the campaign trail. how will you get democrats to support that policy? >> you have to ask them. >> what is your -- >> excuse me. you know what my plan is? i'll ask them. and if they say yes i'm all for it. if they say no there's nothing you can do because you need their votes. go ahead. >> thank you. francesca chamber, dailymail.com. you said many times on the campaign trail that you didn't want nancy pelosi to be speaker, at least you suggested that and spent a lot of time talking about her -- >> i would have -- so -- let me answer. would i have preferred winning by two or three or four? i would almost have to think about that. but certainly i like to win and if i win she's not going to be speaker. >> what did she say to you, though, yesterday that made -- >> we had a great conversation. she loves this country. and she's a very smart woman. she's done a very good job.

she was really -- i mean -- >> did she promise they wouldn't seek to impeach you. >> we didn't talk about impeaching. we didn't talk -- what do you do? do you impeach somebody because he created the greatest economic success in the history of our country? let's impeach him because the country is so successful. let's impeach him. has he done anything wrong? they asked somebody, has he done anything wrong? no, but let's impeach him anyway and said let's impeach justice kavanaugh. let's impeach him and now have the second woman coming out, the first, the second and i hate to say this but it was public and after him we're going to impeach the vice president. we're going to impeach mike pence. mike pence doesn't get impeached for anything. so let's -- let's impeach the president and then we'll impeach the vice president. these people are sick and you know what, they have to get their bearing, really they have to get their baring. when you ask about division, they're the ones that cause the

division. they cause tremendous division. >> okay, regarding all the retirements in the house, regarding all the retimes in the house mr. president really quickly you suggested that -- >> who is retiring. >> you said many of the retirements that happened in the house made it difficult for you in this election cycle and that it was because they were chairman -- chairmanships were vacated. jeff flake and paul ryan also retired the cycle. why do you think that is? why do you think -- >> in jeff flake's case it's me. pure and simple. i retired him. i'm very proud of it. i did the country a great service. go ahead. give him that. give him that. he is retired. i'd like to call it another word but we're going to treat him with great respect. go ahead. >> thank you, mr. president. >> jeff flake, that's another beauty. go ahead. >> two questions, please. >> no, one, one. too many people. >> all right. all right. you seem to enjoy this venue very much. are you going to make the standard press conference a

staple of the remaining two years or -- >> no. >> will you have more briefings with sarah sanders? >> when i don't do -- i think sarah is fantastic. where is sarah? where is sarah? sarah is so great. you've represented me so well and has been abused. she's been horribly treated -- >> she's going to stay on. >> it's interesting because sarah -- we were talking about it the other day. i had a period where i figured, you know what i'll do. i won't do any real interviews and then they started saying why isn't he doing -- all coming up with all -- then over the last couple of months i decided i'll do a lot. we'll stop with the helicopter and do a lot -- and then they say, why is he doing so many press conferences? what is wrong? what? so when i don't do them you say what's wrong? when i "do not disturb" them you say what's wrong? and when i go in the middle you say what's wrong but in the -- you know that. >> never complained about it. >> most of them have not complained about access. >> you complained about access when i purposely just stay add

way from the press for awhile because i wanted to see how it worked and can i be honest with you? it didn't work well. >> mr. president, i didn't sfsh the question. so sarah will stay on as press secretary? >> okay. please. go ahead. no. go ahead. >> get the mike. >> first off i personally think it's very good to have you here because free press and -- >> i do too. actually -- >> it's vital -- >> it's called earned media. it's worth billions. >> i have two questions for you if that's all right. it's a rare opportunity. first just a point of clarification on the tax returns issue. you brought up the audit. that doesn't prevent you from releasing them. >> i know it. i didn't say it prevented me. i said lawyers will tell you not to do it. what's your next question. >> just on -- >> more exciting than that. >> second one, michael cohen recently said you called black voters stew pit. >> that's false. >> omarosa accused you of using the "n" word and the rapper lil jon said you called him uncle

tom. >> i don't know who lil jon was -- >> he was on "the apprentice." >> i don't use ratiist remarks and if i did -- you would have known bit. there are tapes. number one, i never worried it because i never use. i never use -- i never used racist remarks. okay -- >> one point of fact you told her you have the highest -- it's just 8%, sir. single digits go when you talk about division it's people like in that cause division. great division, great -- no, point of fact is that i never used a racist remark. that's the point of fact. who are you from? >> i'm from yahoo! news. >> good. i hope they're doing well. >> so first question -- >> where are you from. >> lebanon. >> lebanon, good. >> yes, thank you, mr. president. we're so happy to as well have this opportunity.

president erdogan said he won't follow your sanctions and he's going to keep buying oil from -- >> who said that. >> president erdogan. turkey. >> i know, i know. >> you'll meet him soon. >> just can't understand his -- >> you'll meet him soon. you'll have this talk and some countries are going to take the same step. >> let me say about the oil. so we imposed just recently the strongest sanctions in the history of our country just about, well, i guess north korea is there too. but i gave some countries a break on the oil. i did it a little bit because they really asked for some help, but i really did it because i don't want to drive oil prices up to $100 a barrel or $100 a barrel because i'm driving them down. if you look at oil prices they've come down very substantially over the last couple of months. that's because of me. because you have a monopoly called opec and i don't like -- wait. and i don't like that monopoly.

i don't like it. and oil prices are coming down. so, rather than deciding to be as tough as i am on most of the sanctions, what i've done is i said we're not going to do it that way, we'll let some of the oil go out to these countries that really do need it because i don't want to drive the oil prices up to 100 or $150 a barrel which could happen very easily. it's a very fragile market. i know it very well and it's the absolute right decision. and they'll get tough ever as time goes by, maybe, but i don't want to have any effect on the oil prices worldwide where i drive them up because i consider that to be a tax and i don't like taxes. >> in palestine, the peace process is over -- >> who? >> congratulations to jon tester. congratulations. i'm sure you're very unhappy about that. go ahead. >> mr. president, can you address the -- >> i will take a couple more then we'll go.

>> can you address concerns and places like georgia where people waited in line to vote for hours where voting machines weren't working in certain districts and -- >> you think that's the reason the candidate lost. >> there are concerns being raised that -- >> i wasn't involved in georgia other than i love the state. >> yes, but as president of the united states, are you concerned about the access that people are having to voting. >> i heard it was very efficient in georgia. i heard it was very efficient but, again, you'd have to ask the state governments because just one of those things you'll have to ask them. yeah, go ahead, please. please, go ahead. >> thank you, mr. president. you expressed some concerns about social media companies unfairly censuring conservatives during the election. do you anticipate working with democrats to regulate these companies or are you satisfied -- >> i would do that, yes. i would look at that -- its think it's a serious problem. at the same time you start getting into speech, that's a

very dangerous problem. that could be the beginning, so it's very dangerous, believe it or not i'm one that really likes free speech. a lot of people don't understand that but i am a big believer. when you start regulating a lot of bad things can happen, but i would certainly talk to the democrats if they want to do that and i think they do want to do that. yes, sir, go ahead. >> former president barack obama famously said he had a pen and a phone to use executive power on issues like immigration. do you see yourself using executive power to get some of your immigration agenda done? >> i do. i do. i think that some of it i can use executive power on some. not all. but i mean he certainly used it. he used it on daca and when he did it, he said something to the effect that i'm not allowed to do this, it'll never hold up but i'm doing it anyway and he did it and they found judges that approve i had. we also found judges that didn't

approve it so it's obviously going to be determined in the supreme court. and if the -- if the court rules in favor of what president obama thinks they should rule which is what he said, then i will probably have a deal with the democrats in a very short period of time. we were very close to having a deal until we got that very strange ruling. >> you also made promises about immigration during the campaign and i want to know if you'll follow through with them. are -- >> which one? >> birthright citizenship. >> we're looking at it -- >> yes or no? >> i believe we have the absolute right. but that's another case that will be determined by the supreme court of the united states. >> will you send 15,000 troops to the border. >> you've been reading the same documents as i have. you know exactly what i'm doing. you know exactly what i'm doing. so go ahead. what's your next question? >> also on the khashoggi matter, more than a month -- >> very sad thing. >> do you think saudi arabia is

guilty of having him murdered and if so -- >> i'm working very closely with congress. we're working together, some very talented people and we're working with congress. we're working with turkey and we're working with saudi arabia and i'm forming a very strong opinion. go ahead. go ahead, john. >> mr. president, just a quick follow-up. you said something about nancy pelosi. you said that nancy pelosi, she loves our country. do you regret some of the things you said during the campaign? >> no. >> at various times you said democrats want to put a wrecking ball to our future and destroy our country. >> i believe that with their current policy they're using a wrecking ball on our country. i believe that 100% this. would be a wrecking ball, but i think there's a compromise somewhere and i think that can be really good for our country. okay, how about one more. >> do you regret the ad that you did that was branded as a racist ad even fox news wouldn't air it, nbc wouldn't air it. >> do i regret it? >> yes. >> i'm surprised you ask me that

question. i do not. >> no? >> go ahead. >> mr. president -- thank you, sir. we'd all love 0 have more of these if you're willing. in 2017 shortly after you took office, your homeland security department shuttered a program to encounter homegrown right wing extremism, white supremacism and related terrorist groups, domestic terrorist groups and redirected that funding towards fighting islamic terrorism. do you believe that white supremacist terrorists, right wing terrorists, these homegrown terrorists on that side of the spectrum are a problem, sir? >> yeah. >> what is your administration doing about it. >> i believe all hate is a problem. but i do believe that is a problem. >> what are you going to do. >> it's a problem we want to solve. >> how, sir? what are you going to do about it, sir? what are you going to do about it? cut off the funding. >> mr. president --

>> we' are giving funding for that, a lot of funding. it's a problem that don't like even a little bit. go ahead. >> i'm with hearst television. you said pretend i'm on the ballot. many local districts rejected your midterm message particularly suburban women. how do you bridge that divide. >> i thought my message was very well received. just look at the results. the midterm elections are disasters tore sitting presidents and administrations. this has been a very successful and, look, you can write it any way you want and if you disagree with me, this has been an incredibly success -- when you look at the races, how about ohio, i didn't even mention, i mentioned florida. i mentioned georgia, how about the governor of ohio. >> what's your message to suburban women voters? >> excuse me, fantastic man who was down in the polls and everybody was talking about this person that was so great and i went up there and i did a rally

and they have now a great governor. you're going to have a great governor in ohio for hopefully a long period of time but for four years and mike dewine is a fantastic person. and i went up there for two reasons because i felt that his opposition was not a good person and we know a lot about him and i felt that mike was a fantastic person. and he won and not only did he win, he won easily, so add that to florida and add that to georgia and add that to all of the other races that we won. outside even of the senate races which were the biggest of all, because these were races that and mike pence can tell you and some of the folks can tell you, these were races that were going to be unopposed. we were not going to oppose certain of the people running, certain senators, they said they couldn't be beaten. they said heidi could not be beat. please don't do it. this was a year out. >> what about in the suburban

districts. >> you're telling me about popularity. they said many of these people when i said nine out of 11 but i said, many of these people, these weren't like easy races. these were tough races. and so i think the level of popularity with the first question i was asked was about, well, what have you learned? what about your own popularity? i think that's what i learned is mie -- i was very well received by this great country, by the people of our great country and i'm very proud of that because i love the people of this country. these people -- we are the greatest people. i love the people of our country. >> what do you say to women, mr. president. >> i tell you something, when you look at the races we won in florida, which we weren't expected to win and georgia, which we weren't expected to win and ohio which we weren't expected to win and one -- i mean you look at some of them, the number of votes that we got is incredible. so i'm really happy with not only the way it came out but the response to me as your president

and as your president, i've made our country safe. i've rebuilt and i'm in the process of rebuilding our military and the jobs are here, every one of them built here and we're going to have the strong -- we'll have the strongest military our country has ever had. i've done more for the vets than any president has done certainly in many, many decades with choice and with other things as you know with other things, but our vets are doing better than they've ever done but if you look at choice, choice alone, i mean just take a look at what we've done with choice, but the people of our country are very happy with the job that i'm doing and you know -- >> looking ahead to 2020 -- >> one of the things they want so much is security. they want security. both at the border. they want it with our military. they want it with law enforcement. they want it with i.c.e. you know, we've taken out thousands of ms-13 gang members.

thousands out -- hard to believe. thousands out of our country. women of our country who are incredible people, they want security. they want safety. they want financial security also. we've done that. but they want physical security. and we've taken out thousands of people that shouldn't be in this country. but we have to get strong immigration laws so they don't come in. where we don't have to take them out, per se. and again i'm very honored to be with all of you. it was a great day yesterday. it was a great evening. i think we had a tremendous success and hopefully the tone can get better. hopefully -- >> how will you change that. >> hopefully the tone can get a lot better and i really believe it begins with the media. we used to call it the press. >> does it begin with you, mr. president? >> i really believe it begins with the media. if you would cover and there was a very interesting story written

in a very good paper recently that talked about the fact that it isn't good what the media is doing and that i do have the right to fight back because i'm treated very unfairly so i do fight back and i'm fighting back not for me, i'm fighting back for the people of this country. thank you all very much. thank you. >> so there you have it. for nearly an hour and a half the president very, very combative answering reporters' questions and opened with a 20-minute statement that sounded a bit like a campaign rally but then he went on to declare a huge victory for himself and the republicans last night even though they lost the house of representatives, a major setback because now there's all sorts of ramifications for that. i have to tell you i've been covering presidential news conferences for a long time. i've seen many presidents in the east room of the white house answering reporters' questions. i don't think i've ever seen anything hike that. >> no, and what we saw here was

a president who clearly feels threatened and was responding by threatening. he threatened democrats. he threatened the news media. and he made it very clear no matter how many times he kept saying that he had a tremendous night. it was close to a complete victory, he knew in his heart that was not the true. he knows that he is going to have to deal with nancy pelosi. he knows that there is a real issue when it comes to his relationship with the first amendment, with press -- with reporters asking him, pressing him on questions and he does not think that he needs to change anything. it was remarkable -- i mean there were so many things in that press conference that were remarkable including his multiple attacking of various reporters including and perhaps most strikingly the african-american reporter from pbs who asked about the fact when he used the terdema ussery nationalist to describe himself there were many white nationalists, racists would took comfort in that and what his

response to that was he accused her of asking him a racist question. there is nothing racist about her question. and it is unfathomable that that was his response to it. but one other thing that i think we need to -- i know everybody here is eagle story talk about what we just witnessed, one other thing that i think we need to note, the president started out by doing a dance on the graves of republicans who did not show him enough feelty. republicans who for their own purposes, many of those this suburban districts that turned away from president trump where he was toxic, that commercial was toxic, his language was toxic, people like congressman carlos carbelo, in florida, people like congresswoman barbara comstock in virginia, people like congresswoman mia love who by the way her race hasn't been called yet so his saying that she lost was -- is premature. she may actually end up winning that race. he danced under on their graves. he said because they didn't

embrace him they lost and he was flip about it. he almost seemed to be happy about the fact that congressman mike coffman from the suburbs of denver lost because he didn't want the president's support. i've never seen a president take delight in people of his own party losing and the only thing i can say compare that to is, you know, some of the works of francis ford coppola or martin scorsese, that's how gang territories act, the idea you're not loyal to them and, therefore, you deserve the punishment. there are plenty of presidents we've seen whether bill clinton or george w. bush or barack obama who lose elections who lose members of congress in these wave elections whether it's '94 or 2006 or 2010 and there are members of congress who didn't want them to campaign with them because it would be bad for their re-election and they understand that. and they don't dance on their graves and president trump did that in addition to all the lies

and falsehoods he shared in that press conference and the denial of the fact that he had at best a mixed election night and the democrats taking over the house is a huge problem for him. >> and he went after those republicans, republicans who lost, moderate republicans and said too bad. he was very, very bitter about that. i want to let everybody have a chance to give us their thoughts about what we just witnessed. it was a historic moment. >> it was a historic moment because we've never heard a president like this in a post-election press conference, i mean i -- he was shaming these people and it was outrageous to do so. and then the other point i want to make in terms of nancy pelosi and the house, it was all about threatening to retaliate against them if they dared to do their job which is oversight and he said, you know, we can play it better. we can play it better than you. if you -- >> i think i'm better at that game than they are. >> then we're going to do the

same thing and the government will come to a halt and, you know, they got nothing. they can play that. he threatened the new majority in the house and it was -- it's kind of stunning because on the one hand he thought he was handing them over something, you know, saying, okay, we can work together, maybe we can do something on prescription drugs but he dared them and he said, you start -- you start going after me and i'm going to start my investigations. i'm going to do all my investigations on the fbi and everything else and we know what -- we know what he's talking about so there isn't any kumbaya. it's just never going to be because he cannot separate the personal from the agenda. it's all the same with him and that's why he was shaming the people who didn't -- who told him to stay away. it's all about him and i was going to say -- >> i was in mike coffman's district. i did a story in the suburbs of denver and he is flat wrong. if he went out to campaign for

mike coffman he probably would have lost by 25 points, not just 10 points. because that was the classic suburban district with independents, with women who had in many elections before voted for republicans, different kinds of republicans but were completely repulsed by the language, the tone and the tenor that they have been hearing from washington, d.c. that is what brought mike coffman down. it is not the fact that donald trump didn't go out and campaign for him and, you know, he is understandably putting his spin on the results last night and never mind that it was something that we've never seen before, put in a long unprecedented list of a president, you know, calling out and ripping on and warning republicans in the future if you don't want me to come with you, look what's going to happen. you're going to lose, that flies in the face of what i saw on the

ground in colorado in one of those races. >> i don't think -- i don't think he was applying actual political strategy to this at all. i think -- >> it was all personal. >> i don't think he could argue that he would have made that race better. he would try perhaps but it's all in the term, they did not embrace me. they could not embrace me. >> they couldn't. >> that's not a political -- he's not make a political calculus. it is that he is of the mind that he is the center of the political universe and that everything about it should revolve around him and everyone that wears his jersey should fully embrace him at all cost no matter what. >> even democrats, i mean, the threat -- the very specific threats to democrats which is we can work together, we can do prescription drugs and do things for veterans and do things on health care, on infrastructure, we can do all that and by the way that will be very good for me politically, he said. to get into his political strategist hat but then that very specific warning, if they

decide to investigate in white house, we don't cooperate because we cannot do both things. >> which ignores as a document that conservatives often refer to, they keep it in the national archives called the constitution. >> hold on. >> the house has authority to do those thing. >> would be speaker-elect pelosi. let's listen in. >> leader mitch mcconnell went and admitted that medicare and medicaid and some aspects of social security, disability benefits were on the chopping block. the president pulled hit punch when it came time to lowering the cost of prescription drugs by enables the secretary to negotiate for that. so this is very important. that was for the people, lower health care costs, building the infrastructure of america, integrity and government by reducing the role of big dark money in the political second. that was our agenda. our candidates ran with it. but health care, health care, health care and every household

in america is an important issue. the office who i occupy now, speaker tip o'neill politics is local when it comes to health care, all politics is personal. and so, again, we made our own -- while the gop tried relentless to distract and divide our candidates kept their focus on that subject. and when i say our candidates, our candidates for re-election as well. voters delivered a resounding verdict against congressional republicans' attacks on medicare and medicaid and the affordable care act and people with pre-existing conditions in districts everywhere in america. they went in a new direction. the house that will now they want a new direct, a house that will work to make progress in the lives of america's families. and seniors. democrats pledge again a new

majority, for the people agenda. lower health care cost, lower prescription drug, bigger paycheck, building the infrastructure. clean up corruption to make america work for the american people's interests, not the special interests. yesterday's election was not only to protect america's health care but a vote to restore the health of our democracy. the health of our democracy. under the constitution i'm proud that the legislative branch is the article 1, the first branch of government. a legislative branch right after that beautiful preamble stating our purpose, article 1, the legislative branch, there as a co-owe call branch of the other branches of government and a check and balance on other branches of government. the american people want to put an end to unchecked gop control of washington, restoring again the checks and balances

envisioned by our founders. that's a responsibility we have when we take that oath to protect and defend the constitution and we as democrats are here to strengthen the institution in which we serve and not to have it be a rubber stamp for president trump. house democrats will honor our responsibility to the constitution as i said, have a conscience, how we will open, how we will do things, we will open the congress with a rule that will insist upon openness and transparency so that the american people can see the impact of public policy on their lives. putting an end to what the republicans did with their tax scam in the dark of night with the speed of light, no hearings on a bill that would have trillions of dollars of impact on our economy, that's over. we will strive in that openness with the american people as our partners because they will see the impact of legislation on their lives.

we will strive for bipartisanship. we believe that we have a responsibility to seek common ground where we can. where we cannot, we must stand our ground but we must try and so -- openness and transparency, accountability, bipartisanship are very important parts of how we will go forward. we believe that's a responsibility we have to honor the vision of our founders. they gave us in their declaration a call for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. how beautiful. they also gave us guidance on how to achieve that. ee blur business unum. you can't imagine how many we would become or how different we would be from each other but they knew we had to strive store oneness, recognizing that this is a marketplace of ideas. we have different views on the role of government and that's a

healthy debate for the american people to witness and for us to have. we do so with confidence in our values and our proposals but also with humility to listen and hear what others may have to say and so that will be the kind of congress that we have, one that honors that. last night i had a conversation with president trump about how we could work together. one of the issues that came up was part of our -- were the people's agenda, building infrastructure of america and i hope that we can achieve that. he talked about it during his campaign and really didn't come through with it in his first two years in office. but that issue has not been a partisan issue in the congress of the united states over the years we've been able to work together, regionally, across the aisle, across the capitol and down pennsylvania avenue. i hope that we can do that

because we want to create jobs from sea to shining sea, good-paying jobs whether it's about surface transportation, water systems, my colleague was here on broadband, always on, high speed broadband across america and the digital divide, rural areas as well as urban areas and in schools, housing and the rest. those jobs, that will create good paying jobs and also generate other economic growth in their regions. so, we hope that we can work in a bipartisan way in that way. the other issue that we could hopefully work on is lowering the cost of prescription drugs, and that is something the president has talked about. we had it six years ago, the one we couldn't get 60 votes in the senate was enables the secretary

to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices. we hope to get that done now because that is a big impact on america's families' budgets and then the third really caffeinating issue for us is integrity in government. to reduce the role of dark special interest money and i commend all of our candidates for their commitment to health care agenda, to the bigger paycheck agenda and also to the good government agenda. they have written letters saying that they want hr-1 which is our better deal for america's democracy to be something they vote on but i say to them, when you come here you will have an impact on what that legislation is. you may want to make some additions or some tweaking but nonetheless, our new commerce will be part of prutting togethr how the agenda goes forward and we look forward to that

ininvestigate race -- ininvestigate race of the congress and spoke to leader mcconnell this morning and how we could work together especially on infrastructure. i did receive a call of congratulations from speaker ryan and i welcomed that and we discussed how it is to win and how it is not to win. in terms of that. in any event, the concern that he was expressing was for some of his colleagues who will no longer be serving. on that point i want to say something because in winning this election, not only are we on the right side of the issue but on the right side of the future this. is where we have to go. but when we talk about the challenges that we face, we had to jump over gerrymandered lines all over the country so when we talk about our success, it's about the grassroots operation,

owning the ground, all of these groups that cared about health care, many of them out there to help or let people who shared their value about lowering health care cost and removing lifetime caps, even annual caps on insurance coverage and certainly restoring the benefit of pre-existing conditions. not being a barrier to coverage. most importantly, though, are the quality of our candidates. they're spectacular from every walk of life and some of them from a couple of different walks of life and when they come here they'll bring their experience, their knowledge and especially their values to the congress. we look forward to that. this is no easy feat to win this election. i hear the president attributing it to this, that and the other thing but when you think how gerrymandered the country is, how we hope to change that, but nonetheless, how we were able to

succeed in this election is a tribute again to the quality of our candidates, the determination of our grass roots folks across the country and the values that we share with the american people. in terms of working with the president, i just would say that i worked very productively with president bush when we had the majority and he had the presidency. we passed one of the biggest energy bills in the history of our country. we passed one of the biggest tax bills in terms of stimulus for low income people as well as middle income people in his presidency and the list goes on, petfar and there were so many issues we worked together and the war in iraq. but the point is that we worked together. the president said i'll wait for them to send me something. well, we have ideas and we can send him something but the fact

is if -- we'd like to work together so our legislation will be bipartisan. we are not going for the lowest common denominator but the boldest one and our position will be a consensus within our own party what we can support but welcoming other ideas so we look forward to a new kind of -- new era in terms what have is happening. these past two years have seemed like a very, very long time in terms of the path that it's taken us down. when i think of our founders and their courage, their vision, what they had in mind for us for everyone and think of the american people and how beautifully diverse we are and how newcomers to our country had constantly reinvigorated america and think of our beautiful planet and, of course, our own country, god's gift to us and how it has been neglected and

degraded in this past couple of years, i think that there's plenty of opportunity for us to match our legislation with the rhetoric that we are hearing. it might surprise you to know that the president, i quoted the most on the campaign trail, who would you think? ronald reagan. and i'll just -- i won't read you the whole quote but i'll read you just one paragraph. ronald reagan said this is the last speech i will make as president of the united states and i want to -- it's fitting to me one final thought and observation about a country which i love. his last speech. that's quite a headliner. your business, ronald reagan's last speech. he said thanks to each new wave of new arrivals to this land of opportunity, we're a nation for every young, forever bursting with energy and new ideas and always on the cutting edge, always leading the world to the next frontier. this quality is vital to our future as a nation.

it goes on to say, if we ever close the door to new americans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost. if we ever close the door our leadership would soon be lost so in that respect for the vision of our founders, diversity of our country, the beauty of our land, the values this our constitution first and foremost, we think there's an opportunity to work together. one sign of good faith on the part of the president to work together was for them to withdraw their assault on the pre-existing conditions benefit which the country's attorney generals generals across the country have put fort and define the law of the land and join in that lawsuit. that's just wrong, that's just wrong so we think, as, again, as a sign of good faith and in keeping with what they're saying on the campaign trail, withdraw

the lawsuit so that would be one place that we could start. in any event next week we look forward to welcoming our new class of freshmen. we will celebrate their diversity, the freshness of their thinking and the rest and they will immediately be incorporated into our building and how we go forward in a very open, transparent, bipartisan, unifying congress. any questions? yes, sir. because i didn't get to you last night. >> the president warned in the press conference -- into the white house and trump administration, he said that it could halt government. he also said that his tax returns wouldn't be released necessarily because he's under a continuous audit so my question is, are you concerned about democratic overreach in any way in your investigations and, two, how far are you willing to take the push to get the president's

tax returns in this new democratic majority? >> the president also said it was a good day for republicans so let's put that in perspective as well. we have a constitutional responsibility to have oversight. that's the balance of power. i'm an appropriator, it's one of the places i was forged in the congress as well as on the intelligence committee and both places were -- whose hammarks were bipartisanship, nothing we could always left to our own devices find our solutions, that, of course, has changed now when the poison pills rain down from on high but in appropriations and many -- all of the other committees, we have a responsibility to -- for oversight and hopefully in the course of asking for information we can just make the request and the information will come in. we're concerned about what's happening at epa, for example, to degrading the air we breathe

and the water we drink despite what the president said today. so that's only one example. i don't think we'll have any scatter shot freelancing in terms of this. we will have a responsibility to honor our oversight responsibilities and that's the path that we will go down. again, we are a trying to unify our country. >> how far will you go to try to get the tax returns? >> look, when our committees -- i'm a big believer in the committee system, always have been. our committees will make their decisions and make the recommendations to the caucus, but you can be sure of one thing, when we go down any of these paths we'll know what we're doing and we'll do it right. yes. >> the historic -- >> 30 more. >> -- in your leadership staying at the top, how will you -- >> i have always advanced

members into the leadership. they have to decide they want to run, then people like making their mark in their committees and that's a decision they have to make but to the first part of your question, what i -- some people have said to me and i appreciate your question, some people have said to me now that we have more women coming in, will we have for emphasis on things like child care and this and that? we have a big emphasis on that and we need to make it stronger in the majority. but that's across the board in our caucus. i don't want women only to -- as important as that is and it's vitally important to women's role in the workplace, i want women to not just be talking about those issues because we view every issue as a women's issue. we believe in national security of our country as a woman's issue. the economic security of our country, national security,

country. what i have always tried to do with everyone here is if they're interested and try to introduce them to be interested is to have a security credential, whether it's armed services, intelligence, foreign affairs, veterans affairs, mr. cummings' committee of government oversight, to share in fighting terrorism, to have a security credential, i think this is very important for the face of security in our country not to just be the men who have been doing it all along, with all due respect to their terrific leadership, but for women to take command and have standing on those issues. and many of our new members coming in bring standing with them already, some do, some do not. i do think that in terms of the

economy and our committee, we have maxine waters in financial services, so there's already a record of high leadership on issues that relate to the economic security of our country. we have i think four new women members on the ways and means committee just this past year, when usually there would be one or maybe one or two. an infusion of four more new members. again, in all of these issues i want women to take ownership of what would be traditionally not as highly visible roles for them. and that's one of the ways that they will change the congress, so that when people -- when the white house or the administration, whatever administration it is, has to report to leadership in the congress at any level about the safety of our country, they'll be talking to the full diversity of our country, our women, people of color, lgbq, i think

that's a very positive thing. people in the public will see people who share their values, their concern making decisions about the safety and security of our country. >> reporter: are you confident that you are going to be the next speaker of the house? >> yes, i am. yes, i am. what i say to those women, congratulations on your election. welcome. >> reporter: -- >> i've answered that question. let me say this in one sentence. i heard the president say i deserve to be the speaker. i don't think anybody deserves anything. it's not about what you have done, it's what you can do. what you have done in the past speaks to your credentials, but it's about what you can do and i think i'm the best person to go forward to unify, to negotiate.

i'm a good negotiator, as anyone can see in terms of how we have won every negotiation so far. the only one we didn't win wasn't a negotiation, it was the gop tax scam, the dark of night and speed of light as i said earlier. so i think that my case is being the best person as how we go forward and i'm not going to answer any questions on that subject. we saw something this morning that challenges the conscience of our country. we saw something this morning that shows a differentiation for the respect of the diversity of our country. we have to try to bridge that gap, to bring people together and i think i can do a good job at that. but i'd rather answer questions about policy and the rest. and the record will speak for itself. yes, ma'am. >> reporter: you made clear that democrats launch an

investigation, that any bipartisanship is off. do you have any concern these investigations could jeopardi jeopardize -- >> we do not intend to abandon or relinquish our responsibility in article i, the branch of government for accountability and the rest. this doesn't mean we go looking for a fight, it means if we need to go forward, we will. but that will be the work of our committee. every committee has oversight responsibility. energy and commerce, that's a big oversight committee as some of you probably are aware. but specifically to some of the concerns that the president may have, the judiciary committee, the intelligence committee, oversight committee -- well, there are a number of committees depending how we go down the path.

financial services committee. did i say intelligence? oh, homeland security committee because of course we are shamed as a nation by a policy that takes babies out of the arms of mothers, that builds tents and all the rest to house people and their separation of families. so we want to look into that, and we would hope that we could do so by simply having oversight. if in fact it requires a subpoena, i hope not, but so be it. >> reporter: do you think it was a mistake for the governor to stay silent on all the heated rhetoric from the president and some republican senators? the republicans kept control of the senate and some of them ran on this. are you maybe thinking that was a mistake? >> no, i do not.

i urged our colleagues not to take the bait on what the president was putting out there. it's a very dangerous issue on the campaign trail because of the misrepresentations that are put out there. you don't win a fight by fighting that same fight. you win by sticking with the program for the people, lower health care costs, bigger paychecks, cleaner government. that produced a big victory for us in spite what the vaebs dores have done. i have no regret. >> reporter: the border wall -- >> i'm sorry, i didn't watch his press conference, i don't know exactly what he said. what i will say is this, one of the biggest resources that we have -- when i say "we," the american people, it's public

sentiment. you heard me say again and again, president lincoln said public sentiment is everything. with you can accomplish anything, without it productically nothinproduct ical -- practically nothing. i believe one of the reasons we will be successful in our negotiations is because people will see the many paimpact of w being proposed on their lives, on their values, on our country. president ronald reagan, president george herbert walker bush, president clinton, president obama all valued the contribution of newcomers to our country, their hope, their determination, their optimism, their courage to make the future better for their families. they're all american traits. and when they come with those values, they make america more american. other presidents saw that. this president used it as -- in fear mongering.

i just don't think that's right. but in order to get in a position to fight it, we had to win on the issues that strike right to the financial security of america's working families and those are our values. >> last question. all right, so we've been listening to nancy pelosi, the soon to be, presumably, not necessarily 100% speaker of the house. a big win for the democrats, even though the president of the united states, we just heard him suggest this was a big win for the republicans and for him personally. so she had a conversation with the president. he called her last night, congratulated her on the democrats' win. they said on certain issues, infrastructure, maybe some other issues they could work together, but then the president warned very specifically just a little while ago in the east room of the white house if the democrats try to investigate, subpoena, go ahead with all sorts of oversight, you know what, there

could be a major confrontation. >> i don't think it was a warning. i think he was threatening them. it was beyond a warning. it was you do this and we're going to give it right back to you so you better watch yourself. and she didn't pay much attention to it i must say. she just said when we go down any of those paths, and she was talking about subpoenas, oversight, she made the point that oversight is congress's job, we'll know what we're doing and we'll do it right. >> can i just say one thing? we're all like frogs in boiling water. the congress has a responsibility enumerated and expanded in the constitution, okay? the house does oversight, the senate does oversight. that's what they're supposed to do anyway. >> it's a co-equal branch of government. >> exactly. the president of the united states threatening them if you investigate my administration, i will investigate you, meaning i will use the justice department, i will use the fbi for retaliation -- >> outrageous. >> that's an abuse of power.

that's not acceptable. that's not how presidents behave. i mean, i'm glad he reads the stage directions aloud so we all know what's in his mind. that's not allowed. even if it's an empty threat and he has guardrails around him in jeff sessions for the time being that will prevent him from doing that, paul ryan and mitch mcconnell, people who doesnn't point this out, that that's not how presidents are supposed to behave, like i don't know what kind of world you're preparing. this doesn't end with him. then a democratic president threatens to do it to a republican congress. it's not allowed. it's not acceptable. >> but it also gave away what he really knows happened yesterday. >> exactly. >> he's backed into a corner and he knows it. for all this i won, this is a great day, that was a squirrel cornered in the back of the