servants and public officials to be accountable to the public that is what freedom of the press is about and i think that is the part that troubles and worries into paying the president announced that he will be held accountable for the and done.has said this is a phrase that is being used by authoritarians around the world to try to silence critics. we cannot allow this regimen of geek news and alternative facts and words like those to diminish ourhe commitment to the basic protection of the freedom of the press. it is essential to the future of our democracy. >> press secretary s-sierra sanders responded to the senator's remarks calling them utterly ridiculous and saying they welcome access to the media

every day. we will play the full briefing the next. it's about 30 minutes. [inaudible conversations] good afternoon. let me start by previewing some of the president's plans for the rest of the week. tomorrow he will travel near pittsburgh pennsylvania. it began as a small family business for half a century ago, 2017 was the best year in company history which they credit to the president pro- jobs pro- worker agenda.

thanks to the passage of the tax cuts they will now be able to expend 100extend 100% of the int they make in the new equipment in the same year they buy it. this means their investments back into the company will be 50% higher than this last year. that means millions of dollars will be invested in growing the business rather than propping up the government in washington. when they buy more trucks and equipment for the fleet they hired more technicians to service them and buying more vehicles to transfer them from customer sites and buying more parts from suppliers to keep the fleet running. all of this activity spurred by the tax bill will result in more jobs, higher wages and a brighter future. the president looks forward to spending time with workers that are reaping the benefits of the tax cut reform and we know that this is just the beginning. friday we are excited to announce the president will become the first sitting president to address the march

for life from the white house. this will take place from the rose garden and he's committed to protecting the lives of the unborn and is expected t excitet of this historic event. now we have a guest with us here today from the department of justice to discuss the section 11 report which was released yesterday by the department of justice and the department of homeland security. i won't steal his thunder abouty this report highlights the urgent need for congress to adopt the reform identified and the administration's priorities. i will bring him up now so he can make a statement and answer a couple questions and as usual i know you will all be on your best behavior and ask questions on this topic only and then i will be happy to come back up and answer questions. >> i am the principal deputy assistant attorney general in

the justice department's national security division. in my capacity i assist the acting assistant attorney general for the supervision of 350 dedicated investigators and prosecutors who carry out the department's highest priority is protecting the united states from threats to national security. i've been with the national security division since november of last year previously from 1999 to 2,008 i was an assistant united states attorney in the southern district of new york from 2005 to 2008 i was the 200e co-chief of the terrorism and national security unit in the southern district of new york and some of the cases i've worked on of course during that time included the investigation into the 9/11 attacks that occurred while i was united states attorney in organized crime and terrorism unit for the southern district of new york. i appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today about the

release of the department of justice and department of homeland security section 11 report. of the executive order 13780 protecting the nation from terrorist entry into the united states was a collaborative effort between the doj and dhs to respond to the directive to provide information to the american people regarding the number of foreign nationals charged with or convicted of terrorism related offenses were removed from the united states based on terrorism related or other national security reasons. the justice department's national security division maintains a list of individuals convicted of internationa interl terrorism related charges in u.s. federal courts between september 11, 2001 and december 31 of 2016. as indicated in the report as of december 312016 there are 549 individuals on the list of

convictions of triggers on international terrorism related offenses. subsequent analysis of those 549 individuals convicted of international terrorism related offenses determined that approximately 73% or 402 of these individuals were foreign-born. a further breakdown of the citizenship status of these individuals at the time of the respective convictions shows that 254 were not united states citizens. 148 were foreign-born naturalized and received u.s. citizenship and 147 were u.s. citizens by birth. one of the cases highlighted in the report refers to a defendant be convicted in the southern district of new york. he came into the united states in 1980 as the family member of

a legal precedent. he was ultimately convicted of providing material support to al qaeda and its a case i supervised when i was the chief of the two prison uni two-persoe southern district of new york. the evidence in the trial showed she attempted to assist other individuals affiliated with al qaeda to try to enter the united states based on false statements and immigration documents and in fact assisted and took on the persona of one of the individuals whom he was attempting to try to get back into the united states to commit terrorist acts. the individual statements provided by that individual demonstrated that she was attempting to come back into the united states to commit attacks on gas stations in new york, my home town, and by the fact we were able to prosecute him and stop the attempt to engage in additional terrorist attacks

here in the united states. additional items included in the report the immigrations and customs enforcement provided information that shows that approximately 1,716 removals in 2011 because of the designation that is determined by ict in the department of homeland security and there are times when although there are national security concerns about foreign-born individuals in the united states in federal prosecution for one reason or another is not a suitable way to go about dealing with the threats posed by that individuals who the immigration authority have other tools at their disposal and one of them being the removable tool cited in the section 11 report. it is the case that the threats to the national security are not showing any signs of relenting

and dhs encountered 2,554 individuals on terrorist watch lists formerly known as the screening database. they were of course attempting to get into the united states. additional statistics provided include the fact between october 1, 2011 and septembe september 302017, a total of 355,345 noncitizens offenders were arrested after being convicted of an aggregated felony or two or more crimes each punishable by more than one year for a regular felony. during the same time. cody hs 372,098 noncitizens offenders were removed from the united states at the conviction of an aggregated felony or two or more felonies and between fiscal year 2010 and 2017 customs and border protection

identified and prevented the boarding of 73,261 travelers on flight tested from the united states who may have presented a security risk. in a statement yesterday about the paper, attorney general sessions indicate that there are thousands of investigations and thousands of people in the united states including those who came here as refugees. in addition, citing surveys previously by the components that there' there is an estimato 27 other killings in the united states and an estimated approximately half a million women and girls at risk of undergoing the practice of e-mail genital mutilation. in october of last year the trump administration laid out a series of immigration policy objectives to ensure safe and lawful admission to the united states to defend the safety of

the country and protect american workers and taxpayers. there is border security, immigration enforcement and the merit-based immigration system. from the cases i worked on the transnational criminal organizations and other individuals and entities that wish to seek weaknesses in our immigration system when it benefits them in accomplishing their own laws schemes. the immigration policies designepolicy isdesigned to sert of national security enhanced the screening and continued screaming to promote the information to help immigration and law enforcement authorities identified those who made pose a threat to the security of the american people. rather than positional programs that lack accountability and

adopting a merit based system for the skills the quality that include but are not limited to education for english-language proficiency or job skills. as a prosecutor protecting the nation's security i know some of the cases have involved exploitation of vulnerabilities in the system. the attorney general is committed to restoring law and order in the system so we can address and work to eliminate the vulnerabilities that can be exploited. those are my remarks. >> you find it alarming more than 25% of people with these charges were natural born u.s. citizens and what is the administration doing to stress that issue? >> of the enforcement of conduct

is found to be committed by individuals no matter where they are born the statistics that you have are compiled in this way and we've prosecuted in the national security division that there are 73%. the statistics that are brought before you respond directly to the executive board of international terrorism and .. >> has there been any change in

the stated policy of dealing with international terrorists or? >> are not aware of any change in the use of guantánamo. the administration is committed to enforcing our terrorism wall against anyone who will present a harm or threats to the united states. there are considerations as to how any potential case may be addressed to show the threat posed is neutralized. the administration is committed to all options on how we can neutralize a threat posed by anyone that fateful into a terrorism category [inaudible] >> i'm not awar >> i'm not aware of any

administration plans. >> i am hoping you can explain this further because you talked about the immigration system but above the crimes you are using as examples to justify changing the immigration system are attempted crimes or would have taken place outside the united d states can peopl, people wantinl outside of the united states providing support to fighters outside the united states and i understand there is a nexus of u.s. forces in those regions but the point is to reform the immigration system to protect americans. can you provide more information and statistics that show this

would have prevented people from coming in, do you have better examples? >> one is in response to the directives and working together we expect to have more statistics and address the initial report in future iterations. in terms of the cases that are reported some of which are included in the section 11 report there are certainly cases that relate to conduct that have been committed in the united states. the conduct that is in support of al qaeda or crisis that we define qualifies the international terrorism investigation and relates to the

terrorism conduct a some secondr third i should say of course we are trying to prevent through anyway we can we are trying to prevent terrorism attacks and so the most successful prosecution i've ever been involved in in the furtherance of the goal income junction we convict them and .. >> i'm trying to figure out how preventing people from coming in were conspiring to go fight and

would have protected people in the united states and you want to reform the immigration system and it seems like .. >> the reforms focus on getting more information. enhanced screening, more information asking more questions. the efforts by the administration would be a safer united states. i believe that and i know that the fact that there are individuals here in the united states that are willing to

engage in the act here i think that makes the american people safer. >> [inaudible] can you talk about the significance of that arrest? >> it is a very important arrest in the complaint to the case that the former cia officer retained classified information as the case proceeds in the court i would expect more information about the conduct that underlines the charges in the complaint will come out but as of now i came to the division

and it's an important case that goes to the illegal classification and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. >> they found approximately three out of four of the individuals on the charges and the studies are foreign-born individuals to enter the unitede united states and the immigration system. my understanding is they included people who had been extradited here in the trial and my question is is that correct and if so, how many reporters were actually immigrants. >> the date of it is included focuses on all the international

terrorism affects. it's something that is categorized by the national security division based on specific provisions of the united states attorney's manual that there are two categories of offenses that list the code of the federal criminal code that are in and of itself labeled terrorism offenses and i do not qualify as category one offenses but those are committed and convicted of those affected like fools statements or obstruction of justice that are committed in the international terrorism investigations of those are the ones that are reported some of which include foreign-born and naturalized u.s. citizens. her is undoubtedly a certain number of those foreign-born individuals who have been

brought into the united states fight extradition or otherwise to face charges. but the underlining important fact about the cases is that we were able to prove those individuals committed terrorism offenses against the united states and are now serving life sentences or very long sentences that will neutralize the threat because we were able to convict them under the international terrorism statute. we wil both jumped right into questions today. it's indicated as the white house stand by the report?

>> absolutely. doctor jackson has been a white house physician for the last 12 years and trusted by president bush, obama and now president of trump. he is the only doctor that has weighed in on this matter to examine the president and so i think a doctor that spends any amount of time with the president as doctor jackson has this not only qualified that the only credible source when it comes to diagnosing the concern and we support what he said yesterday 100% and i think that he exhausted every question you have and he's in pretty good health to stand up here for an hour and take questions. >> [inaudible] in his approach to the media

saying the world over a statement from senator john mccain that they should stop attacking the press so they are supposed to get out fake news awards. what do you think of what they said about this award plaques >> in response to senator flake specifically, i found it quite interesting that he is coming out to attack this president considering he is one that was recently defending the oppressive regime and went to cuba a few weeks ago and served as a mouthpiece for the government. he's not criticizing the president because he's against oppression but because he has terrible polling numbers and is looking for some attention. certainly our position at the white housthat thewhite house ie access to the media every day.

i'm standing right here taking questions. >> to see if you are big winners both in the room yesterday as far as the claims that he's made and specifically its what can and cannot be said for the scope of executive privilege without getting into the details can you

find for us what the white house is telling the attorneys that fall into the scope of executive privilege? >> they are following the same practice that many white house is before us have that go back decades. there is a process that you go through any time you have congressional inquiries into the congress should consult prior to obtaining confidential material and this is part of the judicial recognized process. we've been fully cooperative in the investigations and we will continue to do so and encourage the committees to work with us to find the accommodations to inshore congress all they are looking for but there's a process that this works through. it goes back decades because it needs to be protected whether it

is this administration warned years from now and we want to follow the process and that is all that is taking place. it's broader than it has been in the past. >> they simply talk about the process and if we are following the same process i can't go into the details i can only discuss the process. [inaudible] who was he delaying the question to and is it something he asked them to do and if so why did they think that was a necessary step? >> it is a process followed in some times they have an attorney

present in the room and begin it was following standard procedure for an instant like this and something that will likely happen again on any number of occasions. it would provide government funding. is that a proposal? >> we do support the short term however it isn't the first choice. we would still like to see the funding bill, but we do support the short term cr and will continue moving forward on the process. >> do you think it is acceptab

acceptable? >> the president doesn't want it to shut down and you have only one place to boo look and that o the democrats who are holding the military and national security hostage by trying to push through other policies that have nothing to do with the budget. we would like it again t again a budget deal done and then focus on negotiation following that responsible immigration reform. this is the position has not changed. >> republicans don't have 60 votes, so democrats need to decide they are going to come here to do their jobs and govern and put the national security ahead of their own personal political us or they are not. that's something you have to ask the democrats what's more

important. a preference of the administration again if that does happen, the blame and fault will lie and one place because we would like to see a budget deal happen. >> meeting last friday with the ambassador of pakistan commented on the government and said it is that pakistan wants respect for

the work and sacrifices. he simply said he will not dwell on that. your response? >> our position is firm that it is important and i would refer you to the state department for anything beyond that. >> your point about the process and how this all works. is the white house afraid of what he might think? >> not that i'm aware of. we have been pretty clear on this entire process that there was absolutely no collusion.

but in terms of what he might say, i can't answer or speculate on that. i can simply tell you we are following the procedure whether it is this committee or any other committee down the road it is a process that's important to protect. >> if there is a government shutdown [inaudible] >> he wants a budget deal and once to have republicans and democrats agree on a budget and we are happy to talk about other things, but it shouldn't be tied to a political agenda. those are two separate things. >> they show this aggressive and finding down.

as we have said regardless of who it is we encourage everybody involved in the process to be fully cooperative. the first part of your question was are we prepared, and i think we've been dealing with this for the better part of his ear. do the american people deserve that, no i don't think they do. are you talking about essential? >> i'm talking about the process. i can't go any further than that

the support the preference and we support the short term. >> so he will encourage them to vote forward lack >> we support the short term and think it is better than not having that as the alternative to gain our preference would be >> when you look at the calendar on the budget deal the explanation is up. does the president want to see the deal struck before the next would end. let's make a budget deal by friday and then let's come back to work aggressively and make a deal on responsible reform. we would like to do all those

things and are happy to do them quickly if democrats can work with us and get on board. >> if it gets past, do they try to get support together for infrastructure? >> we want to get a deal done that is the priority right now but we can certainly manage more than one thing at a time. we will be working on that as well. >> this weekend he's planning on going to florida and for the one-year anniversary of the inauguration if there is in fact a government shutdown. >> we hope that republicans and democrats will come together and have a budget deal. we are still focused on that being our top priority.

if that doesn't happen and there is a schedule change, we will certainly let you guys know. how does he plan to make sure? >> we are doing everything we can to encourage members on both sides. the president has made very clear the number one priority is the national security and fully funding the military so that it's something of a post. they should share that same passion and priority [inaudible]

we see this as an opportunity for the regime to see the value of ending its international isolation by the denuclearization. we are very much focused and hope that happens. this isn't the first time that the countries marched together and we hope that this experience gives north korea and its athletes a small taste of freedom and is something that spreads and impacts in the east negotiations and contacts.

this runs about 45 minutes. >> for the roundtable discussion this morning we are joined by minnesota republican jason lewis, virginia democrat bobby scott to talk about the bipartisan legislation for the criminal justice system, but before we get to that, with just days to go before the potential shutout coming your thoughts on how the next couple of days will play out? >> guest: there's the consent this we are not shutting the government found that wha down s under the bill is still getting worked out and i would hope that we could come to an agreement and funded for a year. i come from an area that is very strong in defense and virtually impossible. the shipbuilding for example exn a monthly basis you really need to be able to do long-term planning, so we are in a strong disadvantage in these monthly continuing resolutions.

the >> guest: i agree. we passed the appropriation bills in the house and senate and ended up getting back into the cr. on the defense especially i think we will get there but we won't shut the government down and we will do something very important for my home state of minnesota and that is the way the medical advice tax that is on the sales. we will get it done and handed over to the senate and see if they want to shut it down. >> host: you don't think that it gets included in this bill? >> guest: i don't think there's an appetite for that and we can handlet: it separately ad that's the way we should. >> there's a lot of important issues. the medical device tax, nobody likes taxes but if you eliminate we wouldn' would put up by actin