couple employed there by the usps in polson, montana, that was caught distributing methamphetamine through postal shipments. employees of the usps. a city there, it's beautiful. it sits in the flathead tip, close to glacier part. the population is less than 5,000 people. the concern is that about a half a pound of meth could be shipped directly into this small community. i tell you i'm grateful for law enforcement officials. their vigilance uncovered this operation, and we need to do more to stop the spread of this meth epidemic that's occurring in montana. my question is what detective and preventive measures is the usps taking to combat the shipment of meth in rural america? >> i'm going to ask the inspector to step up and answer that question.

>> yes, senator, thank you. guy cottrell. -- we are going to leave this briefing to go to the white house press house briefing. this is a company that stopped manufacturing and than fthank s to the trump tax breaks, they have been able to keep their employees and give bonuses. some are heroic, and some are tragic, but all of them represent the american spirit, and allow our businesses to grow prouder and more prosperous. john? >> the news came down that the deputy director mccabe is st stepping down, and the reaction of the president in december was tweeting about andrew mccabe in less than a effusive praise ha

m -- praise manner and what are you seeing? >> we have been seeing the numerous reports as you have, and any specifics that i can tell you that none of the decision was made by the white house, and any specifics i refer you to the fbi who is going to be making a statement later today. >> you say that the white house is not involved in the decision, but clearly the president was involved in a public campaign against mccabe. >> the president stands by his previous comment, but in terms of the decision today, we have seen the reports just as you have, and we don't have any specific comments and i refer you to the fbi for any specifics on the things that are taking place today. jill? >> somebody said that you have seen the report, but does that mean that the president was not inform informed by anybody at the fbi that it was happening or conversations with anybody there? >> no, he hasn't.

is a sealel >> yes, i would say that the president is not a part of this process and direct you to the director of the fbi who the president has full confidence in and put decisions concerning the fbi in his hands. >> has he conveyed to anybody on the staff that he wanted to fire robert mueller? >> not that i am away of. aisha? >> so to finish the loop, nobody in the white house contacted the white house about mccabe can or had any discussion about the tenure at the fbi? did anyone at the white house? >> not that i am aware of and nothing specific to mccabe and his stepping down as of today. if that is what is being reported. jim? >> sarah, what would you say to the critics that believe that this almost had a steady

pressure put on the justice department, and put on the fbi since the president came into office on this special counsel investigation, and whether it is going to be conversations with jeff sessions' office about the are recusal or owhether it is about this desire of robert mueller to go away and now with andrew mccabe, and even reports that rod rosenstein was feeling pressure from the white house, and sounds like multiple officials at multiple levels at the white house being pressured by the president, and what are you saying in response to this concern? >> i would say what i have said 100 times before, and i continue to say at least 100 times today that the white house has been fully cooperative and is going to be fully cooperative and many times done whatever we can. we have provided over 20 witness, and tens of thousands of pages of document fs to the special counsel and done

everything that we can to be fully transparent and we will continue to do so. >> what about the notion that the president has been a applying pressure for pontes? >> the only pressure is that he has wanted this resolved so that you all and everybody else can focus on the things that the americans care about which is making sure that everybody gets the russia fever out of their system once and for all and that you are reminded once again that there is no collusion and we can focus on things like national security and the economy and solving the immigration crisis in the country. >> no obstruction of justice or inappropriate whatsoever from the president since he came into officeb when it comes to the office. >> no, and we have been very clear on that. >> and does the president have confidence in the man that he appointed to be deputy attorney general -- >> when you guys have asked this question about a number of individual, and when the president no longer has any confidence in someone, you will

know. >> on the memo, the house intelligence committee could vote to release this chairm mem chairman nunes has drafted and then the white house counsel will say that the president has five days to object to the public release, and what is the thinking or the current level of white house involvement? can you shed any light on the white house and capitol hill? >> well, nobody at the white house has seen the memo, and so it is very hard to make a decision or speak about it before it takes place. right now, we are letting the house process play out, and if if and when it is time for the white house the weigh in, we will do that through the proper protocol and making sure that we follow the legal process, and again, we are not to that point in the process. >> sarah, two question, and just following up on that, and the white shouse going to wait and see, and is the white house open to the idea of the release of the memo to the public, and if

you can state that the russian probe is really russian fever and that the country needs to get out of the system, and is he going to the address that in any way? >> to answer the first question, we want full transparency so what we have said all along and making a decision when and if that time becomes necessary in terms of the state of the union and i'm not going to get ahead of the president's address. it is tomorrow night and i know that you are all excite and you will tune in and see at that time exact ly what is to be included. april. >> and do you think that he is going to address it? >> it is something that we address every single day that we have been here, and you ask it more and more, and in fact, we spend more time on, that and despite the fact that time and time again and poll afterle poll, nobody cares about the issue, and it is not the thing that keeps people up at night,

and we would love to talk about the things that do, and it is my guess that is the focus of the president's state of the union tomorrow night. >> and back on the state of the union, when the presidents give their state of the union address and particularly his first, the presidents are normally optimistic when they say that the state of our union is, and what is the state of our union today some. >> it is inkrcredible, and you will hear that in the president's words tomorrow night, and look, we have an e e k k conmy that is booming, and isis is on the run, and we have a judiciary to help you uphold the constitution, and there are great things happening in the country, and you can expect to hear the president talk about those thing, and not only this year, but all of the great things many this next seven years a after that. >> and on the next topic, i want to go to the issue of black employment, and is the president going to start targeting black employment that he has been saying that it is going down on his watch and i have never heard

of a targeted approach, and this is an administration aware that the black employment rate from december 6.8%, and the white unemployment rate is 3.7%, and the asian unemployment is 2.5%, and the hispanic unemployment rate is 4.9%, and the black unemployment rate is continue ing to the be higher and more than two times higher than that white unemployment rate and so is this touting or trying to fix it, and make an active effort to fix it. >> look, you can see from the steps that we have taken that we are trying to fix the unemployment for all american, and that is the promise of the president time and time again that we want it better for everybody, and we have made it significant through the number of regulations that we have cut to make it a job-friendly market, and more job-friendly environment, and certainly add ing to that the tax cuts and the tax reform legislation that the president has been historic in what has happened, and in the way that it has helped our

economy and certainly helped the jobs ak a cross the country. >> and what about jay-z talking in terms of black america and he took issue, because he screened with all caps have you seen the black employment numbers. >> because they are better ta than they have been and we are making progress and we want to continue to do that. we want every day to be better than the day before, and certainly for black americans, and hispanic americans across the board, this is a president who wants the life to with be better for all american, and he is going to be pushing and fighting for, that and you will hear him talk about that again tomorrow. john? >> thank you, sarah. the former attorney general of the united states eric holder described andrew mccabe has a dedicated public servant who has served the country well. would you describe him in the same manner? >> look, i don't have a personal relationship with him, so i won't describe him. i think that we have talked about some of the concerns that we have with some of the actions that he has taken, but in terms

of anything specific are regarding the dep the ti druty and in particular the news reports, i refer you to the fbi. >> and based on the past tweets that he has put out regarding mr. mccabe, it does not seem to be a p big fan and is he disa appoint ed thed that he is goine leaving his post as deputy director of the fbi. >> well, i don't know anything about that process, and the president did not play a role, so i direct you to the fbi. >> and he did say, andrew mccabe is racing the clock with full benefits and 90 days to go, and so does the president belief that andrew mccabe should retire with full benefits. >> again, i direct you to the fbi about any news of his stepping down. >> and you mentioned who is going to be in the first lady's box in the state of union and talked about a lot of the guest,

but nothing about the president's family, and can you say which of the president's family members will be there and also, po the tep shatentially ty of the travel of the president that he might take to push his agenda. >> typically the president's family and the first lady will be there at the state of the union with the exclusion of baron who i don't believe is going to be attending right now, and in terms of the traveling, we will keep you posted with any scheduled announcements over the weekend. margaret. >> i wanted to ask you about -- [ inaudible ] -- and to brush over -- and can you tell us if that is going to happy today or the news on the oligarchs news is going to be public and whether the list will be public? s >> we expect the reports today

and i refer you to department of treasury on that as it happens. >> and if you could help us to coordinate that, it would be helpful. >> we are coordinating and they are going to be the lead for questions specifically for it. and so i am telling you to reach out to them. >> i will let them know that you said that you could tell us. [ laughter ] >> on the i.g., i know that are there is a lot of speculation about what might happen, and whether there is a security case to make for one secure network, but some experts including the republican of the fcc chair i guess are a little concerned about the idea of the more nationalized expert, and i want to talk to you about whether that idea is dead or alive. >> and as we outlined on the strate strategy, it was on page 19 and a few people will be proud of me memorizing it, and we the discussed the need for a secure network, and right now, we are in the erllest stages, and there are no decisions on what that

looks like, and what role anyone would be playing that in, and simply for the need of the secure network, and that is the only part of this conversation with what we are up to right now. >> and a multiple platform -- >> these are on the earliest stages of the discussion period, and there is no decision made other than the fact that the need for a secure network. >> yes, sarah. the president talking about the urban revitalization plan. >> as i said before, we won't get into details beyond what is discussed on the state of the union plan, but it is for all to tune in to see tomorrow. >> and the president has touted black unemployment when faced with allegations of racism, and given the numbers below black unemployment, why are so many beyond the african-american community are so uncomfortable -- >> well, that is a question that

you would have to ask them and we hope and pray and expect to have everyday building a greater relationship within the community and before that, as we said before, with all americans, this is a president who wants to lead for everybody, and not looking to lead for any one person or any one group, and so if you are looking for the policies that he is enacting over the first year, you can see that he is doing exactly that, and he is building the e kconom of every american that is cutting regulation of every american, and helping to put isis on the run, and the safety and the security of everyone, and helping to security the border and ending loopholes in the failed immigration system and all of those h things help all americans and that is what the president is focused on and that is what we are doing this year, and look forward to doing in the next seven years. thank you, guys. >> a number of questions on

deputy director anthony mccabe who is leaving his position on a previously planned retirement this spring. they say that the move is effective as of today. and c-span3, we are going to be taking you back to the panel on opioid epidemic, and specifically on the mail, and the u.s. mail internationally. >> and it would be am bish shoushgs and we are all for that and we want 100%, but we have to change some of the methods and the management and the priorities in order to get there. the jfk program that we talked about earlier, this is a program that, particularly with the regard to china that you had an agreement on the e-packets can of 44 pounds or less, and this is a quote from one of the customs and border protection officers on the ground working at jfk in an e-mail, and quote, there is no meaningful improvement as the