checking off a box and not just being on paper and it's about fighting this issue and i'm talking about these council members and these companies. we meet weekly, and we meet biweekly on focused efforts and then each company goes away with a deliverable, multiple deliverables and they spend an, normous amount of time, effort and bringing solutions to the table. in terms of the freedom council and we have two verticals within the umbrella of freedom council. one it is about the united states and our efforts in this country, and i think it came up in the past discussion that here we have several ngos and we don't have a shortage of ngos. we are many organizations fighting this cause, but maybe where there is an opportunity is to bring collaboration -- >> we are going to leave this discussion and go live now to the white house for today's briefing. here's spokesman sarah sanders.

>> i'd like to start today by bringing up acting assistant attorney general john cronan. mr. cronan supervises the criminal's division more than 600 federal prosecutors who conduct prosecutions involving organized and transnational crime, gang violence and other crimes. he'll make a statement regarding ms-13 and we'll take wes on this topic and i'll be back after that to finish and answer questions on the news of the day. john? >> good afternoon. >> good afternoon. >> again, my name is john cronan. i am the acting assistant attorney general of the criminal division of the department of justice. before serving my current role i supervised the terrorism and international narcotics unit of the u.s. attorney's office for the southern district of new york. prior to that, i sfshed as an assistant united states attorney

in new york where i prosecuted violent criminals and national security defendants including osama bin laden's son-in-law and the attempted times square bomber. on the day that attorney general jeff sessions was sworn in president trump sent executive orders to reduce crime in america and to target transnational organized crime. a as acting assistant attorney general i support the attorney general in accomplishing these goals. by directing the enforcement of all federal criminal laws with the exception of those that are specifically designated to other divisions of the department of justice. as sarah mentioned, my duties include oversight of the nearly 700 prosecutors in the criminal division and that includes the organized crime and gang section, the capital k section and the international criminal investigative training assistance program, and the office of overseas prosecutorial development assistance and

training. i had the opportunity to just now brief president trump about one of the most significant threats to the public safety of our communities, ms-13, and i appreciate the opportunity to also speak with you today about that threat. ms-13 or mara salvatrucha has grown to 30,000 members worldwide. 10,000 of whom live right here in the united states spanning 40 states and the district of columbia. this murderous gang has infiltrated our country. it is estimated that there are 2,000 members in los angeles between 800 and 1200 members in dallas and houston, 2,000 members on long island, between

800 and 1200 members in boston, and approximately 3,000 members living right here in washington, d.c., and the d.c. metropolitan area. i am sure many of you, not all of you know, ms-13 is probably the most violent and ruthless gang terrorizing our streets today. their motto is mata, viola, controla, which means kill, rape, control. it is this motto and indiscriminate violence that ms-13 lives and rules by, and they commit rape, robbery, extorti extortion and murder often just for the sake of it. they attack their victims with chains, bats, machetes,

firearms. ms-13 recruits children to be murderers. they gang rape young girls and sell them for sex. i briefed the president on a few examples of ms-13's brutality. these include a 15-year-old gaithersburg, maryland, girl named demaris rivas who was stabbed 13 times with knives and a wooden stake. the girl's killers filmed her murder so they could show gang leaders back in el salvador what they had done. demaris' body was savagely dumped next to railroad tracks under the same road, the beltway that many of us take to work every day. i briefed the president about the ms-13 members who murdered a

fellow gang member they believed to be a snitch, and who murdered a recruit for violating gang rules. one of those individual his his head severed. america s-13 buried those two victims in shallow graves in a park in falls church, virginia, a park just about ten miles from here. i briefed the president about a long island victim who was lured into the woods in central islip, new york, by ms-13 members who was beaten with sticks and a fire extinguisher. the gang members ultimately cut her throat with a knife and sadistically stuffed his body into a drainage pipe where it went undiscovered for months. the department of justice, under the leadership of attorney general sessions, is devoting

resources to accomplishing the president's directive of reducing violent crime and ensuring that our citizens are no longer held hostage by murderous savages like ms-13 members. attorney general sessions had designated ms-13 a priority for the organized crime drug enforcement task force. the department of justice will be surging hundreds of new prosecutors to the field specifically to focus on violent crime and immigration offenses. the department has enhanced our relationships with the northern triangle countries, el staff d'or, guatemala and honduras to target ms-13. this past summer attorney general sessions visited el salvador where he met with the salvadoran attorney general to discuss joint efforts to dismantle ms-13 at its roots. soon after that meeting, about

70 gang members were charged in el salvador in total, our central american partners had thus far resulted in the arrest or charges against more than 4,000 suspected ms-13 members. the justice department, in coordination with our partners on the state and local level will continue to prosecute scores of ms-13 gang members located in the united states, but because ms-13 is based and operates in el salvador and because ms-13 largely directs its murderous mission from prisons out there in el salvador, we must do more than enforce our domestic violent crime laws against gang members in the united states. our investigations have revealed that when we fail to enforce our

immigration and human smuggling laws, when we fail to enforce immigration laws and allow for loopholes to exist to let future ms-13 gang members into the country, ms-13 can very easily simply replenish its jailed membership by sending more gang members across our borders. and for that reason as well, the department of justice also remains committed to enforcing our criminal immigration laws and to identifying and targeting ms-13's smuggling networks. to be clear, we will undertake all lawful measures to end this scourge on our communities. thank you for your attention. >> john, quick question.

>> i have a question, given the threat that you're discussing here, why has attorney general sessions renewed a sort of increase in enforcement against marijuana even though a lot of states have tried to decriminalize or make it legal? >> sure. i'm not able to talk much detail into the marijuana policy, but i will say that there are a number of policies that the department of justice has a hearing on any given day, as the assistant attorney general of the criminal division i've certainly seen the harm that marijuana can do, but more importantly, the priorities here are not being -- are not at the expense of any resources being addressed to the marijuana policy and with respect to the ms-13 the attorney general made clear that he is devoting sufficient resources and additional resources to ensure that the districts and the u.s. attorneys offices have what's needed to address the --

>> you do have finite resource, right? why merit something that was deprioritized and was not considered the threat of the violence that you're talking about? >> we're dealing with multiple priorities any day at the department of justice and allocating resources and there will be sufficient resources targeting america s-13 and we will continue to develop the resources to that threat. >> people in this community have been reading about ms-13 since 2006. is it your position that the previous two administration, bush and obama simply did not prioritize this or is it much worse now than it was then and therefore, it is justified to have the focus you're describing here today? >> ms-13, you are correct, has certainly been around for some time. i do think we've seen a significant uptick in their violence in the past several

years. when you look at atrocities they've committed both in the local communities here and across the country it's a new threat and unlike one we've seen from a violent transnational organized crime operating on the united states soil. ms-13, like i said in my remarks not only has 10,000 members in the united states, but they are across the country in 40 states and the district. we have ms-13 prosecutions going on in virginia, new york, l.a., texas and all around the country -- >> the previous two administrations not appreciate this? let this grow and let this become a bigger problem? >> can't talk to the priority of the previous administrations, i can talk to the priority of this administration and this department of justice and in order to effectively target ms-13 is not enough that federal and state authorities are enforcing the criminal laws with respect to ms-13 members on u.s.

soil and it's not in a position to replenish its ranks to send children into the united states to later be recruited by ms-13 and be their murderers down the road. unless we do that we'll number this constant situation where it will be reconstituting their ranks with us unable to eradicate it from u.s. society. >> two questions. >> yeah? >> last year president trump talked about ms-13 and we saw graphic detail and now you've given the president an update. what beyond the immigration issue will the justice department be doing to break the back of ms-13, that's the first question, if you can answer? >> sure. the first question is that the department of justice has been and will continue to dedicate considerable resources to ensure that ms-13 is being targeted and i think we're seeing that that's working. last year the department of justice secured more convicts against -- or secure the convictions against 1200 gang

members and we charged the most federal firearms offenses in a decade. we brought more cases against violent criminals in a quarter of the century. domestically, that is what we're doing and we'll continue that. i mentioned the additional prosecutors that will be sent out to the field and there are additional prosecutors being sent out to specific areas where ms-13 is a problem and we will enforce our robust, criminal statutes that allow us to target the conduct, robbery, racketeering, murder, drug trafficking to get them off the streets. another important tool is capacity building. one is working with our partners in the northern triangle countries in central america. we provide training down there to their law enforcement and their prosecutors and whatever systems they can to make sure they are able to target ms-13 before -- at the roots in el salvador, honduras and guatemala before the threat hits the

united states soil expect it's a multi-tiered attack. >> my second question on another issue and i am glad you are here today. the eric garner case. it's still out there and people are waiting for an indictment. his mother is looking for justice. he cried out 11 times, "i can't breathe." what's new? what can we expect from that case? >> with respect to that case i have nothing to share. i think that would beet better directed to others. >> we understand it's in the criminal department, the criminal portion of justice so i mean, is there any movement at all? because i'm hearing that there should have been an indictment. >> i apologize to the extent an ongoing investigation exists i am want able to talk about that beyond this point. >> in the room where you gave your first presentation, the whole ms-13 issue was wrapped up in the need to increase border

enforcement and to change our immigration laws. did you have any idea how many of the 10,000 gang members of ms-13 gang are here illegally and legally? >> it's hard to put on a number on it because they enter the country without us knowing. i will give one example of a snapshot of what we are seeing. this past november the department of justice and the department of homeland security announced the results of operation raging bull. operation raging bull was our enhanced efforts to target ms-13 and it culminated in the arrest of 267 arrests both in the united states and in el salvador. in the united states there were 214 arrests and 94 of them were on criminal charmes for federal state, for murder, racketeering and robbery, firearms and many other offenses. of the 214 individuals arrested

in the united states, 198 were foreign nationals and only five of them and five of those 198 had legal status in the united states and 64 of those had illegally crossed the border as unemployed children and many have become adults and i do not have a number to give you or a statistic to give you, but i think that snapshot from operation raging bull gives a sense of the extent of the problem. >> isn't it true that ms-13 makes up a small fraction of gang members in the country? >> i don't know what percentage of gang members it makes up and it's not limited to ms-13. we have numerous pros kuths going on around the country into violent subsets of the bloods and a group called night train gangsters. we announced charges against the mongols motorcycle gang. there are many gang prosecutions

around the country. this is not to say that ms-13 is the only threat we face, that is certainly not the case, but ms-13 is a unique threat. it's violence for the sake of violence and it is indiscriminate killing and brutality? our commune sxits it is a threat very tough to stop because we are in a position because ms-13 is able to replenish its ranks as we incarcerate members. >> ms-13 targets communities, and what would you say to critics to say you're using this gang to paint a broad brush stroke against immigrants and scare people here? >> i think if we look at reality of the actions of ms-13 and the d.c. metropolitan area and long island and around the country the scare tactics being used are not by the department of justice and it is by ms-13. they're savages engaging in indiscriminate violence in the

community. [ indiscernible ] >> thanks. i'll let you answer brian's question if you have time. you talk about the attorney general's question and i want to ask about someone else that's the leader of the doj, rod rosenstein, do you think he's being unfairly maligned? >> i will -- i am here to talk about ms-13, and i asked to stay on that topic and the deputy attorney general rosenstein as a former u.s. attorney of maryland as someone who saw it first hand the devastating effects of ms-13 on his district and someone with an intricate understanding of the threat and he shares the attorney general's commitment to targeting the threat and he's supportive of our efforts. >> my question, if you can -- really quick. look -- >> local law enforcement, one of the biggest problems local law

enforcement has is that they believe that you are, particularly what you are doing now are causing more problems because people in the immigrant community are afraid to come forward and testify against ms-13 because they believe they're going to be deported if they do so. can you at least give them any assurance that the immigrant communities, particularly if gaithersburg, maryland, you brought that one up and people -- the police in montgomery county had a difficult time for people to come forward as witnesses because they were afraid they would be deported if they did so. so your own rules and what you're doing is scaring people away. can you address that? >> i think local law enforcement is largely supportive of the department's, forts to target ms-13 to the extent individuals are scared to testify against ms-13 members and you need to look no further than people targeting them as snitches and putting them in shallow graves. >> you will ship them out and

deport them if they do and they've expressed that fear. >> if someone does have a real fear and is providing testimony and they could pursue that relief, as well, in the appropriate circumstance. >> do you see where that might be a problem, though in prosecuting a case? >> we always deal with situations of cooperating witnesses and having to deal with fears by cooperating witnesses and we address those fears as appropriate. >> one more, please, john. >> okay. thank you. thank you, john. on a few lighter subjects to cover and then i'll take your questions. as you all probably saw earlier this morning first lady melania trump announced the initial details for the 140th white house easter egg roll. the event will take place monday april 2nd on the front lawn, families with children 13 and younger are invited to join the president for a day of

festivities. they can be requested through an online system opening this friday, february 9th and closing thursday, february 15th. as in the past years the white house will also select volunteers for the egg roll through an online application. people can submit their names through white house.gov. the deadline for applying is february 23rd. over the last year i've occasionally taken the opportunity to share some letters to the president written by people from all over the country, from pickle to frank the lawn mower. i've especially introducing you to hardworking young americans with incredibly bright futures. today i have another letter to share. this one from natalie dalton from clarksburg, maryland. she writes, dear mr. president, i'm natalie and i'm 11 years old, almost 12. my cousin celia who is 8 years old and have loved to cook since we practically were born. if you don't believe me, check out the pictures we'ven closed. we are more than cousin, we are best friends.

from the time we were little we've helped our nonna in the kitchen is to write you for an amazing opportunity. you are most welcome to come to my house if you would prefer. it would be an honor to mack keu a meal and we read you only sleep four hours a night. our pop-pop says you are doing a good job. thank you for keeping us safe. natalie, i am happy to tell you that i talked to the president about your letter this morning and he and the first lady would like to take you up on your very kind offer. we have an amazing kitchen and culinary staff here at the white house and the president and first lady would like for you to come over and work alongside them some time very soon. he said to tell your pop-pop and nonna hello and to tell your mother congratulations for raising such a brave and talented little girl. most importantly, he said to tell you to always believe in yourself, and know that in america you can achieve anything through hard work, determination and perseverance and sometimes

you just have to take a chance and put yourself out there. that's exactly what you did with your later and we're excited to meet you in person soon. and with that i will take your questions. >> on the president's shutdown comments a few minutes ago, a few weeks ago he said that a shutdown would be devastating to the military. does he now feel that a shutdown would be -- even with a negative impact. >> the only people that have caused a shutdown are the democrats. the democrats actually shut the government down. let's not forget that a couple of weeks ago. the president isn't looking for this, but if the democratic party will continue to threaten a shutdown because they won't include responsible immigration reforms including fixing ms-13 loopholes and other issues then the president welcomes that fight. it's a fight we won last time and we are confident we would

win again. let me repeat, our goal is to get a two-year budget deal and to also get a deal on immigration which we have laid out. the president has generously laid out a plan that addresses both republicans and democrats' concerns and we are democrats concerns, and we are hopeful we will come to an agreement on both fronts. >> is the president encouraging a shut down? >> the president is encouraging people to do their jobs. he is encouraging p people to have a long-term budget deal that helps our military instead of the short term deals. that's what he advocated all along. the president is encouraging them to do their jobs, come to an agreement on immigration, particularly the four places he outlined what have to happen in any piece of legislation. >> can you clarify, would the president rather see shut down or short term spending this week? >> again, we are not advocating the shut down. that is the fault of the democrats not being willing to do their jobs. the president wants a long-term

deal, a deal on immigration, and we hope the democrats will come to the table and get those things done p. >> john kelly said that some dreamers were quote too lady to get off their asses and register for daca applications. is this the opinion of the white house that they are lazy? >> that was done by the previous administration. we have a system that is not lawful, that has a lot of legal loop holes and has very large national security concern. we want to address it completely, solve the problem on daca, solve the security issue, end the visa lottery system. we don't want to continue kicking the can down the road. we are focused on getting a solution. frankly, if anyone is lazy it is probably democrats who aren't showing up to work and not get together table to make a deal on this.

>> what did the president make of the stock market volatility yesterday and today? does he have any regrets about taking responsibility or credit for the stock market's rise? >> the ekmoin is incredibly strong. the president's focus continues to be on the long-term economic fundamentals which, you like i just said, are very strong in this country. we are infinitely better off today than we were before the president took office, particularly on the economy. we have historically low unemployment. and we actually have increasing wages for american workers. there is nothing taking place over the last couple of days in our economy that is fundamentally different than it was two weeks ago and we are very comfortable with where we are right now. >> does he have any second thoughts about taking credit for when the stock market comes up in. >> does the president have second thoughts for taking credit for a booming economy? absolutely not. >> has the president reviewed the memo from the house of democrats and is he inclined to

release it? >> the president has seen the memo. he met with deputy attorney general rod rosenstein within last hour to discuss differences between the two memos. we are undergoing the exact process of the previous memo, in which it will go through a full and thorough national security interview. when that is through, the president will be given a briefing and there will be a determination that time. >> concluding last time the president made it clear to lawmakers he was inclined to release the republican memo, has he made any similar comments to you guys about the democratic memo. >> in the president made the comment we will go through the same process we went through the first time and that will take several days to complete as we did the first time and there we will make a determination that time. john? >> the president says the memo completely vindicates him and

this weekend we heard from trey gowdy who had a large part in writing that memo. in what way does the president believe that republican memo vindicates him? >> the president has consistently called the russia investigation politically motivated, which hunt, for the last year. and the memo clearly vindicates the president's position that there was political bias in this process. it's pretty simple. >> i would think it is fair it say that many members of the senate, including mitch mcconnell and chuck schumer were surprised by the comments. i'm trying to understand he was driving at. is the president saying that unless there is a compromise he is satisfied with he will not sign the budget compromise on and two-year budget deal that mcconnell and assumer are talking about or will we he deal with that separately. >> swe want a two-year deal.

we are supportive of republicans and democrats coming to a deal and we also want a deal -- >> will be it be together -- >> [ inaudible ] >> will he sign something with budget deals? >> i don't think there will be specifics on immigration reform but we want to get a deal on that. as we said, we don't want to hold the government hostage over these items. >> senator flake said something on the floor and i want to give you a clans hance to respond. i have seen theardant defenders that the president's comments were meant as a joke. just sarcasm, tongue an cheek. but treason is not a punch line. can you say that you agree with senator flake that treason or treasonous is an punch line or joking matter? >> honestly, i'm not going to respond directly to senator

flake's comments. i don't care what senator flake has to say. i don't think his constituents do either and that's why his mub numbers are in the tank. the president was clearly joking with his comments. but what isn't a joke is the democrats refuse to celebrate the accomplishments of all-americans. what i don't think the country understands is why democrats are so upset about lower taxes and higher wages. that's something that every american should be celebrating. not crying about. not sitting on their hands for. democrats are going to have to make a decision at some point really soon. do they hate this president more than they love this country? i hope the answer to that is no. >> i want to ask you a question about stocks. on the positive economic news, there is a school of thought among economists that given the current growth in the economy to inject the economy with tax cuts could spark inflation. which means people would have more money to spend and prices

go up and the price people pay go up. that's an good thing. so you keenly focus said this president on inflation and ahead of next month's fed meeting, has the president spoken to powell about whether or not interest rates should go up or snn. >> our team is in close contact with stake holders in the process. as i said before, the president's focus is isn't in long-term economic fundamentals and will continue to be focus owned that on all assets. >> interest rates one way or the either other? >> at president and white house argued it is important to release it for the sake of transparency. therefore, can the american people expect to see the democratic memo in the sake of transparency? >> i think the american people can expect this memo to go through the exact same process that republican memo went through. which involves bringing all stake holders from the legal and national security perspective weigh in before making

determination. we are in the middle of the process. >> prior to releasing the republican memo. why not the same -- >> we didn't release the memo prior to the process being complete. and we're not doing that this time. >> one question about john kelly and his reference of dreamers indicating some are lazy. does that rhetoric help get a bipartisan deal done? >> like i said, president and administration are focused on actually solving this problem. not kicking it down the road. we will continue to have those conversations. john? >> chief of staff kelly said that he didn't think the president would be likely to extend the daca deadline from march 5. but twice in davos, the president said, if we need a little more time, we will take a little more time on daca. then when asked if he would extend the deadline, he said, yeah, i might do that, i might do that. not guaranteeing it but i have

the right to do that if i want. which is it? still open to the idea of extending the deadline? >> he certainly has the right to do so. again, we are hopeful to get to a deal. we have laid out a very generous offer that meets all of the demands that democrats have. if fact going above and beyond what they ask for. it includes everything else that is part of the pill thaars that have laid out are something democrats voted for. elizabeth warren, chuck schumer, all voted for the priorities we have laid out in this legislation in the past. except we have gone further on the diamondbaaca component than ever offered. this is what democrats should be asked. what are you not supportive of and why aren't we moving the ball forward? >> is he open to extending the deadline or has that door closed? >> i'm not getting ahead of the process. we are hopeful to get there

before the deadline hits. jennifer. >> thank you, sarah. when we have asked in recent days about vice president and whether or not he would be interested in meeting with north korean officials while traveling in south korea for the olympics and they doej said, we'll see, are they trying to inspire interest in north koreans? >> i don't have any or announcements than we'll see. i will echo vice president and secretary of state. i'm not getting ahead of either of them. >>. [ inaudible ] >> i think the answer is the same. we'll see. jim? >> can i get back to chief of staff saying that dreamers may just have been too lazy to get off their asses. just on the face of it, just a wildly offensive comment about undocumented immigrants. we are waiting for a solution to come out of the city. >> the only person that offered a solution is this administration. the president has been a champion of giving 1.8 million

daca recipients and eligible people a pathway to citizenship. he laid out a plan and solution that actually addresses both republicans and democrats' concerns. i think it is hard it argue with that. >> it is just an offensive comment on its surface. >> that something to decide for yourself. >> is the president testifying for robert mueller? >> has we've said before, this something being determined by the office of the special counsel. i refer to you a statement by ty cobb. professional and active discussions between the office of special counsel and the president's personal lawyers regarding how and under what terms information ping exchanged are understandably private. >> will he testify? >> again, i'm not going beyond that statement. if you have further companies, i refer you to ty. >> one last question. april? >> on the economy and shut down, how is the shut down that president wants to show

democrats they are wrong, how is a shut down going to help the economy and help those whose administration saying they want to lift out of the -- >> the president wants solutions. he wants a two-year budget deal and deal on immigration. it is pretty simple. >> on the next piece one said, treason was a joke. what about unamerican? in washington, one side, democratic president, the republicans do. if it is a democratic president -- you get it. if it is a democratic president, republicans say it. if it is a republican president, democrats do it. why has this been going on all these years? >> i think it is unamerican not to be excited that more people in this country have jobs than before. more people in the country have higher wages than before. the economy is booming like it wasn't before. the fact that isis is being crushed like it wasn't before.

these are things, that i don't care what party you're from, these are things that every american should be excited about and be able to celebrate. >> he was specifically that moment in cincinnati, talking about the black unemployment rate. >> and that something everybody should be excited about. >> it is up -- >> but lower than it was. be excited about the fact we are making progress. things are better today than a year ago. that something to be excited about. that is something that should be celebrated. he didn't say it was perfect. he said we have made progress. things are better. the fact that any time the day before americans lives are improving, that's a good thing we should all be excited about that we should all celebrate. >> one last question. john? >> quick question, there have been numerous published reports that dave boudish, number three in the fbi, will be moved up to be deputy director under

director wray. he received both his present appointment and previous position as head of the los angeles office of the fbi under former director comey. given the administration's almost criticism of mr. comey -- [ laughter ] -- is there going to be any objection to mr. boudish moving up to the number two spot under director wray? >> i don't have any personnel announcements on that front but you win for biggest and best word used. >>. >> i didn't say anything about that. >> don't do that. don't do that.