hurricane as it pertains to russian activity with u.s. elections. and what we have done and able to do over the last year is we changed that. we exchanged the business cards and built the relationships and the department of homeland security is in a better position to work with the inner agency partners and the election community to respond to any threats lingering threats or any threats that emerge going forward. we've done that through pretty structured means within dhs. our secretary who matt mentioned stood up at the election task force. she leads the election task force that's our belly but ton within dhs. working closely with the fbi to promote a front within that. we gone through process of working with particularly the national association of secretary of state, the eac, the

national state of direct tors, local governments to stand up a structure where collectively dhs can sit at the table with representatives of state local governments. this is through bureaucratic naming -- >> we'll leave this discussion here and go live to the white house for today's briefing, here is the spokesperson sarah sanders. >> this bill achieves our top priority a much needed increase and funding for national defense. this is increasing budget caps and provides certainty for the next two years. defense spending will match the request by the pentagon and reflects what the president signed into law with the national defense authorization act. thanks to president trump we can have the strongest military we've ever had. it increases the debt ceiling

and moves us away from crisis to crisis budgeting. and e building america's crumbing infrastructure and tackling the opioid epidemic and taking care of our veterans. we have secretary mattis here with us today. will come up to make a brief statement and take a few questions on funding our armed forces and i will be back up after him to answer questions on news today. thank you. >> so good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for taking time out of your schedules to be here today. i spent the last day and a half on capital hill briefing the numbers of congress on the national defense strategy. congress recognizes the effect on america military and the men and women providing for our

nation's defense. two days from now i will visit our nation's first security force at ford bedding. as they declare to deploy to afghanistan. to advance the security of our nation these trops are putting themselves in harms way, signing a blank check payable to the american people with their lives. our military operating under debilitating continuing resolutions for more than 1,000 days during the last decade. during last weeks state of the union address president trump said weakness is the surest path to conflict. no room for complacency. failure to implement or fund the strategy will leave us with a force that can dominate the last war and be irrelevant to tomorrow's security. we need congress to lift the spending cap and support a two

year budget agreement for our military. america can afford survival. for too long we've ask asked our military to carry on with the success at any cost attitude. the fact that our volunteer performed so well is a credit to their dedication and professionalism. we expect the men and women of our military to be faithful in their service even when going in harms way. we have a duty to remain faithful to them. absent a budget this year, americas military will not be able to recruit the 15,000 army soldiers and 4,000 air force airmen required to fill critical manning short falls, we will not be able to maintain ships at sea between the proper balance, operations and time for training and maintenance. we would have to ground

aircraft, we would deplete the ammunition and power. and delay contracts for programs necessary to modernize our force. i can not over state the negative impact to our troops and families more ail because of this budget uncertainty. today oes congressional action will make sure our military can defend life, pass on the freedom you and i enjoy to the next generation. thank you. i can take a couple of questions. >> general, how damaged would a government shut down be given we have this if there was a decision to shut the government down, because the wall wasn't funded in this deal, how bad would that be to the military? >> shutting down the government will be damaging to the military. then aggravated by the shut down

itself that we send home all nonuniformed personnel except those of few critical areas. it paralyzes everything we do if we go into that other than the on going acts of operations at sea and there, the troops will continue to fight and the ships will stay at sea, but the bottom line is training is delayed, the impact just ripples through force and it doesn't just happen today, it ripples on as people who are is not flying are no longer gaining the level of skill that you and i would associate with them even a year from now when they are promoted. >> the last day and a half in the capitol hill. do you have a sense if the house leadership on the republican shiny it equally respected? and also the service secretary the navy secretary says the funding problems are not maybe a

direct cause but contributed to the depth of seamen in the south s china sea. can you tell the country if the money is providing all of the problems, training and maintenance, will be eliminated. >> i'm optimistic that what the house and senate da can come together this week and give us the budget that then enablestous carry out our responsibilities, all the leaders in the department of defense that will address the issues you brought up. a lot of work goes into the execution, the quality of the training, you can count on us. we will earn your trust on this and spend the money wisely. >> if i can ask you about the recently released review, calls for smaller nuclear weapons to added to the arsenal. here on record saying there's no such thing as a it canty call

nuke, it is a stra teej i can game changer. how does this new review add to global stability because there are many people who believe if you have nuclear weapons you're inclined to use them. >> we are talking the nuclear deter rent and in that we believe that some nations could miscalculate, one in particular, if they used in a conventional fight, a small yield bomb, we would not respond with a large yield bomb. our response to this is to make a small yield bomb and say don't miscalculate. remember it changes from year to year to decade to decade. we have to address it in its current construct. the idea is to raise the

threshold and don't think about lowering the threshold to a fight and escalating it to one small yield nuclear weapon and think our choice is either sur endor or suicide. >> can you talk about -- what -- >> i think we're all aware in this country of the president's affection and respect for the military. we've been putting together opgs and we'll send them up to the white house for decisions. >> to follow up -- you laid out the argument for fully funding the military and why you think every dollar counts. why divert energy, and resources -- >> again, i think what my responsibility is to make certain i lay out the strategy

and make the argument for the over site of congress to make a determination of fully funding as far as it goes again, the president's respect, his fondness for the military reflected in him asking for these options. >> i'm sorry -- whether you think -- >> the war is near or or closer or do you support any kind of meeting or communication between the vice president and north korea officials. >> vice president pence is capable of making the call on that while he is in korea. as far as the situation with korea. it is firmly in the diplomatic lane. we have seen stronger diplomatic action, for example, the last three united nation security

council resolutions unanimous and how often do you see france and russia, prc and china and the united states and great britain and other countries voting unanimously. it makes clear that this is in the diplomat i can lane and we back up rex tillerson policy efforts and viable military options. but thank you very much ladies and gentlemen. >> thank you mr. secretary. due to timing and tight time lines, we will jump into questions for today with no further statements. >> nancy pelosi -- is that something that the president would like to see the budget deal. >> we made clear that the budget deal should be the bunlt deal and members of congress like nancy pelosi should not hold the

military hostage over a separate issue. we laid out what we would like to see -- hopefully we can get the budget deal done and the immigration bill done. >> so this march 5th deadline for daca or is he going to extend it. >> we're hopeful. our goal is to get something done. we don't want to keep kicking the can down to road and we'd like to see a solution. we made a plan that addressing everybody concerns. >> will the president find the budget agreement that was laid out by the senate -- >> look, we applaud the steps forward they've made but we're going to need to see what is the in final bill. i was happy with the direction it was moving, that we are

moving from the crisis budget we've been on in the past. >> do you want the house to pass the senate deal? >> we would like to move forward on this front. we want to see the final components. we are supportive primarily because it meets several of the things that we laid out, including the crisis budgeting and also helps meets the needs of the military defense budget. >> the security clearance -- and the president has confidence in him -- >> i can give you two statements. it has always been our policy when it comes to security clearance, we don't comment on them, i'm not going to change that today. i can tell you that rob has been effective in his role as staff secretary and the president and chief of staff has full confidence in him. and more of an update on that front rob has put out a statement which i can read to you now and i think it will

address some of those other questions. these outrageous allegations are simply false, i took the photos given to the media 15 years ago and the reality behind them is not close to what is being described. i will not further engage publicly with a coordinated campaign, my commitment to public service speaks for itself, i treat others with respect and i'm grateful for the opportunity to serve in the trump administration and seek to ensure a smooth transition when i leave the white house. >> doub-- >> he is going to be leaving the white house, it won't be immediate but he is resigning and staying onto ensure there's a smoot transition moving forward. >> several statements praising rob porter.

he is somebody close to the president. why would the president except his resignation if he doesn't think he did anything wrong. >> it is one he made on his own. not pressured to do. >> did he have one or not -- >> as i just said. i'm not sure why it is complicated. in many circumstances we don't discuss security clearance one way or the other. >> can i ask you about the democratic memo? we understand in chief of staff kelly said this memo is different in term of the content and the republican memo was general kelly said it is not as clean and the republicans who read it said it contains a substantial number of references to the sources and methods. my question to you is do you believe that the white house is

being sandbagged or being put in a difficult position by the democratic minority forcing you to make. >> i don't want to make speculations. we're going through process that we went through with the republican memo and once it is come completed, we'll have something further to add. at this point we don't, john. >> the government said he would like to sht shut the government down if he doesn't get funding for the wall, border security. now is it no longer operative, he is going to support a two year spending bill without funding for the wall. >> as i said yesterday, the focus for us has always been to get a a two year budget deal and we laid out the priorities we wanted to see in any legislation and we made no secret that the president wants funding for the

wall and border security and we expect that. >> is that no longer -- >> the position hasn't changed and i addressed this yesterday. the president is making the point -- the only people who shut the government down is the democrats. we haven't. we laid out exactly what we want to happen and we're working towards achieving those goals. >> he said he wanted to shut the government down. he said he wanted a shut down. >> the point he is making when you put it in context, if we are going to have that fight it is a fight that the democrats started last tight and lost and we think we're going to win. we want a to year budget plan and an immigration bill those are the two focuses and we're hopeful we'll get that done. >> the fact that rosenstein

oversees the russian probe -- >> as i said yesterday, the president feels vindicated because he feels like the russian investigation is motivated and the memo vindicates the president's position that there was political bias. >> has he read it. >> he met with the deputy attorney general to discuss the differences yesterday. >> and the president has great -- for the military but yet to visit iraq and afghanistan isn't that the way to honor the troops, going there. >> i think there are a lot of different ways. nothing has been decided or locked in stone in the early discussion stages and it is something that the president is looking at, like the entire can come together and show support and honor our military. >> does the president have

concerns about the dough mess stick violence allegations regarding rob porter? >> whether or not he has specific concerns, i haven't asked him >> about whether he has specific kerp, i don't know. >> has he seen the photos of rob porter's ex-wife with the black eye? >> i don't know. >> sarah, the president weighed in on the stock market this week, and he has done so over the course of his first year in office, and do we expect him to weigh in ton the daily fluctuations of the market so far or let the market take its course? >> i won't speck you are late on what we may weigh in on every single day moving forward through the administration, but the economy has obviously been a big focus of administration and something that we will talk about. we have a strong economy and we are feeling very confident in

the direction that it has been moving. >> and with the immigration ideal, would the two pillars that he has put forward being part of it the border funding for wall with mexico and increased border security and legislative fix for the daca recipients. >> we have laid out the four pillars that we want in immigration legislation. shannon. >> the president called these text messages from the fbi bombshells. does he believe that there is a conspiracy in the fbi to try to undermine his candidacy to try to help hillary clinton and can you explain a little bit more his thinking of what he has seen in the texts message? >> i think that it further shows that there is reason for all of us to have great cause for concern in this process, and we hope it is more thoroughly and fully looked at as we move forward. >> and sarah are, more specific changes, personnel changes that you would like to see at the fbi

some. >> not that i am aware of at the time. steven? >> sarah, with concerns of the inpro ppriety of the parade in e pennsylvania avenue and this is not how the american military should be perceived rolling tanks down main street. >> look. i have said that we have not made a final decision, and the president is exploring different ways that he can highlight and show the pride that we have in the military and the people who are have serve and sacrificed to allow us all of the freedoms that we have. the president is very proud of the united states military and all that they do on behalf of all of us, and we are simply exploring options. i think it is way too far speculation to start weighing in on whether or not we think that certain things are appropriate and nothing has been decide and it is literally in a brainstorming session. >> and is it true that the president gave a directive to

the defense department that it must happen? >> moshgs the president asked them for different ways to explore and find different options as the secretary said. one more question. >> sarah, in to follow up on the text message, buzz the president belief that former president obama was ininvolvolved in the russian investigation between the peter strzok and lisa page te text texts? >> i am not sure of the specific, but there is some in those text messages that is going to give americans cause for concern, and we hope they are researched fully. >> does the president condemn domestic violence in all cases. senate leaders have agreed to a budget plan, and house leader nancy pe llosi says that she and fellow democrats are going to oppose a bipartisan deal unless the republicans a allow the chamber to vote on

legislation protecting immigrants. the government spending stops thursday unless a deal is reached. watch live coverage on c-span 2 and cspan.org and listen to house and senate debate through the c-span radio app. today, the senate armed services committee is going to be holding a hearing on the department of defense's weapons of mass destruction live here at 3:30 on c-span3. tonight, a house subcommittee on the military leaders misconduct investigations. saturday, american history tv on c-span3 is live beginning at 9:00 a.m. eastern with all-day coverage with the new museum of the bible in washington, d.c., with the symposium of historians exploring the bible and the founding of america. the speakers include baylor university