good direction or a bad direction. >> we noticed in the northwest florida daily news, a guest column from a young man named patrick jones -- patrick wallace, excuse me, he says he's currently studying computer engineering in central florida and he writes a column in the form of a letter to you in part saying thoughts and prayers are welcome and encouraged, but representative gates, this needs to stop. i don't feel safe anymore in the state i call home, at my university -- >> we are monitoring the situation in florida. the president is aware of the pedestrian bridge collapse at federal university, and they're working feverishly to save lives and we'll continue to monitor it closely and offer support to the local officials and community. >> the president is pleased to host the prime minister of ireland here at the white house today. as the president noted in the pool spray earlier, the two leaders have had some great discussions around the issues of trade and security.

various events both today at the white house and the capital are intended to celebrate america's commitment to peace and security in ireland, and we are pleased to support that the relationship between our two countries is stronger than ever. looking ahead to next month, i'd like to announce that the university of alabama, crimson tide football team will be our guests at the white house on april 10th -- that was a little painful to read, but at least they are an excellent team and i'll let that slide. as you all know the president attended the national championship game in january and he's looking forward to hosting coach saban and the team as they celebrate their 17th national championship team. you can tell we have some alabama staffers, alabama fans as staffers in the shop. it's been a while since we read a letter here in the briefing and today i have a great one from paris stupar. a self-proclaimed army brat who is doing wonderful service work in her community. my name is paris and my sister's

name is london, she writes. my sister and i have been stationed all over the world. it has really been a great adventure. we are currently stationed at fort campbell, kentucky. we are so patriotic in everything we do. we're on instagram at army royals if you'd like to check us out. over the summer i used my allowance and raised enough money to get 43 backpacks full of school supplies for military children in need. we were wondering if you could help us out. we so badly want to attend the white house easter egg roll on monday, april 2nd. she goes on to write that the president is doing a great job and says if he would invite them to the easter egg roll, she would, quote, do my happy dance all over the house. paris, you can get your dancing shoes out. the president and first lady would love for you, your sister and your parents to be guests at the easter egg roll. this event is a timeless tradition that dates back to 1878 under president rutherford

b. hayes. with you guys in attendance we know it will be an extra special one. to make it even more special i would also like to extend an invitation to the children of the entire white house press corps to attend as our guests, as well if you're interested in having your kids join us for the event. please contact the press office to work out those details, and on that happy note i will take your questions. john? >> sarah, the president said last july there would be a red line if the -- i'm sorry, the president said last july there would be a red line if the special counsel were to investigate the trump family's personal financial dealings. it's now been reported that the special council has subpoenaed the trump organization for dealings with russia. is this a red line in is the president upset about this? >> as we've maintained all along and as the president has said numerous times there was no collusion between the campaign and russia for specific questions regarding the trump

organization i would refer you to them. >> is that statement the president made in july still stand? would it be a red line? >> we will continue to fully cooperate out of respect for the special counsel. we will not comment on specific questions about the trump organization. i would refer you there. >> if i can ask you about the poison attack in great britain, the president has now said he believes it looks like putin authorized it. it looks like the russians did this. what will be the response? will russia pay a price? will it is united states pay a price? what we said all along stands in solidarity with the united congress dom and we share the united kingdom's assessment that it's responsible for the nerve agent attack on the british citizen and his daughter and the united states is, woing toget w together for the allies and partner to make sure it does not happen again. for anything further we'll keep you posted. >> sarah, in the past week the secretary of state has been

fired. the top economic adviser has been replaced and the president's personal assistant lost his clearance and was escorted out of the building. the president's hinted that more changes are going to come and is there any concern in the white house that this creates an air of chaos and instability that leaves the u.s. vulnerable as president trump is preparing to set down with kim jong-un in north korea? >> i don't think their vulnerabilities here. the president wants to make sure that he has the right people in the right places for the right time. as we move forward into this year, we've had an incredibly successful year. the results of the last year don't lie and as we look at new successes that we're focused on the president wants to make sure he has the right people in those places, for instance like director pompeo and deputy director gina haspel that he's nominated to lead the cia. >> when will he have everybody in place? >> as you move through an administration you have different priorities that you're

focused on and different people that will lead those efforts and lead those priorities, so you may have changes from time to time. the president is committed, though, to making sure he has the right people at the right place at the right time. john? >> what was the white house response, sarah, to criticisms from capitol hill on gina haspel's involvement with the operations in early 2000s? >> look, the president is incredibly proud of his nominee. she's highly qualified, highly recommended, highly respected from both saturdays of the aisle, particularly with the intelligence community and i would point you to people who often sing praises of the president like leon panetta and clapper and others who have shown broad support. >> what is his response to democrats on capitol hill who voted for mike pompeo as cia director for confirmation and now are saying we're rethinking it? >> i think it sounds like democrats are trying to play

political games with national security and the diplomatic efforts which would be a sad, sad day and a disgrace to this country, and a question that every reporter should ask democrats what made them change their minds. mara? >> i have two questions, one on daca and one on trade. on daca, is the president open to something attached to the omni bus bill that would extend daca for a period of time in exchange for wall funding? >> we are continuing to negotiate what that would look like and i don't have any specifics at this time, but we do still want to make a good deal, but what's currently being thrown out in the press is not something that we would support. >> the ustr says that we have a trade surplus with canada. the president says we don't. how do you reconcile those two? >> for one, they're not taking into account some of the additional things like energy and timber that would not be included in those numbers and once you include those it shows

that there actually is a deficit. john? >> are there any other economic indicators that the white house disagrees with to come out from the federal government besides this particular economic indicator? obviously, the ustr is putting out one number, the $20 billion surplus. you say that's not accurate? what's your number? >> it's wanot complete. once you take into the full account all of the trade between the two countries that show that there actually is a deficit between those two. john? >> i'm sorry, sarah. the other is a story that appeared first in the washington post about an audio portion from a fund-raiser that the president had in missouri in which he said he was not exactly truthful in his conversation with his counter parts from canada, the prime minister trudeau. >> that's actually not what he said. >> that is what he said and i'll let you answer this, are there other times that the president has had conversations from his

counter parts from around the world in which he is not accurate in terms of the conversation that he's having with them? >> the president was accurate because there is a trade deficit and that was the point he was making is that he dridn't have o look at the specific figures because there was a trade deficit, and whether he got down to the dollar amount or not there is a deficit. i don't have the number rate in front of me, but i know that we have it and we'd be happy to provide it for you. john? >> thank you, sarah. two questions. you talk about democrats playing political games with the nominations of sdroktdirector p and miss haspel to the cia and ron paul used strong language and is paul playing political games, as well? >> as specific to the question being asked that people who supported pompeo already for the

confirmation process. look, we have two incredibly skilled and very highly qualified individuals to lead these two agencies. we are very proud of these nominees and fully expect them to both be confirmed. peter? >> his language, senator paul's language doesn't disturb the white house about the nominee? >> certainly. these are two highly qualified and highly skilled and highly recommended individuals that should be confirmed and we fully expect that they are. i was referencing a specific question about the hypocrisy of the support for director pompeo and previous process. >> speed in south africa both have relatively small steel industries and they have youth unemployment approaching 50%. are smaller countries going to have a chance in negotiations to come out ahead where the unemployment won't grow particularly among the young. >>a we said, we will have the

conversations with specific countries and the decision will be made on a national security basis and that would have to be determined country by country and i couldn't speak to those two today. >> he expressed to work with vladimir putin and now with the sanctions and the dhs and everything output out today there's been more bad behavior since president trump took office. is vladimir putin playing president trump? >> not at all. the president has said in the past that if we can work together to combat world threats on things like north korea, then we should, but the president has also shown that he's been extremely tough on russia throughout his administration and particularly, you saw that today in the russia sanctions that were put forward. >> on in simple term, is putin a friend or a foe? >> russia will have to make that determination. they want to decide whether they want to be a good actor or a bad actor. you can see from the actions that we've taken up until this point, we will be tough on russia until they decide to change their behavior.

stephen? sir, i'm going to keep moving because i have to get more of your colleagues. sorry. i'll keep moving. >> sarah, if i can ask, does the president feel the justice department can ask to fire andrew mccain? >> that's a determination that we would leave up to attorney general sessions, but we do think that it is well documented that he's had some very troubling behavior and by most accounts a bad actor and should have some cause for concern, but that would be a determination that doj would have to make. >> he should not receive his full pension. >> as i said, that is a discussion that the department of justice would make. >> sarah, if i can follow on what john was asking earlier about the red line to get specific clarity on it. the question that was asked was about the red line if the finance questions went beyond anything related to russia. does the president still believe -- he tried to distinction between a red line on family finances separately from family finances and

business finances with russia as it pertains to this case. >> the president believes strongly that there was no collusion between the trump campaign and russia. we will continue to cooperate with the special counsel and for questions specific to the trump organization i would refer you to them. >> what do you think about the timing and the speed and the drawn-out process of this investigation? >> the president's attorneys have repeatedly said this would be over by thanksgiving, christmas, and into the year. do you believe this has been drawn out too long? does the president believe it's been drawn out too long or is he willing to sit back and wait a bit longer? >> what we've seen just this week the house intelligence committee come out and say they thought there was no collusion. we will continue to cooperate with the special council and we look forward to them concluding the same. it was not the entire committee. there were some republicans on the committee and in fact two republicans on the committee. >> individuals that have spent a great deal looking at this and we will continue to cooperate

with the office of special counsel and we look forward to them coming to the same conclusion. >> the president has made his statement to veterans very clear during his time in office and on the campaign talking about he wants to take care of them. does he currently believe that the veterans are well served. >> the president has a large number of individuals who are working hard to make sure that the va is helping veterans at the best level possible. we're continuing to review if there are anything that we can do to improve on that system and as we make changes, we'll let you know. >>. >> i don't have any personnel announcements and every day we're looking at how we can better the system whether it's through approximately see changes or personnel changes and not just at the top level, but across the board. we've made a number of changes within the personnel and make sure that we're looking at how we can best serve our nation. >> thank you. one on russia and one on the cabinet member. is it the trump administration's

own assessment that russia was behind the nerve attack or are you adapting it? >> the u.s. hasn't done it's own investigation on this why the? >> we have a position, but we're working in con jurngz with the united kingdom on this one. >> we've all heard that by now that hud secretary carson and his wife picked out a $31,000 deaning room set for his office and they only canceled the order when it came out to the press and is this appropriate? i don't have any update on that at this front. sarah? ? thank you. the new york times reported today that the highs has created a working group on north korea to prepare for the upcoming summit between president trump and kim jong-un. can you tell us what agencies are involved in this working group, who is chairing it and their meeting and any information you can give us. >> we are continuing to move

forward in this process, but i don't have updates or anything that we can provide today. >> one other, this. the president has until tomorrow to sign the taiwan travel act that it should be u.s. policy to allow u.s. officials to travel to taiwan to visit counterparts and vice versa. does the president plan to sign this act or will he veto it or allow it to become law automatically? the time decision hasn't been made and we'll keep you guys posted. >> today h.r. mcmaster had strong words for russia and iran while speaking at the holocaust museum. how much influence did president trump have on the words of mcmaster and can you give us information on the current relationship between the president and his national security adviser? >> the president and general mcmaster are continuing to work together to put pressure on russia to do the right thing. again, i think you can see what the administration's viewpoint is simply by looking at the actions that we took today by

placing new sanctions on russia. >> the deputy fbi director andrew mccabe, the president has weighed in numerous times about the president on twitter and is he concerned about the findings on this internal investigation. he's not commenting on whether or not he should be fired. >> i would leave that at the discretion of the attorney general. peter? [ inaudible ] >> is that as far as he'll go or is he considering measures that might match what the uk has adopted and is there any order given to intelligence agents to look out for similar, possible threats on american soil. >> i can't get into the specifics on potential threats, but i can tell you that we will continue to work with our ally and the united kingdom and we'll work in close coordination with them moving forward and we'll keep you posted on any specific actions. >> ashgdzs are under consideration? >> i'm not going to get ahead of

anything that we may or may not do, but we will continue to stay in close coordination with our ally. >> thank you. secretary clinton was in india where he said president trump won the election because of people looking backward. [ inaudible ] >> i think that's a perfect example of why hillary clinton is not in the white house. she is completely disconnected from the american public and certainly shows her disdain for the millions and millions of americans who came out and supported president trump and still support him today. george? >> twice he's cited on the mckinley care and i asked that because it pushed consumers prices so high. >> the president's focus is on making sure that we're

protecting american industry and american workers. he specifically thinks that it's important that we protect the steel and aluminum industry due to the fact that making sure that we had the ability to still manufacture those goods for the purpose of national security. >> can you say in the last 150 years that has worked and done what you want to do now? >> i think we've made progress since the president's announcement just over a week or so ago. i think it has certainly improved the conversations and some of the negotiations that we've had. last question? steve? >> at this fund-raiser yesterday in missouri, the president talking about environmentally unfriendly standards and the japanese imply on imported automobiles talked about a bowling ball where a bowling ball is dropped from 20 feet in the air on the hood of a car and if it dents the car doesn't

qualify. he said this is horrible. i worked in japan for about 20 years and i covered the automotive industry and no one we've spoken with in the industry recalls it. did you speak with the president about this and where did he get this from? ? the president has been talking about unfair trade practices for decades and it is not new for him. part of the reason he was elected was to end unfair trade practices and push for free, fair and reciprocal trade and american goods can compete in foreign markets and it illustrates the creative ways some countries are able to keep american goods out of their markets. thanks so much, guys. see you tomorrow. >> how does our government look at him? >> today a house armed services

subcommittee will hold a hearing on the national security strategy in space. live coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. eastern right here on c-span3. c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979 c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies and today we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court and public policy events in washington, d.c. and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. joining us next from new york city is princeton university history professor julian zelzer who has written "the presidency of barack obama, a first historical assessment." joining us this morning to talk about his brand-new book he