supported donald trump and says endorsements are not blank checks. thursday also said on on the jerry bader show that donald trump has had a strange run for the republican national convention and call donald trump's attacks on the muslim family of a fallen u.s. soldier beyond the pale. rhymes come is commended donald trump's ongoing feud with the parents of the fallen soldier killed in iraq in 2004. following the appearance of the democratic national convention. meanwhile, primary challenger when further card for discussion on whether the united states should support all muslims. an idea that drew swift rebuke from other republicans. now we're going to listen to a few moments of the interview when speaker paul ryan spoke to inry baker on wt hq radio

green bay, wisconsin. >> obviously i'm going to start .ith the presidential candidate the milwaukee journal sentinel yesterday in an editorial said that you should renounce your support for donald trump. i will be candid, here's what i said yesterday. i've a far less eloquent, i said even have to [indiscernible] i'm a wisconsin point. -- boy. here's what i meant, you have endorsed mr. trump but you constantly have to repudiate him and i just don't see you on that tight rope from here to november. either have to support him and justyour lip or recognized about every week you will say something that you cannot just criticize but have to repudiate. it is different from criticize. i think you have to do it donald trump want you to do and endorsed him or step away.

i don't think you can continue to walk this tightrope. know,st of all, as you i'm the highest rank in the country. conventionman of the and it was important for me to be neutral all along. that is point number one. point two, red grassroots party. we are not a top-down party collected democrats are where party leaders make these takes. we are a party were the aggressors republican primary voters select our nominee. that is as it should be and that is what it is. i think there's something to be said about respecting those voters who he won the think there and square. the only dose of some word about our, the only endorsements i want are those of my own employers in the first congressional district. ryan on theaul

jerry bader show in green bay, wisconsin earlier today. donald trump will be in green bay tomorrow we will have his rally their life at 8:00 p.m. here on c-span. meanwhile, mike coffman, a republican congress that he represents the sixth district of the denver suburbs is the first house republican to release an antitrust ad -- anti-trump ad. where he distances himself from donald trump and from the democratic nominee, hillary clinton. >> people ask me, what do you think about trump? honestly, i don't care for him much. and i certainly don't trust hillary. i'm a marine. for me, country comes first. my duty is to you. it donald trump as president, i will stand up to him. and if hillary wins, i will hold her accountable every step of the way.

i mike coffman and i approve this message. my job is clear, work hard and serbia. that is what i will do. >> president obama addresses several questions related to donald trump and the presidential race today. he held a news briefing at the pentagon. he met with his military and national security team at the pentagon to talk about combating isis. he also answered questions in addition to that, questions about the $400 million payment to iran in several other national security issues during this hour plus news conference from the pentagon as the president celebrated his 55th birthday today. here's the news conference. >> we expect this to be a

wide-ranging has conference. >> he should be out any second. pres. obama: good afternoon everybody. i just met with my national security council on the campaign to destroy isil. i was to thank secretary carter and chairman of vertro just returned from meetings with our coalition partners in the middle east for hosting us and their continued leadership of our men and women in uniform. i last updated the american people in june, shortly after the horrifying attack in orlando. in the week sense we have , continued to be relentless in

our fight against isil. on the ground in syria and iraq, isil continues to lose advertorial. tragically however, we have seen that isil still has the ability to direct and inspire iraq's. -- terrible attacks. we have seen terrible bombings in iraq, jordan, lebanon, saudi arabia, yemen, afghanistan, istanbul airport, a restaurant in bangladesh. bastille day celebrations in a church in france, and the musical festival in germany. in fact, the decline of isil in syria and iraq appears to because it us -- them to shift to shift to tactics we have seen before in encouraging high-profile terrorist attacks. as always, our military, diplomatic, intelligence, homeland security, law enforcement professionals are working around the clock. with other countries and with communities here at home to share information and prevent such attacks. over the years, they have

prevented many, but it is still very difficult to detect and prevent loan actors or small cells who are determined to kill the innocent and willing to die. that is why we will keep going after isil aggressively over every front of this campaign. our air campaign continues to hammer isil targets, 14,000 strikes so far, 100,000 sorties, including those hitting isil core. in stark contrast to isil, america's armed forces would do everything in our power to avoid civilian casualties. with our extraordinary technology, we are conducting the most per air campaign in history. after all it is the innocent civilians of iraq and syria who are suffering the most. you need to be saved from isil

terror cylinder allegations of civilian casualties, we take it seriously. we work to find the facts, be transparent, and hold ourselves accountable to doing better in the future. we continue to take out senior isil leaders and commanders, including the deputy minister of war, a top commander in the mosul, and its minister of war. isil leaders are not safe and we will keep going after them. on the ground in iraq, forces with coalition support liberated falluja. now they are clearing areas near the euphrates valley and a iraqi force retook the strategic air base 40 miles from mosul, the last major stronghold for

isil in iraq. given the success, the additional personnel i ordered to iraq last month will help turn this base into a logistical hub and launchpad for iragi forces. meanwhile in syria, a coalition of forces backed by special operations forces and airstrikes continues to take the fight to isil as well. the coalition is fighting its way into a town that is a gateway for terrorists coming in and heading out to go to europe. as isil is beaten back, we are gaining vast amounts of intelligence, documents, thumb drives, digital files, which we will use to continue to destroy networks and stop foreign fighters. we continue to intensify efforts against al qaeda in syria. no matter what name it calls itself it cannot be allowed to

maintain a safe haven to train and plot attacks. i do want to note the broader progress that has been made in this campaign so far. two years ago, isil was racing across iraq to baghdad itself, and to many, looked invincible. isil has lost at tikrit and now falluja. in syria, they have lost in numerous locations, losing territory across vast stretches of the border with turkey and major transit routes. isil has not been able to reclaim any significant territory they have lost. i want to repeat, isil has not had a major successful offensive

operation in syria or iraq in a year. even isil's leaders know they will be losing. they are increasingly acknowledging they may lose key cities. they are right. they will lose them. we will keep hitting them, pushing them back, and driving them out until they do. in other words, isil turns out not to be invincible. they will inevitably be defeated. we do recognize that the same time that the situation is complex and this cannot be solved by military force alone. that is why the united states and countries around the world pledged more than $2 billion in new funds to help iraq stabilize and rebuild communities. it is why we are working with iraq so that the military campaign is matched with political and humanitarian efforts so isil cannot return by

exploiting divisions or grievances. in syria, defeating isil and al qaeda requires an end to the civil war and brutality against the syrian people which pushing them to extremes. the regime and allies continue to violate the cessation of hostilities. including medieval sieges against cities, blocking them from food, family starving. it is deplorable. the syrian regime has rightly earned the condemnation of the world. russia's direct involvement raises questions about their commitment to pulling the situation back from the brink. the u.s. is prepared to work with russia. it is time for them to show they

are serious about pursuing these objectives. beyond syria and iraq, we will continue working with allies and partners to go after isil. at the request of libya's government, we are conducting strikes and support, and we will continue to support the government's efforts to secure their country. in afghanistan, one of the reasons i decided to largely maintain our current force posture was to keep eliminating isil's presence there. we delivered another blow last month only to get a top at -- leader in afghanistan. finally, it should be clear by now, and no windows is better than our military leaders that even as we need to crush isil on the battlefield, the military defeat will not be enough. so long as their twisted ideology persists and drives people to violence, groups like

isil will keep emerging and the international community will continue to be at risk where we are always reacting to the latest threat or lone actor. that is why we are working to counter violent extremism more broadly, including social, economic, and political factors that help fuel groups like isil and al qaeda in the first place. nothing would do more to discredit isil than when it loses its base. we will work with partners, including muslim communities, especially online, to expose isil for what they are, murders who kill innocent people, who set off bombs near mosques. moreover, we refused to let terrorists undermine the unity,

values of diversity and pluralism that keeps our nation strong. one of the reasons america's armed forces are the best in the world is that we draw on skills and talents from all backgrounds and faiths. including patriotic muslim americans. i think the entire world was inspired this past sunday when muslims across france joined our catholic neighbors at mass in a moving display of solidarity, praying together. it has to be the message we echo in all countries and communities. peace be with you, and also with you. before i take questions, i want to say a few words on another topic. as our public health experts have been warning for some time, we are now seeing the first globally transmitted cases of the zika virus by mosquitoes in the continental united states. this was predicted and predictable.

so far, 15 cases in the miami area. we are taking this extremely seriously. our cdc experts are working shoulder to shoulder with florida health authorities. there is an aggressive effort under way there, and pregnant women have been urged to stay away from a particular neighborhood we are focused on. we will continue to work as a team to limit and slow the spread of the virus. i want to be very clear, our public health experts do not expect a widespread outbreak of zika here that we have seen in brazil or puerto rico. the kind of mosquitoes are limited to certain regions of our country, but we cannot be complacent because we do expect to see more zika cases. even though symptoms are mild for most people, many not knowing they have it, we have seen the complications for pregnant women and their babies

can be severe, so i again want to encourage every american to go to cdc.gov. in addition, congress needs to do its job. fighting zika cost money. helping puerto rico deal with the crisis cost money. research into new vaccines, nih just announced the first clinical trials in humans. that costs money. that's why my administration propose more funding back in february. not only did the republican-led congress not pass our request, they worked to cut it, then they left for summer recess. meanwhile, the folks on the front lines have been doing their best by moving funding from other areas, but now the money we need to fight zika is running out. the situation is getting critical.

without sufficient funding, nih clinical trials could be delayed. this is not the time for politics. in 50 u.s. states, we know of more than 1800 cases of zika connected to travel to affected areas, including 500 pregnant women. zika is now present in a most every part of puerto rico, and now we have the first local transmission in florida, and there will certainly be more. meanwhile, congress is on a summer recess. a lot of folks talk about protecting americans from threats, well, zika is a threat to americans, especially babies, right now. once again i urge the american people to call congress and tell them to do their job, deal with this threat, protect the american people from zika.

with that, i will take some questions. start with someone who just assumed the the second most powerful office in the land. jeff mason. reporter: happy birthday. as islamic state loses territory, you and other officials have said it is becoming a more traditional terrorist group. are you satisfied strategy has shifted sufficiently to address that change? are you concerned that donald trump will be receiving sensitive national security briefings? pres. obama: i am never satisfied with our response. if you are satisfied, that means problem is solved, and it is not.

we just spent a couple of hours meeting with the top national security advisers to look at what more can be done. it is absolutely necessary for us to defeat isil in iraq and syria. it is not sufficient, but it is necessary, because so long as they have those bases they can , use their propaganda to suggest that somehow there is still some caliphate being born, and that can insinuate itself in the minds of folks who may be willing to travel there or carry out terrorist attacks. it is also destabilizing for countries in the region at a time when the region is already unstable. i am pleased with the progress we have made on the ground in iraq and syria. we are far from freeing mosul

and rocca. some can be eaten with partners on the ground as long as they have support from coalition forces which we have been providing. in the meantime, you are seeing isil carry out external terrorist acts. they have learned something. they have adapted from al qaeda, which at a more centralized operation and trying to plan elaborate attacks. what isil has figured out is that if they can convince a handful of people or even one person to carry out an attack on a subway or in a parade or some other public venue and kill scores of people as opposed to

thousands of people, it still creates the kinds of fear and concern that elevates their profile. in some ways, rooting out these networks for smaller, less complicated attacks is tougher because it does not require as many resources on their part or preparation, but it does mean that we have to do even more to generate the intelligence and to work with our partners in order to degrade those networks. the fact is that those networks will probably sustain themselves even after they are defeated. what we learned from our efforts to defeat al qaeda is that we

will adapt as well. eventually, we will dismantle these networks also. this is part of the reason why it is so important to keep our eye on the ball and not panic, not succumb to fear, because isil can't defeat the united states of america or our nato partners. we can defeat ourselves though if we make bad decisions. we have to understand that as painful and as tragic as these attacks are that we are going to keep on grinding away, preventing them wherever we can, using a hold government effort to not down their propaganda, to

disrupt their networks, take the key operatives off the battlefield, and that eventually we will win. if we start making bad decisions, indiscriminately killing civilians for example in some of these areas, instituting offensive religious tests on who can enter the country those kinds of strategies and up backfiring, because in order for us to ultimately win this fight, we cannot frame this as a clash of civilizations to between the west and islam. that plays exactly into the hands of isil and the perverse interpretations of islam there putting forward. as for mr. trump, we will go by

the law, which is that if somebody is the nominee for president, they need to get security briefings so that if they were to win, they are not starting from scratch in terms of being prepared for this office. i am not going into details on the nature of the security briefings that both candidates receive. what i will say is that they have been told that these are classified briefings. if they want to be president, they have to start acting like president. that means being able to receive these briefings and not spread them around. i think i have said enough on it.

mary bruce. reporter: what is your response that the $400 million sent to iran was a ransom payment. acture coincidence jacket -- pure coincidence? a payment that was held up for almost four decades was sent at the same time that americans were released. can you assure the american people that none of that money went to support terrorism? pres. obama: some of you may recall that we announced these payments in january. there was not a secret. we announced of them to all of you. josh did a briefing on them. this wasn't some nefarious deal. at the time we explained that iran had pressed a claim before an international tribunal about

them recovering money of theirs that we had frozen that as a consequence of working its way through the international tribunal, it was the sentiment of our lawyers that there was significant litigation risk and we could end up costing ourselves billions of dollars. it was their advice and suggestions that we settle. that is what these payments represent. it was not a secret. we were completely opened with everybody about it. it is interesting how suddenly this became a story again. point number two, we do not pay ransom for hostages did have americans being held all over the world. i meet with their families, and it is heartbreaking. we have stood up an entire

section of interagency exports who devote all of their time to working with these families to get these americans out, but those families know that we have a policy that we don't pay ransom. the notion that we would somehow start now in this high profile way and announcing to the world even as we are looking into the faces of other families whose loved ones are being held hostage and say to them that we don't pay ransom defies logic. so that is point number two, we do not pay ransom. here and willr -- not in the future, precisely because if we did we would start encouraging americans to be targeted much in the way that some countries that do pay ransom in that having a lot more of their citizens taken by

various groups. point number three, the timing of this was in fact dictated by the fact as a consequence of us negotiating around the nuclear deal, we actually had diplomatic negotiations and conversations with iran for the first time in several decades, so the issue is not so much that it was a coincidence than it was we were able to have a direct discussion. john kerry was able to meet with the foreign minister, which meant that our ability to clear accounts on a number of different issues at the same time converged. it was important for us to take advantage of that opportunity both with the litigation risks and to make sure that we finish the job on the iran nuclear deal, and since we were in a

conversation with them, it was important for us to push them hard in getting these americans out. let me make a final point on this. it has now been well over a year since the agreement with iran to stop its nuclear program was signed. by all accounts it has worked exactly the way we said it was going to work. you will recall that there were all these horror stories about how iran was going to cheat and this was not going to work and iran was going to get 150 billion dollars to finance terrorism and all these kinds of scenarios, and none of them have come to pass. it is not just the assessment of our intelligence community. it is the assessment of the israeli intelligence and

military, the country that was most opposed to the deal that acknowledges this has been a game changer and that iran has abided by the deal and they no longer have the short-term breakout capacity that would allow them to develop nuclear weapons. so what i am interested in is that if there is some news to be made, one not have some of these folks who were predicting disaster say, you know what, this thing actually worked. that would be a shock. that would be impressive. if some of these folks who had said the sky is falling said, you know what, we were wrong and we are glad that iran no longer has the capacity to break out in short-term and develop a nuclear weapon. of course that was not going to happen. instead, what we have is the manufacturing of outrage in a

story that we disclosed in january, and the only bit of news that is relevant on this is the fact that we pay cash, which brings me to my last point. the reason that we had to give them cash is precisely because we are so strict in maintaining sanctions and we do not have a banking relationship with iran that we could not send them a check. we could not wire the money. and, it is not at all clear to me why it is that cash as opposed to a check or a wire transfer has made this into a new story. maybe because it kind of feels like some kind of spy novel or crime novel because cash was exchanged.

the reason cash was exchanged is because we don't have a banking relationship with iran, with which is precisely part of the pressure that we were able to apply to them so that they would ship a whole bunch of nuclear material out and close down a bunch of facilities that, as i remember, two years ago, three years ago, four years ago, was people's top priority, to make sure that iran does not have breakout nuclear capacity. they don't. this worked. josh letterman. reporter: donald trump has said this election will be rigged against him, challenging the core foundation of our democratic system. can you promise the american people that this election will be conducted in a fair way? are you worried that comments like his can erode the american

public's faith in the outcome of the elections? given the you have declared him unfit, what would you say to the american people? pres. obama: at the end of the day, it is the american people's decision. i have one vote. i have the same vote you do. i have the same vote that all of the voters who are eligible across the country. ultimately it is the american people's decision to make collectively. if someone wins the election and they are president, my responsibility is to peacefully transfer power to that individual and do everything i can to help them succeed. i don't even really know where to start on answering this question. of course the elections will not be rigged. what does that mean? the federal government doesn't

run the election process. it is states, cities, and communities all across the country. they are the ones who set up the voting systems and voting booths. if mr. trump is suggesting that there is a conspiracy theory that is being propagated across the country, including in places like texas, where typically it is not democrats who are in charge of voting booths. that is ridiculous. that does not make any sense. i don't think anybody would take that seriously. now, we do take seriously, as we always do, i'll responsibility to monitor and preserve the integrity of the voting process. i if we see signs that a voting machine or system is more

vulnerable to hacking, then we inform those local authorities who are running the elections that they need to be careful. if we see jurisdictions that are violating federal laws in terms of equal access and aren't providing ramps for disabled voters or are discriminating in some fashion or otherwise violating civil rights laws, then the justice department will come in and take care of that. this will be an election like every other election. i am, i think all of us at some point in our lives have played sports or just played in a school yard or sandbox. sometimes if folks lose, they complain they got cheated, but i have never heard of somebody complaining about being cheated

before the game was over or before the score is even a tallied, so my suggestion would be, you know, go out there and try to win the election. if mr. trump is up 10-15 points on election day and ends up and losing, then maybe he can raise some questions per that does not seem to be the case at the moment. barbara starr. reporter: on the question of isis expansion you have been talking about, because you see them expanding around the world, i because you see them trying to inspire attacks, what is your current level of concern about the homeland? you talk about protection measures, but what is your your assessment about the your i possibility, your own intelligence survivor suggesting

and is possible, about the direct isis threat to americans? mary and if i may follow up will will along the same lines, i your what is your assessment and today as you stand here about whether donald trump can be trusted with america's you nuclear weapons? on pres. obama: on your second on what you know question, and i will sort of address this to any direct you to a additional donald trump questions, i would ask all of you to just make your time warner will make and a own judgment. i have made this point already multiple times. just listen to what mr. trump has to say and make your own judgment with respect to how confident you feel about his ability to manage things like and our nuclear triad. in and reporter: there are suggestions that you are not confident. pres. obama: as a recall, i answer this question a couple of

want you days ago and i think i and made myself clear. i do not want to keep repeating i obviously have the original or a variation on it. i obviously have a very strong opinion about the two candidates and who are running here. one is very positive, and one is 100 and not so much. and in i think you will just you will here any further questions that are directed to and the subject, i think you'll you the subject, i think you'll hear pretty much variations on is the same thing. what can you what i can say is that this is serious business. the person who is in the will oval office and who our is secretary of defense and our is joint chiefs of staff and our an outstanding men and women in uniform report to, they are counting on somebody who has good temperament and good

judgment to be able to make and judgment to be able to make decisions to keep america safe, then you and that should be very are on much on the minds of voters when they go into the voting booth in november. in terms of the threat that isil in poses to the homeland, i a jury think it is serious. in your we take it seriously. the and, as i said earlier, fledgling because and, as i said earlier, in precisely because a they are less concerned about regular big, spectacular 9/11 911-style attacks, because and they have seen the degree of he they have seen the degree of attention they can get with smaller you attention they can get with and smaller scale you and you attacks using small loans or assault rifles or in the case of nice, france, a truck. the possibility of either a lone actor or a small cell carrying out an attack that kills people is real.

that is why our intelligence and law enforcement and military officials are working around the clock to try to anticipate potential attacks, to obtain the game plan threads of people who might be vulnerable to brainwashing by isil. brainwashing my we are going to constrained here in the sharia with a united states to carry out this work in a way that is consistent with our laws, presumptions of innocence, the fact that we prevent a lot and of these attacks as the one in effectively as we do myanmar along will without a lot

of fanfare and abiding by our laws is a testament to the incredible work that these folks are doing. they work really hard at it, but you it is always a risk. some of you may have read the article in the new york times and today, i guess it came out you last night online, about this individual in germany who germany will confessed and had given himself up and explain his knowledge of how isil's networks knowledge of the work. onein there was a paragraph in your room on there that some may have caught, which we don't know for a fact that this is true, a but according to this quarter the individual reporting, the individual is reporting, the individual indicated that isil has gone recognized that it is harder to get its operatives into the united states, but the fact that we have what he referred to as open gun laws,

meaning anybody that did not or meaning anybody that did not have a criminal record that are you have a criminal record that could bar them from purchase could go in and buy my weapons. onea that made their homegrown a you extremists more attracted to them. those are the hardest stop. and by definition if somebody does not have a record and it does not triggering something, it means that anticipating their you actions becomes that much more difficult. that's why the strategy we have going for you in syria and iraq and is necessary, but not sufficient. we have to a better job of disrupting networks, and those networks are more active in europe than they are here. we don't know what we don't know. we also have to get to the messaging that could reach a

troubled individual over the internet and do a better job of disrupting that. what i have told my team is that although we have been working on this now for five-seven years, we have to put more resources into it. this can't be an afterthought. it is something that we have to focus on. this is also how we work with the muslim-american community, the values we affirm about their patriotism and their sacrifice, and our fellow feeling with them is so important. one of the reasons that we don't have networks and sells that are as active here as they are in certain parts of europe is because the muslim-american community in this country is

extraordinarily patriotic and largely successful, fights and our military, serves as our doctors and nurses. there are communities in which in they are raising their kids with a love of country and a rejection of violence. if we screw that up, then we are going to have bigger problems. usa today. reporter: yesterday, you commuted the sentences of 214 inmates, the largest day in the history of the american presidency. i want to ask a couple of questions about your clemency. you have talked about this low level drug offenders who got as important mandatory a quarter of all, and will sentences, but a quarter of the sentences were for firearms.

given your overall philosophy of you and yourgiven your overall philosophy of firearms, can you a reconcile that for us? been that in a memo to also, the a other side of the ledger is pardons. you have granted fewer pardons than any two-term president since john adams. why is that? especially since you have talked to about second chances. a full but it would give people a better chance of. one other thing, many of your predecessors in the pilot is the presidencies reserve that for their more political sensitive pardons. >> appreciate the question. at that have a chance to talk about this. this is an effort i'm proud of.

view shared by democrats and republicans alike in many quarters as successful as we have been in reducing thee in this country extraordinary rate of incarceration of nonviolent offenders has created its own set of problems that are .evastating entire communities have been ravaged where largely men and some women are taken out of the upmunities, kids are growing without parents. it perpetuates a cycle of poverty and disorder in their lives. it is disproportionately young men of color that are being

arrested at high rates charged and convicted at high rates and imprisoned for longer sentences. ultimately the fix on this is criminal justice reform and i still hold out hope that the bipartisan effort taking place jobongress can finish the and we can have a criminal justice system, at least at the federal level, that is both smart on crime, effective on crime, but recognizes the need for proportionality in sentencing and the need to rehabilitate those who commit crimes. but even as that slow process of criminal justice reform goes forward, what i want to see is if we can reinvigorate the pardon process and commutation process that has become stalled

over the course of several years. partly because it is politically risky. you commute somebody, they commit a crime, and the politics of it are tough. everybody remembers billy horton . the bias of my predecessors, and frankly, as a number of my advisors early in my presidency has said, be careful. but i thought it was very important for us to send a clear message that we believe in the principles behind criminal justice reform, even if ultimately we need legislation. so we have focused more on commutations than we have before . by the time i leave office, the number of pardons we grant will be roughly in line with what other presidents have done, but

standing up this commutations process has required a lot of effort and energy, and it is not like we have a new slug of money to do it. limited resources, the primary job of the justice department to prevent crime, and to convict those who have committed crimes to keep the american people safe, and that means you have had extraordinary, herculean effort by a lot of people inside the justice department to go above and beyond what they are doing and review these petitions that have been taking place. we have been able to get organizations around the country to participate, to screen and help people apply. the main criteria that i try to set is, if under today's laws,

because there have been changes in how we charge nonviolent drug offenders, if under today's charges, their sentences would be substantially lower than the charges that they received, if they got a life sentence, by the u.s. attorney or justice department indicates that today it would be likely to get 20 years with a hearty served 25, what we tried to do is scream through and find those individuals who have paid their debt to society, that have behaved themselves and tried to reform themselves while incarcerated, and who we think have a good chance of being able to use that second chance well. on the firearms issue, what i have done is to try to screen out folks who seem to have a propensity for violence. and these are just

hypotheticals. but there may be a situation where a kid at 18, was a member of a gang, had a firearm, did not use it in the offense he was charged in, there's no evidence that he used it in any violent offense, it is still a firearms charge but he didn't use it, he is now 48 or 38, and has an unblemished prison record. has gone back to school, gotten his ged, gone through drug treatment, has the support of the original judge that presided, the support of the u.s. attorney that's charged him, has a family that loves him. in that situation, the fact that he had 20 years earlier an enhancement because he had a

firearm is different than a situation where somebody's engaged in armed robbery and shot somebody. in those cases, that is still something that i'm concerned about. our focus has been on people who we think were overcharged, and people who we do not believe have a propensity toward violence. and in terms of your last question about last-minute pardons that are granted, the process that i have put in place is not going to vary depending on how close they get to the election. it is going to be reviewed by the pardon attorney. it will be reviewed by my white house counsel.

i'm going to, as best i can, make these decisions based on the merits of political considerations. and finally, jim malashevski is retiring at nbc. he has done an outstanding job mostly for covering for the department of defense. this may be my last press conference here, so i want to thank him for the extraordinary career he has had. he gets the last question. >> thank you very much, mr. president. first back to isis and iraq and syria. your very own national counterterrorism operation has found that despite the decisive defeats we have dealt isis on the battlefield, that they have expanded their threat worldwide to include as many as 18

operational bases. in the six years you have been dealing, do you feel any personal disappointment, that there hasn't been more progress? and in any discussions you've had with the u.s. military and intelligence agencies, have you come up with any new ideas on how to deal or deceit isis? -- defeat isis? president obama: every time there is a terrorist attack i feel disappointment, because i would like to prevent all of them. that's true not just when the attacks are in europe or in the united states. when you read stories about attacks in lebanon or iraq or afghanistan or distant parts of the world that don't get as much attention, they get my attention.

that is somebody's kid, somebody's mom, somebody who is just going about his business. mindlessly, senselessly, this person was murdered. i haven't gotten numb to it. it bugs me whenever it happens, and wherever it happens. and we are constantly pushing ourselves to see, are there additional ideas that we can deploy to defeat this threat? now, it is important that we recognize, terrorism as a tactic has been around for a long time. if you look at the 70's or 80's or the 90's, there was some terrorist activity somewhere in the world that was brutal.

as much as i would like to say that during my eight-year presidency we could have eliminated terrorism completely, it is not surprising that it hasn't happened, and i don't expect that will happen under the watch of my successor. i do think that because of our extraordinary efforts, a homeland is significantly safer than it otherwise would be. in some ways, this is arguing the counterfactuals, that the attacks we prevent i take great satisfaction in, and i am grateful for the extraordinary work that our teams do. i don't think there's any doubt that had we not destroyed al qaeda in the fileatah, that more americans would have been

killed, and we might have seen more attacks like we saw on 9/11. and we have maintained vigilance, recognizing that those threats still remain; those aspirations still remain. but it is much harder for them to carry out large-scale attacks like they used to. what we have seen is that these lower-level attacks carried out by fewer operatives for an individual with less sophisticated and less expensive weapons can do real damage. that, i think, points to the need for us to not just have a military strategy, not just have a traditional counterterrorism strategy that's designed to bust up networks and catch fo