he will receive an additional $500. 80 high school central category our winner is a 12th grader from royal oak high school in real oak, michigan. enough is enough. pharmaceutical pricing. agh school west category is ninth grader from a laramie high school in laramie, wyoming for fossil fuels to renewables, the transitioning. congratulation to our winners. for competing and making this year's competition a success. winning entries will air on c-span in april and you can watch all 150 winning a documentaries online

next, corey lewandowski talks about the first days of the trump administration. stories from the 2016 presidential campaign. posted by the new hampshire institute of politics, this is just over an hour. >> i'm a student investor. educate, engage citizens to actively participate in the political life of their communities strengthening democracy and political discourse. here we have been fortunate to welcome many past presidential confidants. corey lewandowski and is our first. -- it political advisor for

.onald trump umass, a political andfer on capitol hill across the country. he worked for the republican national committee for review time, lobbying here in new england. institute's the executive director for conversation. oh this 2016 election and their new hampshire primary victory but president trump's style, character, ability to deliver on promises. it is another to have somebody so connected to the white house and we are honored to have corey here. >> thank you. >> [applause]

>> good to be home. as we get started i wanted to question whicht is how does a kid from the wrong go on to winracks a campaign for president? >> you wake up and you don't know. value in stilla in the very young. when they say you cannot do something you do not listen to them. when they say you will never be successful this regard that.

at some level put a chip on your shoulder. it does not mean you cannot substitute hard work. i have been so very fortunate. in life.chances i had a great job with americans for prosperity. i was asked to meet with donald and tookndidate trump a job that my friends, my colleagues, my family thought was never going to go anywhere. sometimes you have to take a chance to be successful and i have been lucky. >> did you think you would run a campaign for president ever? rex never. >> even from new hampshire you would never take this type of job?

to run a never my goal presidential campaign. some people that is there lifelong goal. campaigns are tough. tough on the people who do them and the family. forou win, you might be out a few years but when you lose your out of work area now i have and it is difficult to going to a campaign thinking if i lose what do i do for the next two or four years? never ever my goal to run a presidential campaign and i'm so lucky to have this opportunity to have a proceed at history. >> from advance you to trump tower. he hires you on the spot. like question mark have you had enough sense? >> it was so surreal but mr. trump is so magnanimous.

he is so good. so embracing. when i went to trump tower in 2015i did not know i'll -- why i was going. i left for you new york and waited and the night before, my friends that you are on your own. i just went to go see donald trump. around and walks into his office and he was behind his desk. he says look at you. you have a good look. i said ok. that was pretty cool. he asks me about a couple of , johnny and billy and bobby, i know those guys. are they any good? he said you think you're better

than them? i said yes i do. he said you know new hampshire? is it ok. my campaign for president? i said you're kidding me. he said candidly, what do you think the odds of me are for wanting and winning -- running and winning westmark issa 5% he said 10 present. i said let's meet in the middle and he said it done. he shook my hand, he stood up and said you're hired. i had a job. i did not tell my wife. he shook my hand and said you're fired. go on, get out. he says you work for me now. calledhis office and i my wife and i said i think i took a new job. >> how much management was this? he seems like the first to put a plan together and say this is what he will say today. would he go out and roll things

out and have to react or what was it like? >> it was a group of us that started to campaign together. >> five people. who were the five question mark george to chicos, a great advanced guy. michael glass was our deputy. did socialng a media. it was the whole team. no exaggeration. and lucky in new hampshire to cook -- two guys in south carolina. could have put them in a minivan. the bond that those five people have to make donald trump president was unbelievable. nobody was leaking stories.

the group is very cohesive. what we knew is when we were so successful. going on to iowa, i stay or donald trump was not supposed to compete let alone do well. he lost one electoral votes to ted cruz. teddy got eight and we got seven. >> what was that might like? let me tell you, when you work for donald trump winning solves problems. there was pressure after i like. small office on granite street. i told the story and it is important to remind people. in second place, a wind up every other candidate. first second third and finish. donald trump said when all 50.

a long flight home. came to new hampshire. not in a very good mood. i was working at the office in manchester, a couple of events. i sent a need to speak with you. here are your numbers. you're starting to fall. a good lead in new hampshire and if you don't parts to outline what your vision is and complain -- owa he turned around and went to manchester police that day, saw an officer out of the hospital cnn andr and went to thursday, friday, saturday, sunday, monday, positive positive positive.

>> the strategy was let trump be trump are you go to his rallies. he rallies and the tweets are two things that really differentiate him from other campaigns. you let him go to a rally but there was no preconceived notion that we will hit this issue or just go do it? >> sometimes we had a plan. sometimes we talked about what we wanted to talk about and i can think specifically of december 7 2015. we talked about a muslim band. a battleship in south carolina. we knew what the basic premise was going to be. about thehould talk snake tonight. different narratives he would roll into his speeches. i used to say let's talk the truck. i equate donald trump to a great racehorse. you have to let him one.

-- run. it is marked my job say for 40 years you had paralleled success my job is to put blinders on and tell them we need to be careful. he had his finger on the pulse of the american people. inyou look at the interviews 1989, exact same messaging when he ran in 2015 and 2016. he understood and understands what's wrong with the country. >> all the analysts are saying you have to put a parietal on this guy. he needs to apologize and you are saying let him do it. the trusted not see? it wanted a change.

we went up to new hampshire. in the summer of 2015. campaign.r the 15 messages from the same number. i said this cannot be good. it was a police officer. he said we have a problem. night, 50 people that friday night, there was an accident or something. he was giving us a head up. we are sending a cruiser. who can serve as protection. i said excuse me? is that i'm going to come get you. we fully into the facility. 120 degrees inside. people standing on the roof. two black suvs. people get into the cars and

shake the car. like a rock concert celebrity. when he gave his speech as we left we got in the suvs and people outside could not fit in the building. i said there is something special going on here. something nobody else sees. people would wait in line in my hometown. i saw time and time and time again that the media failed to understand if you wait in line to see someone for eight hours, -- -- the day heain said what he said about john mccain. did that kick you off your game and make you question whether or not you should be letting trump

be trump? >> that was a tough day. in iowa, it was sorely in the campaign. we were about to get a speech. a press conference and two other events and then fly back. the plane, the facility he has a meet and greet. him at the door and i said can i speak to you over here. he said pretty good speech. i said can i speak to you? this is where you have to understand donald trump. took me a long time to understand it. you said john mccain was a war hero and he spent a number of years in a prison camp. you need to apologize. he said no. john mccain has not done enough for our veterans.

people dying in phoenix arizona waiting in line. john mccain has not done enough. he said -- i sent you don't understand. this campaign is going to be over. we walked downstairs and a 28 minute press conference. the most i've seen in my life. we leave the facility, gets on a plane and i run recalling my life i said the campaign is over. all my friends are right, i will never work again. one author cannot consent donald trump is absolutely right. john mccain has not done enough. friends of the president will call me on that saturday and go to new jersey and four of us in the room. friends, close friends of the president said you needed to apologies -- to apologize.

he said i will double down theuse i will make sure veterans have what they want. he is a fighter and he will fight. >> does he ever apologize? the apologize after -- >> it seems like he doubles down on things. >> is a genuine fighter. he was toldre life he cannot do things. we are good in brooklyn. new york, manhattan is different. don't do that. he has such a nasa the. and ability to move people when he puts his mind to it. it is hard to apologize because he is so strong in what his beliefs are. he wants everyone to believe the way he does. inyou mentioned that he was a bad mood. describe what he is like.

there are different characteristics and when someone bill a really bad mood you clinton had a terrible temper apparently. other candidates have. you spend all this time with someone in a small campaign jet or bus, tempers flare. tell me what it is like when he gets upset you. somebody, 18 know hours a day and seven days a week. we flewirplane alone 1400 hrs on the plane. 1400 hrs. 60 days straight area. the best plana, the worst food. mcdonald's and burger king. you get to know somebody and you have to understand when donald trump is angry it is because traditionally the staff has failed to deliver on his expectations.

i took that very personally. losing or angry after coming in second place. he was disappointed. that falls on me as campaign manager to say i did not do my job well enough. i do not know what else i could have done. when he yelled at me or was more disappointed in me, i took a very personally because i have given up so much to be a part of it to. the biggest thing they have ever done in their life, running for president of the united dates. becoming the president. everything else is halting. secondary. those days like wisconsin, they were tough. days where we lost elections. they were tough. they were real tough. >> you are known for driving a tight ship.

you have a little bit of an edge sometimes. a persona you take on during the campaigns? you seem to enjoy the post campaign hobo. general persona. staff andtold our what i always tell our staff is every single day donald trump would get up and give us his very best and if we are not willing to do that and we should not be here to. a man who works 18-20 hours a day without blinking. he says why my going to mobile, alabama and august. he never questioned it. he said i will go because it is what you told me to do. amazing amount of responsibility to dictate his calendar without any questions.

what i will never have a tolerance for is for some stafford to say to me i am tired. i don't buy that. are going to meet a deadline, be there on time. deadlines are therefore a reason and we have donald trump on the ballot not with attorneys, two people. of course we can do it. wedid more with less because put feebly hardest. >> are you happy with his staff? there seemed to be a lot of leaks, the beginning part of the presidency. of this onching some tv, in connection with the president. are you disappointed? what is your feeling of the staff right now? >> there are a couple different components. at the incident -- at the end of the presidential campaign, filling these jobs through the had 200 people in

the whole campaign. 200 people. that's a decent sized u.s. senate race in some places. needless office, asian people. what you have the beginning part of the administration, in bunch of people who do not work on the campaign and have a desire to come back in federal government. they don't know the president. i think that when it comes to national security policy i think he has some of the best teams possible with kelly and methods. h.r. mcmaster. that team is very strong. dish and to push back on the president if they don't think he is saying or doing the right thing. has aroundthat he him just do not have that type

of experience and longevity with him in some instances to do that. i see the president as a person who understands two different types of sufferers. the people who have achieved a massive amount of wealth and 60's -- success. carson, all very wealthy in their own right. pinnacles of their career. then you have staff. staff who are literally the nuts and bolts of running a day-to-day operation who are much less likely in my opinion to be able to tell the president difficult things because they do thehave a relationship or most contemporary. you have to be willing sometimes to have a very tough conversations.

i have a top conversation with the president. candidates trump, all you can make the do is go back to new hampshire. i get a pretty good life in new hampshire. >> where does steve miller? an ideologue in a chamber in 2016 to come join the campaign. he is a big picture thinker. he truly fundamentally believes that the government should be smaller and leaner. who i think -- i do not speak for steve miller but i think someone who truly believes in rooting americans first. that sounds pejorative. is time to put american people first. abandonment seems to be of great interest to everyone in the media. probably does not speak much to the media. beforebeen around since either of you were around. >> steve and the road president

had a long relationship. some who is exceptionally brilliant. most people don't give him the credit he deserves. went to goldman sachs, made a seinfeld. maybe you have heard of it. then he went off and worked in hollywood and he started with andrew breitbart who was a visionary. building breitbart into what it is today. steve has been advising and counseling mr. trump and president trump for a long time. think you have in his steve bannon someone who the president understands. they say -- they share a similar philosophy which is why steve and the president have such a bond. that relationship has been long and developed and they fundamentally agree on most of the issues. >> he gets criticized from being right on through.

so does the president. how does that make you feel when this is the person that you spent a lot of time with. what is your opinion on some of that? these are pretty divisive statements. not that he has not been a divisive candidates. how does that make you feel when you know someone that's well and this is the political reaction? >> it bothers me because they have never done their due diligence and they need to go and understand donald trump. not that he is not been accessible. from the time he launched the campaign until it ended he did 700 interviews with the new york times. 700 different times. it is unprecedented. one date the new york times reporter calls me and i have never spoken before. we are about to take off and she said a question i would like to ask. i said what is it? he is right

in front of me. it is mary smith, she has a question. he said let me have the phone. she said i cover to blueprints and for four years and after spoken to her in my life. . he is that accessible to the media. when people make statements and he does not respect women until you look at the number of women who are executives in this corporation, it is not respect minorities until you see the minorities he has employed. he does not respect jewish people exit for his daughter and granddaughter. whoever they may be it is a much better sell than to actually look at what history tells us. >> you mentioned the new york times. >> the failing of new york times. is of anye make single human being and they are talking about donald trump.

now we have this fight with the media. do you think that is more something used as a vehicle to have an enemy out there? that he can basically fence with? is this more of a real appealing that he is being unfairly targeted by the media and he is reacting? >> i think it could be both but i think if the media has been pejorative sometimes. very unfair to the president. >> s amazing >> they have been unfair to most presidents. >> a time magazine reporter came into the oval office into took a picture of the oval and he said the bust of martin luther king jr. has been removed and he tweeted right away. never contacted anyone. out 3000 media outlet, decry him for being a racist for

removing the bust of martin luther king jr.. the fact was the bust was never touched. it was standing behind the person who was standing there. if you take in three questions to ask the white house he would have seen it. the first store is the one who gets reported, not a mistake. not the apologize. it happened time and time again. the wall street journal have written stories that are false. andpposed to doing that admitting it, what they say at the end of the story even though they have on the record sources, the white house disagrees. that is not fair journalism. quoteould agree with that the president has always had things that they have created as an enemy. reagan,uman, congress, congress. almost all of them congress. he seems to take a special liking it to the media. they seem to have a hard time defending themselves.

it is this a new tactic? >> media continues to talk about themselves. what the media doesn't understand is no because about the media. they are enraged that the president doesn't come to the correspondence dinner, they don't want to talk about what you've accomplished. day the media talks about themselves is every day they are losing. foxou looked at the last poll, 45% of the people believe in the present gives information it is accurate and were 2% believe that the mainstream media is accurate. very telling story. the media research center did a survey after the election. the d7 percent of the respondents from the media research center said we did not allow the medias bias to impact our vote. that is amazing. it was not that long ago that you had this, the world cup their news from three people at 6:30, abc, nbc, cbs. the same three anchors delivered the news.

did not make it, they delivered it. difference now is everyone is so quick to make the news. for subscriptions or whatever it may be. >> the thing that fascinates most of us is how the polling was off. most of us would have predicted that hillary clinton was going to win this by a landslide. i think most people including our own team believes that. your campaign, the trump campaign had a very small victory party in a very small location of new york. were the polls that the campaign had, or those intervals doing internals? it seems like everybody including the trump campaign was surprised. >> we looks at a couple of different factors coming into the race.

absentee ballot is a indicator. tamilorida was the most to us. a huge hispanic population and we did not know how they were going to break. when the historically do or completely against us. anald trump ended up with 30-33% of the hispanic vote. a very good number for republicans. the florida voters were exceptionally high. we thought we could be in trouble in florida. north carolina, our numbers said we were going in on election day down 225,000 votes. mitt romney was down 300,000 votes on election day. mitt romney carried north carolina four years ago. we felt pretty good in north carolina. on the first started to change rapidly and pennsylvania we knew i'd like, thehio, clinton campaign and new they cannot win either of those states. pennsylvania, michigan, they were very concerned about. being is they took

them for granted. it was not until the last 10 days, the last seven days, the last weekends. i'm a new hampshire guy. beant the last rally to right here. i planned it that way. the verizon wireless center. they've been very good to us, we had a rally there. this is going to be an 8:00 rally. this president will not stop working at 8:00. like mittht rally romney. i said, i know this guy. i know he is going to have another one. he got in the plane and went to michigan. he wants to michigan and it was like this. thrown together last-minute thing. landed at a party at three clock in the morning.

it made a difference. if we knew we can make a turnout model. because we know if we could just make a turnout model that said people who have not been engaged in the election process who are fed up with a broken washington because they have been lied to, they showed up and we won. hillary clinton did not connect with the african-american community. donald trump got a historic amount of their number. donald trump won with women. hillary clinton was the first female to hold the title for nominee for a major party, but found cap won with evangelicals, he won across the board. that is what nobody else saw. when we announced, they are laughing at us at 5:00 in the afternoon. at 10:00 p.m., i knew we had

won. because i know numbers, i saw the numbers coming in and i said, this guy is going to be president. 11:00, 12:00, 1:00, 2:00, 3:00 -- it was a foregone conclusion. they told me i had to be magnanimous, which i refused to be. >> speaking of new hampshire, the subject of voter fraud comes up. he brings it up quite often. there was a union leader story last week about how many people showed up, i think 6000 people in new hampshire who showed up without any form of i.d. what you think about all that? you have said you don't necessarily think there is widespread voter fraud in new hampshire. elaborate more about what you think about voter fraud in new hampshire. corey: here is my concern about new hampshire. the way the law is written, unfortunately, it is not voter fraud, but if i feel like today even though i live in massachusetts, i'm going to go to new hampshire and campaign and spent three or four days there, and then i feel like i have been here a lot, i feel good, i'm going to vote in new hampshire.

it is perfectly legal. that is a problem with the system. if you are not paying taxes here, you are not a resident here -- here is how close these elections are in new hampshire. donald trump lost by 2800 votes, senator kelly ayotte lost by 790 votes in a statewide election. you are talking minimal numbers. it is perfectly legal -- joe biden, the vice president at the time, his daughter was here campaigning. she decided to register as a new hampshire resident and vote in the primary. she was here for four weeks. that does not make you a resident. after the election, you pack up and go home. is that illegal voter fraud? it is not, but you can't have it. there has to be criteria. maybe you have to register 30 days before, 60 days before, have new hampshire identification. simple things. our democracy is too important. this day could have been -- it was not because donald trump won and a decisive electoral victory

-- but these four electoral votes have decided an election in the past. ask george w. bush. in 2000, if he did not win new hampshire, he would not have been elected. >> so you are new hampshire god and you have been around -- you are a new hampshire guy and you have been around the country with donald trump. what is it about new hampshire? corey: every state has amazing opportunity. the sophistication level of the people of new hampshire is second to none. they understand and take full responsibility for the privilege they have of being the first in the nation primary. it is so amazing to me that my friends on this campaign, the trump campaign, are here and next time they will be on the other side of the campaign. these are the chairman and cochairman and county chair, but next time, they will support someone else for another race,

governor, city council, state senate. i don't take it personally. i'm privileged that these people stay involved for 20 to 50 years and they have had multiple candidates in their homes so they can ask people the tough questions. new hampshire is such a special place because people take it so seriously, and they need to. it is an obligation that nobody else has. >> on that note, you are a new hampshire guy. you are very eloquent, masters degree. in politics, right? so, i think a lot of people in politics who are in the back of the room many times wish they were in the front of the room. would you ever consider running for office in new hampshire? corey: that is not for me. i am a staff guy. i mean that in the best possible

sense. i have had my share of the spotlight. i have been very fortunate. i have been on multiple tv shows and have the privilege to do sunday shows and that good stuff. >> just this week. corey: a couple this week, i did hannity. that is a great privilege. but you know what i know? i know i can be more effective by helping somebody else be the best they can be, and it is not for me to put my name there. >> we are going to take some questions from the audience. these two microphones. if anyone who wants to ask the question, lineup and start this. make the question quick if you can. before we get into that, let me ask one thing -- tomorrow night, he is in congress. he is speaking to a joint session. what you expect? corey: i think the theme of the speech tomorrow night is the renewal of the american spirit. what i think the president is going to talk about is some broad themes. he is going to talk about what he has accomplished in the first 35, 37 days of the administration, keeping the

promises he has outlined -- withdrawing from the tpp, for every one new regulation, remove two, helping coal miners back to work, business friendly environment. he is going to talk about the economic security and education security, meaning making sure our people have great education opportunities in the inner cities and rural areas that they may not have now. make sure we are creating jobs to grow the economy greater than 1%. the third big thing is very important -- that is taking care of the veterans, making sure they have money in the v.a. to take care of people who took care of us. increasing spending in the military to make sure they have the best tools available. and something this campaign has been focused around, border security -- having a wall built on the southern border and what that implementation looks like. if we don't control our borders, we don't have a country. i think those are the big things

he is going to talk about. i think the speech is going to be both a reminder of what he talked about on the campaign but also very forward-looking about how to accomplish those things. he will also discuss the need to repeal and replace obamacare. >> how long until that is replaced, in your opinion? we are over the january 27 deadline. corey: he has said he is going to cement his plan by the second week of march. he is working with secretary price and leaders in congress. the other big thing is, a fundamental tax return, the first one since ronald reagan put together a completely different tax structure. that is something very difficult to do. there have always been sacred cows in the tax structure that you can't touch. you have to grow the government at greater than 1% to be successful. in order to do that, you have to have a business environment where businesses want to hire and put more money in people's pockets.

>> with that, we have a question. right here. >> i would like to thank you so much for speaking to us tonight. it was an amazing experience. my question is, based on this unique campaign, you have any advice for young people who would like to be more involved in campaigns and work on them in the future? corey: a great question. let me say this. when i had just finished graduate school, i looked at every member of congress who received less than 55% of the vote in the last campaign and said, i want to manage her campaign. did not know any of them, spoke to every one. one guy said, come in and meet with me. i did, i met him a couple times. he said, i need you to move to ohio. it could have been anywhere.

he said, pack up everything, and you will be my campaign manager. you have to take a chance sometimes. i worked as hard as i humanly could to help this guy get reelected. he ended up with 65% of the vote and made me his chief of staff after that. you have to do stuff that other people are not willing to do. you ask any entrepreneur, anybody successful, there are so few of us born on third base. i was not. you have to do stuff that no one else well. if that means packing up everything and driving to a place you have never been to do something you think you will be good at, you have got to do it. you have to get lucky a little bit, but sometimes you make your own luck by hard work since you -- by hard work. >> since you have been coming here, our students rave about you and can't stop talking about the work that you do, so thank you for that. >> i am a student journalist and sometimes it is disheartening to see the media and the president have a negative reaction. what would you say can be done on both sides to mend that

relationship? corey: a great question. the president is right magnanimous in private. he has tried to have a relationship with these reporters. he has a good relationship with a number of members of the media. the reason i think he gets frustrated is because he knows these people and he does not think they treat them fairly. i think you will see continued outreach by the president and his team to develop those relationships so that they can have a better understanding of what that looks like. you saw the president give a 77 minute long press conference and somebody gets up from a liberal outlet -- this never happened in the obama administration. he never took a 77 minute long press conference. the president is so accessible, he just wants to be treated fairly. i think the way to do that is to bring people in who are covering him on a regular basis and having a better understanding of what both sides expect.

if both sides agree they are not always going to agree on what the story is that you have a mutual understanding that you will report the facts and not opinions, i think the president would be comfortable with that. >> that was a different tactic than sean spicer took. corey: i know sean very well, he is a good friend of mine, as a number of people in the administration are. what sean did by bringing people into the gaggle was he said, there is a pool. a pool is a group of reporters who were randomly assigned, one is a print reporter and one a tv reporter, and if there is an issue that the full press corps can't cover, these people are assigned to cover it and provide the transcript. that is what john did. -- that is what sean did. i have dealt with pools the entire presidential campaign. if a cnn reporter happened to be the pool reporter that day, they would have been in the room, or the new york times.

it just so happened that the individual who was the pool camera was nbc who is in the room. that is because that is how the pool was set up. again, the press wants to talk about -- it is unprecedented the president excluded someone from an off the record gaggle in a room half the size of this stage. everything was made available to everybody. the transcript was fully available. nobody missed any news. if the press wants to talk about themselves and how they have been so wronged, that is not what the american people care about. >> next question. >> thank you very much, both of you. how would you -- or i guess the promises that candidate trump made during the campaign, do you think he is going to fill those and which do you think he will prioritize? corey: if you look at what the president has tried to accomplish in the first 38 days

of his administration through executive orders, he is the filling the promises of this campaign. i don't know if you saw, but this week the department of homeland security put out their first solicitation for the designs of a wall on the southern border, something he campaigned very heavily on. if you look at tax cuts, saving social security and medicare, repealing and replacing obamacare, building a wall -- these have been the themes of the campaign. withdrawing united states from tpp, labeling china currency manipulator, redoing bilateral deals as opposed to multilateral, looking at nafta, making sure that if companies leave our country to produce goods, there will be a recourse. he has talked about those things, making an environment inside the business community that is healthy. the stock market is through the roof because for the first time in eight years, you have the federal government no longer

reactionary and/or aggressive against companies but is trying to help companies grow, and it is a very different mindset with the people he has brought into government. >> some of the things that have happened in the last several weeks are that he will say something and then pence and many of the cabinet members will spend the rest of the week reversing that. we had a speaker or other night who said pence will be the first prime minister of the united states. what you think about that relationship? how healthy is that, that the vice president has to walk is -- walk us back? corey: i had the amazing privilege to chair the selection committee for the vice president of the united states. talk about an awesome power. i had the privilege of putting names on a list to run by candidate trump and say, here are the people i think are qualified. he said, go out and interview them, and i did. mike pence is a good, honorable man, sometimes too good to be in

washington. i had that conversation with him recently. i said, you know, you are such a good man, you should not be in the swamp. he and the president have an unbelievably strong relationship. mike has been such a steadfast supporter of the president and so good that if the vice president were to go and help smooth things over, particularly on capitol hill where he has good relationships with other governors because that is where he is from, the president is open to that. he is very open to the vice president being the lead on issues that the vice president wants to be engaged in, including obamacare repeal, including tax reform, including the narratives on capitol hill, where mike has strong relationships with members of the house and senate and the president does not because he does not have the years of history. these two individuals work hand in glove together and i do not

think there's ever been a time -- >> they are working close together? could it be the president may be said something that he needed to walk back and instead of, as you mentioned, the apology, the apology never comes, but hence itence will come and smooth out? corey: he is very good at interpreting the president. >> dick cheney would say that is a very important job, taking the vice president. corey: i did not take myself. >> what challenges do you foresee for president trump and the unification of the republican party? corey: i think it is clear that he is now the head of the party, both de facto and by function of being the president. but the challenge that many face particularly in states where you have republicans holding office that came to their respective

offices before the president was elected, they are not sure if they should embrace the president or if they should run from him or try to walk a fine line, like john kasich. he is a good example. bruce rauner in illinois is a good example. they are not sure what to do because -- if they step away from the president, what happens to the group who supported the president and his campaign? they need them to win. it is very difficult if you are a sitting elected official to criticize the incumbent president of your own party. what i think you have an opportunity to see coming up in 2018, there are 10 states that there are incumbent democratic u.s. senators and states that donald trump won for president. that gives republicans running in those places a great opportunity to tied to the top

trump agenda moving forward. but in states like ohio where there has been more of a discourse between trump and the governor, it is unfortunate but you have to work together. at some point, the governors are going to need help from the federal government and you want to have the best relationship possible for your constituents. >> in 2020, do you think he is going to be on the ballot? corey: he has never quit anything in his life. i think he is going to run, he would win. i don't want to be hyper partisan. the left wing of the democratic party has gone so far to the left, with the bernie sanders wing, that it is almost impossible for them to win america. they can win in california, washington state, oregon. they can win in massachusetts.

they can win in vermont. the problem is, when you look at the middle states, it is very hard for them to win because they don't have the message of economic freedom anymore, putting people back to work. they have taken people for granted. if they continue to take the african-american committee for granted, particularly in big cities, it will lead to their own demise. i just saw this today -- the president had 100 african-american leaders in the oval office talking about his recommitment to the african american colleges and making sure they have the resources they need to be successful. he is going to make inroads in places where traditional republicans have not because that is the type of person he is, a consensus builder. >> going off what you were saying earlier, during the primaries, we heard a lot of establishment republicans fighting each other. there was a question over whether republicans would embrace trump because he was not a traditional candidate. how did your team and the

now-president deal with that during the primaries, uniting republicans? corey: yeah, we didn't. [laughter] corey: we didn't care. that is the great part. you have a complete outsider who did not need their money or endorsements. and did not belong to the same country clubs they did. the only time we ever went to washington, d.c., in the primary was to check on the hotel he was building. we did not go there and back congressman -- the first congressional endorsement we received was not until we had won the nevada caucus. on february 24 last year, congressman chris collins from new york made an endorsement. he called up and said, i'm interested in endorsing. can i talk to him? we said, just go endorse him, endorse him or not, we don't care. we are not going to run a party establishment. if endorsements matter, jeb bush

would be the president. it does not work that way. your endorsement is good for one vote. it does not work that way anymore. the american people are smart, i see it all the time. they want someone who is not beholden to washington special interests, who can find his own campaign, do right by the american people and not be beholden to people because they want a job. we did not embrace the establishment. we said, we are going to be the outsiders. us and dr. carson, we were the outsiders. if you look at the two people -- from the time we got into the race who were leaders in this race, there were only 2 -- donald trump ran almost wire-to-wire, never been done, except for literally two days in iowa, dr. carson passed us. donald trump stood up and gave

the belt buckle speech where he said, come stab me in the belt buckle. and that was it. in dodge city. the outsider. washington has been fundamentally broken for so long, republican or democrat. they have lied to the american people. we have $20 trillion in debt. we bring in $4 trillion a year. put that in perspective. if you have $20,000 on a credit card and you make $4000 year, and you have to pay for all the other things on $4000 year, how are you ever going to pay off $20,000 on your credit card? it cannot happen. that is what we have done. the american people said, we have tried everything else, tried the establishment, tried everybody else, and it has never worked. let's go try something different. that is what we did in the primary. donald trump won in new hampshire, then south carolina, then nevada, then we won 38 times and he received more votes in the republican primary than any candidate in the history of the party.

>> now he has to deliver. a lot of the time your changes different than somebody else's change. if he does not necessarily deliver 100%, are some of those voters going to drop off? corey: sure. i have said this and steve bannon said this at cpac the other day. we have to hold this administration accountable. i mean that in the best and worst sense of the word. if these elected officials make promises and do not hold them, they need to be voted out of office. there has been no one who has been a bigger cheerleader than the president. i've had the privilege of traveling around the country since the election. everybody says, i was the first supporter of donald trump. that is not true. that me tell you, i turned the lights on in the building. there was nobody there before i was. everyone else bought the winning lottery ticket the day after they call the number, amazing. but that's ok.

at the end of the day, you have to hold candidates accountable -- city council, statehouse, governor, u.s. senate, or the president of united states. if you cannot deliver, you will be held accountable. that is our obligation. >> thank you, mr. lewandowski, for coming in tonight. i have a question about the travel ban. a few weeks ago, the ninth circuit court struck it down. what will the trump administration do if they are to release a new travel ban, to make sure the federal courts do not file an injunctive tro against the order? corey: a good question, and the short answer is -- i'm not here to make disparaging comments about the ninth circuit, although i should. they are a kangaroo court. what they are is justices who want to legislate from the bench. if you want to be a legislator as a federal judge, you can do what the governor of nevada did. he was a judge, stepped off the bench and became the governor.

you are entitled to do that. the differences, it is a question of constitutionality. as a federal judge, you have to determine, is what is being done or said constitutional within the law? does not matter if i agree or disagree -- is it constitutional? the ninth circuit has stepped in and said the president does not have the constitutional authority to limit people's visas from countries that are potential terrorists. that is 100% factually inaccurate. it has been implanted in numerous occasions, like japan in world war ii. there is no constitutional question about it. what you will see in the coming weeks is a new executive order, most likely the tail end of this week, which further limits what the president will do to

preclude people from coming here who want to cause us harm. the single biggest job, in my opinion, of the president is only one -- to keep our citizens safe from enemies foreign and domestic. if we cannot be safe, he has not done his job. >> could the rollout have been better? corey: sure, it should have been better. but the difficult part was, jeff sessions was stuck in a senate confirmation hearing. then senator sessions, there was no solicitor general in place. the information, which was distributed to the government agencies, the department of homeland security, department of state, did not seem adequate at the time. they were caught by surprise. there did not seem to be enough communication between the administration and the people on capitol hill, who were either in oversight capacities or had some

jurisdiction over what was taking place. the rollout could have been better. but it does not mean what was rolled out was not constitutional. what is very, very important are that there are three separate and unique branches of the federal government for a reason. you don't just get to be the judge and the jury to say, i don't like what the president has said, i'm going to stop him because i'm a federal judge. a federal judge in boston said, this is perfectly legal. so you have two competing federal judges. now we have the supreme court, 4-4, which has not taken up this case because neil gorsuch is waiting for confirmation. i think what you will say this week is a new executive order. on the question of constitutionality -- i believe in a more limited scope, the new executive order will be challenged by the same court and the ninth circuit will take it up again. the question is, does the president have the constitutional authority to do this?

the answer is unequivocally yes. >> is that why they want to move the hearing for gorsuch up? corey: nothing is more important than the safety of our country. it was not that long ago that we had a woman coming to this country under a k-1 visa. that means you married a citizen, perfectly legal. the state department, in their infinite wisdom, because of the rules in this country, did not do their due diligence to check her social media activity. she came into san bernardino and committed jihad, killed a number of americans. she came and perfectly legally. we need to have a better understanding of who is coming into our country, and if that means extreme betting, it is a high privilege to come to united states of america and become a citizen. we have the greatest country in the world, and we can never forget that.

>> time for one more. >> thank you for coming. as young politics major -- i am sure you have answered this question a million times -- if you could give one piece of advice to a young politics major, what would that be? corey: take an internship. start right now. start meeting elected officials. go up to the statehouse. in massachusetts, there were not any republicans, so i met a state representative, democratic state representative, and i said i would work for him for free because i got nothing else to do everyday. i took the train to boston every day to work for him. he was a first-term state rep. he went on to become a state senator, chairman of the ways and means committee, a conservative democrat. he is not a state senator anymore. you know what that relationship did? i look back 25 years ago, he put

me on the right path. when you are involved -- and i took a lot of arrows in this campaign from a lot of people supposed to be my friends. they called him and said, what was corey lewandowski like when he interned for you in college? they got a reference from a guy who has no agenda. you do that, you go up to the statehouse, you work for free, find a candidate or city council

this has been a real treat. my pleasure. before we kick off the first of our new hampshire live broadcast series. the first of many more speakers. but again, thank you very much, the man from new hampshire. thank you. >> it is great to be here. [applause] >> thanks for coming. >> thank you. i appreciate it. i appreciate it.

>> c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 19 some the nine, c-span was created as a public service by america's -- in 19 some nine, c-span was graded as a public service by america's cable providers. >> joining us now is former congressman and president of club for growth, david mcintosh. begin with the open-ended question. what do you think of the repeal and replacement plan for the affordable care act? guest: that's been the question f the week for us. we think this version -- and i refer to it as ryan