>> today president trump designated north korea as a state sponsor of terror. that announcement coming at noon at the white house. he spoke with reporters for the start of the cabinet meeting.

president trump: good morning. we just returned from a historic 12-day trip to asia. everywhere we met, the american delegation was greeted with tremendous hospitality and tremendous respect. people are respecting our country again, believe me. we brought back more than $300 billion worth of deals which could reach weatherall -- well over a trillion dollars within the very near future. that means jobs for the united states at a very high level. as you know, we have just come up with the best job performance in over 17 years. but this is a lot more jobs. we think the numbers will actually get a lot better, but we will put people back to work, because they are not registered right now. they will be registered in a

positive sense. japanese car companies will be opening up and expanding their plants in our country. we worked very closely with prime minister abe on that. we are renegotiating our bad south koreaith and started talking about bilateral trade with many countries in south asia, and we have made clear to all countries that we cannot continue to be treated unfairly with regard to trade any longer. it is not fair to our companies or our workers. last year we lost over $800 dealsn on trade, on trade with other countries. negative number, a trade deficit of almost $800 billion with other countries. that is not going to be happening. that is changing. and i explained that to them from the standpoint of asia.

everyone of them understand it. one of the goals was to pursue the denuclearization of the korean peninsula. i want to begin this morning by meeting and by talking about the fact that we will be instituting a very critical step, and that will start right now. today the united states is designating north korea as a state sponsor of terrorism. it should have happened a long time ago. it should have happened years ago. in addition to threatening the world by nuclear devastation, nuclear -- north korea has internationalon terrorism, including assassinations on foreign soil. as we take this action today, our thoughts turn to auto warm warmbier.to this designation will impose

further sanctions and penalties on north korea and related persons and supports our maximum pressure campaign to isolate the murderous regime that you have all been reading about and in some cases writing about. tomorrow the treasury department will be announcing an additional sanctions and a very large one on north korea. this will be going on over the next two weeks. it will be the highest level of sanctions when it is finished. the north korean regime must be lawful. it must end its unlawful nuclear ballistic missile development and cease all support for international terrorism, which it is not doing. today cabinet discussions will also focus on crucial message policy issues. i want to congratulate the house of representatives for passing a vital and historic tax cut last week, and i'm very hopeful the senate will do the same very soon.

we're going to give the american people a huge tax cut for christmas. hopefully that will be a great, big, beautiful christmas present. with the democrats giving us no votes for tax cuts for purely political reasons -- obstructionists -- it will be up to the republicans to come through for america. i think they will. i hope they will. it's up to the senate. and if they approve it, the house and the senate will get together -- i'll be there right in the middle of it -- and we will come up with a bill that will be spectacular for growth and spectacular for the people of this country. our tax plan will be bring urgent relief to hardworking families. we'll reduce rates, increase the amount of income taxed at a rate of 0%, expand the child tax credit -- very important -- and simplify taxes as most family will be able to file on a single sheet of paper. we'll restore america's

competitive edge so we can bring back our jobs. we want to bring our jobs back to our country. we were decimated over the last 40 years. we want to bring our jobs back to the united states. we'll go from being one of the highest-taxed nations in the world to one of the lowest-taxed nations in the world. corporate rates will be reduced from 35% all the way down to 20 percent, which will make us competitive again, and companies won't be leaving our country. finally, our tax plan will return trillions of dollars in wealth to our shores so that companies can invest in america again. at the same time, we're working to reduce wasteful government spending. we will hear from budget director mick mulvaney, who is working with my cabinet to find taxpayer savings in each and every department. the cabinet members that are with us today are working on getting reductions through their various departments, and we think we're going to be able to

save a lot of money -- even lower than the budgets, in the budgets that we're submitting. we'll be working on health care, infrastructure, and welfare reform. we're looking very strongly at welfare reform, and that will all take place right after taxes -- very soon, very shortly after taxes. so we'll be submitting plans on health care, plans on infrastructure, and plans on welfare reform, which is desperately needed in our country, soon after taxes. today, we'll also discuss the opioid epidemic that is ravaging so many american families and communities. last week, i was proud to nominate alex azar to serve as the next secretary of health and human services. i urge the senate to swiftly confirm his nomination, and i want to thank acting secretary eric hargan for serving with such devotion and for doing such a great job in the meantime.

thank you very much, eric. finally, i want to wish the american people a truly happy and blessed thanksgiving, especially to our brave men and women serving in our military and our border patrol and ice agents along the very dangerous southern border. as you heard, we lost a border patrol officer just yesterday, and another one was brutally beaten and badly, badly hurt. looks like he'll make it, but very, very badly hurt. and we talk about the wall -- we're going to have the wall. it's a part of what we're doing. we need it. it's rough territory. that's where the drugs are coming in. a lot of things are happening along the border -- the southern border -- and we're going to straighten it out. we've already reduced the numbers -- and you see the numbers -- they're back to 78% down from what they were. and those numbers will get better and better, but we have to stop the massive drug flow from pouring in.

and my respect to the families that were so badly hurt yesterday, because they were devastated. those two families were devastated. i just want to wish everybody a very, very happy thanksgiving. we're going to be working very hard during the recess in florida. we're going to florida. and i want to thank you all for being here, and let's start our meeting. and to the media, to the press, thank you very much. we appreciate it. thank you. thank you very much. asking questions] president trump: thank you very much. >> thank you. >> thanks, guys. >> ed royce released a statement

on the president's action. forplaud the administration restating north korea as a state sponsor of terrorism. kim jong-un brutally tortured warmbier. this designation endorsed recently testified before the committee exposes the utter disregard for life and is part of our efforts to apply pressure to kim jong-un. madeleine albright and condoleezza rice along with nikki haley talk about freedom and security. it includes these comments by former secretary albright. secretary albright: and i think we have to recognize that we are dealing with a president of a country of russia who is a

teacher be agent cut -- who is a kgb agent, and they are using information in a way to underline a system, democracy. ist they want to do undermined the democracies in europe and separate us from europe, and i believe they have figured out how to make our life more complicated in every single way to various new methods, and variousots aspects. and we are an open society and they are using our openness, and how do we deal it without closing down? it is a challenge for all of us to think through, but it has changed because we are being attacked in a new way through a new system. >> panel was part of a form on freedom and security and includes remarks by laura bush. you can see the program tonight starting at 8:00 eastern. the c-span buses traveling across the country on our 50

capitals tour. austin,tly stopped in asking folks what is the most important issue in their state. >> in texas the most important thing to me was i was hoping texas would get rid of unnecessary and burdens of occupational regulation. >> what is the most important issue? it is tax reform, we have an outdated system, and meet a new system so every american can have the best opportunity possible. >> one of the most important issues, possibly the most important issue, is transparency in government. i do not think there can be enough of it, and i do not think our leaders could ever do enough to be more transparent in terms of not only their own activities and behavior, and i think also the kinds of records that are used in government need to see the light of day and that the citizens of