assassinations on foreign soil. as we take this action today, our thoughts turn to auto warm beer -- so brutally affected by the north korean oppression. imposesignation will further sanctions and penalties on north korea and related persians 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 the highest level of sanctions by the time it is finished over a two week period. be north korea and regime must be lawful. it must end is unlawful ballistic missile development and sees all support for international terrorism, which

it is not doing. house speaker paul ryan responded to the announcement about north korea, tweeting, i strongly support this decision, which is an important step in holding north korea accountable for its wide range of disabling activities. democratic senator of massachusetts since the message, potus decision to designate north korea a state sponsor of nothing to hold pyongyang accountable for its nuclear ballistic missile programs. only pressure plus direct diplomacy can help us achieve the ultimate goal of peaceful and complete denuclearization of the peninsula. later in the day, secretary of state rex tillerson spoke about the decision at the white house briefing.

ms. sanders: good afternoon. thank you guys for being patient with us. i brought a special guest so i figure you might be okay if we were a little delayed. as you all know, the president hosted a very productive cabinet meeting this morning and made some news by announcing the united states has again designated north korea a state sponsor of terrorism. as the president said, one of the primary goals of his recent asia trip was to pursue the denuclearization of the korean peninsula. this designation will impose sanctions on north korea that will continue our progress toward that goal. additionally as a reminder, north korea has sported acts of international terrorism including assassinations on

foreign soil. the president's position is this -- the north korean regime must be lawful. this afternoon, we have secretary of state rex tillerson with us to answer some of your questions on this topic. he will come up and make couple of remarks and then take case on that topic and as always i will be back after that to answer other news of the day. with that, mr. secretary. sec. tillerson: thank you, sarah, and as sarah indicated the president did make the designation earlier today, announced in the cabinet meeting, and i think it's really just the latest step in a series of -- you can see, ongoing steps to increase the pressure, i call it the peaceful pressure campaign. the president calls it the maximum pressure campaign. so there's no confusion, they're one in the same. i think this is to hold north korea accountable for a number of actions they've taken over the last several months, the last year or so. some of you will know that north korea what was designated a s a state sponsor of terrorism in 1988.

may have been designated before. that designation was lifted in 2008 as part of an effort to negotiate with north korea, an end to their nuclear program. that obviously failed. because we can see where we are today. but as a result of actions they've taken, including assassinations outside of their country, using banned chemical weapons -- these are all very, very serious actions on their part that the public at risk. so that along with a number of other actions they've taken resulted in their designation now again as a state sponsor of terrorism. i think as sarah indicated, the practical effect of it is we already have many of these actions in place through the current sanctions. it may, though, disrupt and dissuade some third parties from undertaking certain activities with north korea as it does impose prohibition on other activities that might not be covered by existing sanctions.

but i think importantly, this is just continuing to point out north korea's illicit, unlawful behaviors internationally, and we felt it necessary to re-empose the designation for that reason. with that, happy to take questions. i'm going to let sarah referee because i'm not good at refereeing. >> thank you, sir. is this move an intent to incentivize kim jong-un toward negotiation? i think it's been more than 60 days. do you think that timetable is in any way promising? and why wait until we're back in the u.s.? the president said there was hope for diplomacy in asia, and this seems to be counter that. sec. tillerson: no, we still hope for diplomacy, and this is -- the timing of this is just one of us concluding the process. there is a very specific designation process that we have to go through the state department to be able to meet the criteria to make such a

designation, and we wanted to ensure we had fully met all the ose requirements. again, this is part of just continuing to turn this pressure up. and we continue to turn the pressure up on north korea by getting other countries to join and take actions on their own. we've had other countries -- in our visit to vietnam, they have committed that they're going curtail activities further with north korea. malaysia, singapore has cut off trade, the philippines cut off all trade. just recently the deputy secretary of state's been in africa and had meeting with the sudanese government. the sudanese government have traditionally been buying military weapons from north korea and now agreed to halt all those purchases as well. that is taking effect all around the world, and we think as it takes effect, this continues to tighten the pressure on the kim regime. all with an intention to have him understand this is only going to get worse until you're ready to come and talk.

>> the 60 day window has to be some time. -- has to end sometime. sec. tillerson: we're hopeful he continues this quiet period. that's our objective, he continue to be quiet as well. this designation, as i said, is one that we're required to undertake from time to time and we have been monitoring the situation. we wanted to be sure we had sufficient evidence before making the designation. this process started actually several months ago. >> mr. secretary, you mentioned that you have increase regional treasure against the kim regime. do you have any indication that it's working and if you haven't seen that indication just yet, how long before you good down this path before the administration has a change in strategy? sec. tillerson: we have a lot of anecdotal information that it's working, and we have our own intelligence sources as well. and then what the chinese and others share with us, i think the general belief is it is having a significant effect on north korea.

we know that there are current shortages of fuel based upon what we can gather from anecdotally, but also from certain intel sources. we know that their revenues are down because a number of revenue streams are being curtailed. is this the reason we haven't had a provocative act in 60 days? i don't want to suggest to you that i could say, but we're hopeful this period will continue. again, i think the president and his address in seoul, south korea though, he laid out the case he wants to deliver a different future to the people of north korea. >> thank you, mr. secretary. a couple for you. first, can you give us an example of a third-party transaction now covered that was not covered by your existing american sanctions or the u.n. security council sanctions? sec. tillerson: there could be

certain dual use equipment that may not have been covered that this would prohibit now, third party sell that dual use. again, i don't want to suggest to you that the designation is something that's going to put a whole new layer of sanctions. because again, we already have north korea so heavily sanctioned in so many ways with the u.n. resolutions that have been undertaken. but this will close a few additional loopholes off. >> you and the president are both referring to assassinations plural appeared -- plural. we know about the assassination the airport. can you give us a on example of an assassination on foreign soil? sec. tillerson: i don't have anything i can share with you specifically. >> tuesday morning it was said u.s. sanctions against north north korea are on the way. [inaudible]

sec. tillerson: we have not given up. with china, we have continue to talk with them to ensure they're fully committed to implementing the u.n. sanctions, and they assure us they are. as you will recall, the last round of sanctions imposed a pretty severe restriction on the import of finished products so fuels, petroleum, diesel, jet fuel and whatnot, but we have suggested to them you control that oil pipeline that feeds their refinery. you don't -- you can do that unilaterally on your on if you want to increase the pressure. whether they're doing that or not, we don't know, and it's very difficult for us to know whether they're taking actions to curtail oil supplies to them. >> secretary, earlier today president trump said that the treasury department is going to be announcing additional sanctions. tomorrow, he described it as a very large one, the highest level of sanctions. can you give us any in saying so what the additional sanctions may be. sec. tillerson: i'd like to leave it to treasury to announce those tomorrow. they're similar to sanctions we

have taken in the past. we are just going out more broadly to more entities. but i'd like to leave it to their announcement tomorrow and not jump the gun on them. >> do you see today's announcement as more symbolic or as something that has a lot of teeth to it? sec. tillerson: i think it is very symbolic on the one hand because it just points out again what a rouge regime this and is how brutal this regime and is how little they care for the value of human life. so i think if -- in that of itself i think makes a strong statement, just the nature of this regime, and the practical effects may be limited, but we hope we are closing off a few loopholes with this. >> thank you, mr. secretary. if china does not agree to cut off oil to north korea, how can you possibly get enough pressure on them to come to the table? sec. tillerson: their fuel supplies are already quite constrained. as i said, we have evidence that

there are fuel shortages in north korea. obviously the civilians are by and large the ones that can't get fuel, so we see long lines of vehicles at petro stations. we see certain petrol stations that appear to be out of fuel because they're closed when normally they would be open. so there are indications that fuel supplies are already quite tight. as you know, they only refine a small amount of their fuel needs internally. they only have one refinery that operates, and operates at a low capacity. so they were heavily dependent on imports of finished fuel products, which have been constrained significantly with the u.n. sanctions. >> is the chinese action essential? in other words, do we need china to cut off the oil shipment? sec. tillerson: i don't know the cutting off of all is the magic wand or silver bullet is going

bring them to the table. what i would say is the north koreans have demonstrated in the past they have hand enormous capacity to withstand a lot. they'll make their people pay, but they have an enormous capacity to withstand a lot. i don't want to suggest we think that one action is all it would take to get them to the table. >> margaret. >> thank you. i want to pick up on the question about the assassinations. how determinative was that in the specific evidence that you make this determination? and i also want to ask you, you and ambassador haley spent time with the president that's unusual. i know she is in town today. can you tell us about the meeting and any substance you might give us? sec. tillerson: on the assassinations, the assassination in malaysia was a significant event that caused us to begin to look carefully at what else they might have been doing. as you know, that assassination involved the use of a chemical agent, a very dangerous agent, in a public place. and so that really got our attention.

one of the things that we wanted to ensure is that we had a sufficient certainty around their role in that particular assassination. so we have been working with malaysian authorities as well and have been in conversation with them. wanted to let them have their own process, obviously play out as well. with respect to ambassador haley and i, we were just both in the cabinet meeting today. >> was the press -- i know without getting too much into it, but there has been a suggestion from the north korean media about some violence threat toward the u.s. president. was that a determinative fact in making this decision? sec. tillerson: no. >> mr. secretary. thank you for coming. you talked about the assassination on foreign soil. russia has been accused of assassination on foreign soil, including in london, should they be considered the same sort of designation? sec. tillerson: i think we have to consider every country that would take a substance like that

and use it illegally. >> are there talks like that going on right now with russia? sec. tillerson: i don't want to comment on that. >> thank you, mr. secretary. two quick questions for you. how do you balance the impact of sanctions? you talked about the people of north korea paying the price. is this something you're considering when you talk about more sanctions towards the regime of kim jong-un? well, it'sson: always a difficult choice you make when you impose sanctions in terms of who is going to bear the burden. this truth of the matter is the people of north korea already live under enormously difficult conditions and i think what we're focused on is a mission that's going to change north korea's trajectory, change their path. that's the best way we can help the north korean people in the future is to have kim jong-un reversed his nuclear weapons program, allow us and the rest of the world to engage in economic activity that will ultimately provide a better life for the people. >> do you believe the united

states is running out of diplomatic options in response to the nuclear threat of north korea? sec. tillerson: no, i do not. ms. sanders: time for one last question. john in the back. >> thank you, mr. secretary. you talked about the limited intelligence on north korea and on the regime. is there any evidence of any dissent within pyongyang at all , or possibly reaction against the current government by other members of the kim family, even, or other opponents to him? sec. tillerson: i want to be careful about how i answer that. what i would comment on is, you're well aware of a number of executions that have occurred within his inner circle, and within many of the military people that are close to him. so i'll leave it to your own interpretation. ms. sanders: thank you, mr. secretary. sec. tillerson: thank you.

ms. sanders: hold on. we'll get to some more questions. i know that there's obviously a lot of interest today. thank you again to secretary of state for coming in and answering questions. as many of you -- to shift gears just a little bit on a happier note, i'm sure you have started to notice the christmas season has officially arrived at the white house. this afternoon the first lady and barron trump will receive a beautiful 19-foot christmas tree which will serve as the official christmas tree on display in the blue room. the tree with arrive via horse drawn wagon and presidented by jim and diane chapman and thier son david of silent night evergreens in wisconsin. they were grand champion winners of the 2017 national christmas tree contest sponsored by the national christmas tree association.

the ncta has presented the official white house christmas tree since 1966. the grand champion grower wins the privilege of presenting a tree to the white house and we're excited to have them here today for the 52nd time. as you probably also know, we have other holidays like thanksgiving coming up, and this will be our last press briefing before the thanksgiving holiday. in this room. so i want to share other few things i'm thankful for and i think it would be nice for you guys to do so as well before asking your questions. obviously, you probably know, and it's no secret that i'm clearly very thankful for all of you here in the room, and i think that guess without saying. in all seriousness i'm thankful for the family, my faith, particularly thankful for the brave men and women of the military, many of whom are away from their families, protecting the freedom that all of us joan -- all of us enjoy.

i'm actual thankful for the first responder who keep us safe and thankful for the incredible privilege of serving this president and the american people. so this is how it's going to work today. since i'm here and i get to call on you, if you want to ask a question, i think it's only fair, since i've shared what i'm thankful for, that you start off with what you're thankful for. so, anybody want to be first on what they're thankful for? >> i'll give it a whirl. ms. sanders: april, you have been so eager. i'm going to go with you. on what you're most thankful for. >> i am thankful for life. i'm thankful for my children, i'm thankful for 20 years in this job. i'm thankful to be able to talk to you and question you every single day. ms. sanders: i feel the gratefulness there. >> now my question. ms. sanders: yes, ma'am. >> i hope you felt the passion of my gratefulness. so, the question is, if i didn't get a chance to ask secretary tillerson, there's a black hole when it comes to intelligence when it involves north korea,

and he was talking about that secretary tillerson said things will get worse until they're ready to talk. with that said, the rhetoric is still amping up. what is the concern about the intelligence that we don't know about? what do we know also relates to the nuclear capability of north korea, and what are the concerns about the things we don't know? ms. sanders: obviously the biggest concern is making sure that we take steps every single day to protect americans. that's what the actions of the president -- that he has taken today and the treasury department will take tomorrow. again, it's putting that maximum pressure on north korea to put a very large focus on denuclearizing the korean peninsula. that's been the top priority and it will continue to be our priority. we don't feel they're there yet and we want to keep pushing to make sure we are taking steps to prevent them from getting any further into this process. i can't go really deep into

specifics on information like that, but certainly, again, the priority of the administration is to protect americans and partner with our allies and our friends around the globe to do that, and i think that's what you're seeing in some of the actions that took place today and that you'll see again tomorrow. >> lastly, back and forth twitter that the -- ms. sanders: sorry, april i'm going to keep moving. >> i know, but does the president -- ms. sanders: i'm sure one of your colleagues will -- >> does the regret the tweet? ms. sanders: april, i starting am to regret calling on your first. >> i'm thankful for all of us. ms. sanders: i don't want that to go away. so i'm going to move on to a colleague. francesca. >> i'm very thankful for you calling on me right now. i will follow your lead and be thankful for our service members. my brother is a service member. and the police, my dad is a police officer. so i'm very thankful for their service. i want to ask about something that kellyanne conway said this morning on fox and friend about

the alabama senate race. she brought up tax reform and tax cuts and said the democrat running in that race would not be a vote for tax cuts. she did not directly endorse the republican that is running, roy moore. however, it opened the door to a question that we haven't really discussed here yet which is whether the president would be supportive of a write-in likeign like someone luther strange, who he supported in the primary or someone like jeff sessions. ms. sanders: i think we have address this. i've addressed it quite a few times but the president feels it's up to the people of alabama to make that determination who their next senator will be. i've answered a number of questions on this topic, and our position has not changed over the weekend. it's certainly still the same as it was when i answered the questions on thursday, and on friday. >> you said whether the president was supporting a writing campaign?

we said we support the people of alabama making the decision won their next nor should be. john decker. >> thank you, thank you all for my health, my family, my faith, i think i live in the best country on he face of the earth. i'm thankful you address us every day here in the briefing room. my question is also about the senate race in alabama. this is an unusual question. normally we wouldn't ask you a question about the republican nominee running for statewide office and whether or not the president is supportive of the republican nominee. but my question is just that. would you be pleased if roy moore wins his senate race in alabama? would the white house be pleased with that outcome? ms. sanders: look, obviously the president wants people, both in the house and senate, that support his agenda, but as i've said, and as the hatch act prohibits me from going any further, we think this is something the people of alabama should decide, and i'm not going to be able to weigh in anything

further beyond those comments. >> i'm thankful for my wife who is pregnant -- ms. sanders: congratulations. very exciting. >> thankful for my family, my parents -- ms. sanders: good luck, number two only gets harder. >> i'm thankful they sent me to the university of michigan and not ohio state, go blue. i'll get that out there. my question is on taxes as well. the president seemed to suggest today that democratic health is all but gone for. do you still think that you can get democrats onboard? ms. sanders: we certainly would still like to. democratsnow why wouldn't to support tax cut knows middle class. as we have said many times, seems like something they should be running to cast their vote for and we would welcome their support if they want to help that effort. >> i'm thankful for the first amendment. >> oh, yes. >> kellyanne conway today -- ms. sanders: i think we all are.

>> i want to ask about kellane conway. she was here on the north lawn alabama voters not to support doug jones. not to be fooled by doug jones. is that the position of this white house, that voters are better off voting for someone accused of assaulting teenaged girls, than a democrat? ms. sanders: look, as i've answered, i think even for the third or fourth time just today, at well as ten or 15 times on thursday and friday last week, the position of the white house has not changed. we feel like the people of alabama should make a determination under this senator should be. >> she made it clear over who they should -- i'm giving you the an issue the position of the white house. >> i'm grateful for my daughter my family and the fact i went to ohio state university as opposed to michigan. ms. sanders: we'll let that slide. >> but my question is this. does the president really regret

interviewing -- intervening in case of the ucla basketball players and what message does that send to others, u.s. citizens who may be held captive by a foreign government? ms. sanders: the president was certainly very glad and thankful to see the release of the three ucla athletes by the chinese government and it's fortunate that the president has built a strong enough relationship with president xi of china that he was able to help secure the release of the american citizens. whenever the president is able to use his office and those relationships to help american citizens held overseas, he certainly is going to do that. again, certainly the president was happy to intervene, and i think he has made that clear by taking that action upon himself to do that without being asked, and certainly something that he has done several times in these brief, short ten months the has been in office where he has secured the release of several american citizens and brought them home. steve. >> sarah, i'm thankful for

surviving our 12 days in asia. happy to be back here. the president has not made a weekly radio broadcast for more than a month now, and they have been scrapped by this administration, and if so, why? ms. sanders: no, we're always looking for different ways. we received quite a few comments and a lot of feedback that the weekly address wasn't being used to full potential, so we're looking at different ways we can revamp that and make it where it's more beneficial and actually gets more information out. we'll keep you guys posted as the details happen. i know there certainly will be a thanksgiving message. i'm not sure on the specifics and the date but i'd be happy to follow up with you. >> sarah, i have a quick roy moore question and then i want to ask about welfare reform. has the president talked to roy moore since november 9? the daily accusations came out.

day the accusations came out. ms. sanders: i'm not ware of any conversations. >> the president said that welfare reform is desperately needed. it needs to be reformed. what exactly is he talking about? food stamps, medicaid? what is he talking about in that context. ms. sanders: i think there's no secret, the president spoke about this during the campaign. it's something that he has mentioned briefly since taking office. and when we have specifics on what they will look like, we'll certainly announce them and roll them out. i don't anticipate that happening over the next couple of weeks. we are focused on tax reform and making sure we get that done by the end of the year. this is something that the president has a great deal of interest in and i think you can count on probably the first part of next year seeing more specifics and details come out on that. >> on friday the president released an expanded list [inaudible] you did break the rule.

>> i am thankful for -- why the president felt it necessary to add to the -- during the campaign and then also can you address concerns about the diversity of the president's picks, not supreme court but more broadly across the federal judiciary talking about how the white house values or doesn't value diversity among the judiciary when it comes to -- [inaudible] ms. sanders: they certainly value diversity at the not just in the judiciary but across the administration, always looks for more ways to grow that and improve that. in terms of the release on friday, the president has not added any new names in nearly a year and felt it was good time to do that. there's nothing more to read into it other than expanding the list should there be a potential vacancy for us to fill. >> this administration -- [inaudible] can you address why that's the

case? ms. sanders: i have to look at the specifics before i could comment on that. margaret. >> thank you. i'm thankful also for the first amendment. and for the second. do you -- ms. sanders: good for preparation for everybody for with your families so that you thursday guys will have already thought through what your thankful for so you'll be most prepared. exactly. whether theell us president or white house actively encouraged the justice department to move forward with the suit against at&t, time warner, the deal? ms. sanders: no, i'm not aware of any specific action taken by the white house. >> do you have a view on that? you said on friday -- would you have a statement? ms. sanders: not at this time. >> first, my gratitude. i'm grateful to have the opportunity to fill in for our chief, john roberts, and grateful to only have a month left.

i have a bun in the oven. it's my first -- if a got a lot to learn. my question is back to the ucla basketball players. president trump over the weekend called them ungrateful, and i'm just curious, because the players have already apologized. what more would president trump like to see from them? what would satisfy him? ms. sanders: look, i think that the president, like i said, was happy to intervene. i think it was less about the players than the father of one of the americans releasing to have a problem with it. frankly it didn't seem like the father wanted the president to intervene, which would have been a sad thing if he hadn't. >> does he believe that he really should have left the players in jail? ms. sanders: no. think if that's the case he wouldn't have taken the action he did, and certainly acted in order to help get those individuals released and brought back to the country.

matthew. >> so, following on that, if that not how he feels, why did he say he should have left enemy -- left them in jail? what are we supposed to take from that? ms. sanders: it was a rhetorical response to criticism by the father. again, i think the president was happy to see the release of these individuals and have them back in the united states. take one last question. john. >> thank you, sarah. i'm thankful for the position i have and the colleagues who are my friends. i'm thankful for my father, 96 years old, and going strong, and to my wife, my heroine, thankful to her for saying yes on the fourth request. my question is about zimbabwe. [laughter] ms. sanders: that's the best pivot i've ever seen. >> will the administration

recognize the new regime that apparently is being led by general chewing gum -- by the general in zimbabwe and will there be any interaction with the new government, specifically about their cutting back on the influence of china and north korea? ms. sanders: i don't have any announcements on our relationship with zimbabwe at this time, but will make sure and keep you guys posted. again, want to wish everybody a happy thanksgiving and thank you for participating in this very fun exercise. we'll be around today and tomorrow. thanks, guys. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] >> c-span's "washington journal" live new every day. coming up tuesday morning, the atlantic's caroline kitchener talks about how the presence and

influence of political extremist groups have grown on the internet. then the latest on nafta renegotiations. and the trump administration trade policy. with public citizen global trade watch director and peterson institute senior fellow. and miami herald reporter explores the future of guantanamo bay detain e.e.s. under the trump administration. -- detainees under the trump administration. be sure to watch c-span's "washington journal" live at 7:00 eastern tuesday morning. join the discussion. >> c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. >> coming up tonight on c-span, a couple of panels from the