be sure to watch this at 7:00 eastern. join the discussion. >> saturday, american history tv takes you to the american historical meeting in washington dc. join us as historians and scholars talk about civil rights in 1968. watergate and the rise of partisanship the new birmingham civil rights money. meeting,rage of the saturday on american history tv. >> sarah sanders was asked about michael wolff's new book and president trump's statement

criticizing steve bannon. discussed include north korea and immigration policy. ms. sanders: good afternoon. ande speak, mick mulvaney mark short are on capitol hill producing in ongoing budget negotiations with congressional leaders. the president urges democrats to adhere to the so-called schumer ule and not hold the government hostage in an attempt to advance a radical, political agenda. we must fully fund our military and make sure our brave men and women in the uniform have what they need. they're always there for our country and we must not let partisan bickering getting in the way of taking care of them. the president wants a clean

funding bill that takes care of our military and keeps our people safe. i will take your questions. >> the president said he not only lost his job, but steve bannon also lost his mind. does he regret hiring him? ms. sanders: i think the president's statement is pretty clear on what his opinion of steve bannon is and i do not think there is anything to add. >> is there regret? they did have a long and close working relationship. is there a sense of betrayal? ms. sanders: once again i think the president's statement fully addresses what his position is. >> a serious question, is the president now blocking c-span from calling his cell phone? -- steve bannon from calling his cell phone? ms. sanders: i'm am not aware they are calling his cell phone but the less conversation took part in the early part of

december. >> what does this do for the president's base? ms. sanders: i don't think this does anything to the base. they supported the president and his agenda and those things have not changed. the president is exactly who he was yesterday as he was two years ago when he started out on the campaign trail. his agenda has not changed. i think he's continuing to fight for and push for that agenda. and i think the base is extremely excited and happy. they are pretty happy with where he is. steve bannon has a distinct following, the alt white. ms. sanders: that is in question you have to ask steve bannon p . the president's is very solid and has not changed because the president has not changed. his agenda has not changed. we are continuing to accomplish what we did last year and will do a lot more at the beginning

of 2018. >> -- did the president -- >> you don't think i can handle the hard ones questio? >> does the president think his son committed treason? ms. sanders: i think that is a ridiculous question. you call that a total farce. if that is in reference to comments made by mr. bannon, i would refer you back to ones where he calls collusion a farce. if anybody has been inconsistent, it has been him. has stated, no, he was not aware of that. nuclearweet about threats, the nuclear button. should americans be concerned about the president's mental fitness that he appears to be speaking so lightly regarding

threats regarding the nuclear button. ms. sanders: i think the people of this country should be concerned about the mental fitness of the leader of north korea. he has made repeated threats. he has tested missiles time and again. this is the president that is not going to cower down and be weak. he is going to do what he has promised to do, to stand up and protect the american people. i'm going to keep moving. >> is it possible he could misinterpret that? you said he is unpredictable. ms. sanders: i didn't say that. i think it is extremely clear what the president's position is and our position on north korea has not changed since the beginning. this is a president who is committed to protecting americans and the people of this country and he will not back down. john. john: the statement put out. it is not the first time steve

bannon, you made reference to his interview on 60 minutes. during that press briefing on december 11, we were pretty much hands off in terms of going out after steve bannon. the president did not respond in any particular way. what has changed between then and now, after the interview he he apparently did with michael wolff? ms. sanders: once again, the president and his feelings bannon are very clear and there is not much to add beyond that. i don't think there is much gray area. this, this is a dramatic falling out between the president and someone worked on his campaign and also who worked on the white house closely every day. i think everyone is wondering,

what led to this dramatic falling out? was it the loss of roy moore in the senate race? is this a direct response, steve bannon calling the president's's son unpatriotic and saying he committed treason? there are a number of factors that played out. i think going after his son is not a good way to curry favor. >> a note explaining how the book came to be said the authors smoking to more than 200 people. >> he never set down with the president. there was one brief conversation that had nothing to do originally with the book. it was around 5-7 minutes in

total since the president has taken office. that is the only interaction the president has had with michael wolff since he took office. >> if you could reconcile the president's statement with the author's statement about how the book came to be. ms. sanders: i am not sure what the author's statement is. i know the book has a lot of things so far we have seen that are completely untrue, you have many people who have quotes that are servers to them coming out publicly and saying those things are not true. so i cannot speak to at the -- with the author's comments are. i can only speak to the white house. >> does the white house have a copy of the book? ms. sanders: i believe some individuals who do. statementsident's says steve bannon has very little influence in the white house but the president elevated him to the same level as chief of staff and put him on the national security council.

how do you reconcile that? ms. sanders: i would not say he elevated him to the same level as chief of staff. i think in the actions steve took, the president was clear it did not have a lot of influence on him or decision-making process throughout his time at the white house. >> many of us have seen michael wolff at the white house on multiple occasions. we know he was here. who gave him access to the white house, and what was he here for? can you explain any of that? >> so far, from what i can tell, roughly over the dozen interactions with officials at the white house, close to 95% were done so at the request of mr. bannon. frome compliance came steve bannon. other white house officials were not working with him? ms. sanders: any who did as far as far as we can tell that so at the request of mr. bannon. can we get some details on

will it be televised, how many awards will be presented? ms. sanders: i do not want to spoil anything but there are quite a few individuals who will be up for those awards. beyond that, we will have to see what happens monday. >> will the press corps be there? we will keep you posted. it might be hard for him to present trophies if you are not there but we will have to wait and see what happens monday. justin. >> one on policy. there was controversy about a letter from the department of transportation suggesting the administration -- the gateway rail tunnel connecting new york and new jersey. since it is if a structure week.

-- infrastructure week. i wonder if the president supports the 50/50 split and if not, what has changed from the bipartisan delegation last year. policyon't have any new announcements. as we get further into the cover stations, we will be rolling out want toails on what we do and hope to publish and what the plan is to do that. >> there were questions yesterday about the short list, demand on immigration. i wonder if that is something that was brought up. >> it is possible it comes up. we are open to having conversations with the conversations today, the primary focus today is on the budget. we would like a clean budget bill. that is not what our focus is going into today cost meeting. what we would on hope to have in any immigration

bill have not changed. they would include securing the border with a wall. eliminating the visa lottery program. you kneeled down some of the down points. you said the last time the president spoke to steve bannon was the early part of september. was that before or the special election in alabama? ms. sanders: i would have to look at the exact date. >> the drafting of the statement , it is rather lengthy, did he write it in his own hand? >> these are the president's words. are very clear and there is not much to add beyond that. >> it was reported he was furious. is that an accurate depiction? >> furious, disgusted would fit when you make completely false claims against the president and his administration and his family. >> i wanted to ask you

personally, i know use big on by president and the american people, how surprised were you with what you read, some of the excerpts that you did to mr. bannon? did that surprise you in any way and if so, how? ms. sanders: surprising. i for one was somebody who very much believed the president could and would win. otherwise it would not have dedicated so much time to it. not only that i worked in the , white house since the very first day and a lot of characterization that i saw that he was pushing out was the opposite of what i saw today ake place every day i had been here. >> on north korea, some folks in town say listen, it doesn't help, despite the idea being that we will be forceful and push back, some say it does not help when the tweets come out the way they do. we know the president made clear i am who i am and i will tweet the way i want to.

has there been any consideration that tweets like the one on north korea actually do not advance the agenda, working with other partners in the region? ms. sanders: what did not help was the complacency in the silence of the previous administration. this is a president who leads through strength and he will do that and focus on everything he can do in order to keep americans safe and he will not be pushed around by the leader of north korea, our policy with north korea has not changed. we are fully committed to continuing to apply maximum pressure and working with all of our partners in the region including south korea, whom we have a better relationship with now than ever before. we are going to keep working with them and keep pushing forward and hopefully north korea will start making better decisions. >> should people question the mental fitness of kim jong-un? isn't it dangerous for the

president to be taunting him on twitter? ms. sanders: i do not think it is taunting to stand up for the people in this country. i think what is dangerous to ignore the continued threats. if the previous administration had done anything and doubt with dealt with north korea and iran instead of sitting by doing nothing, we would not be in this mess now. >> it is a taunting tweet to say he has a larger button. what does it say about the president's priorities that he released a four paragraph statement about steve and and and one tweet about north korea? ms. sanders: the president has released a number of statements as have i, the administration jim mattis, secretary of , defense, they have all talked extensively about north korea and to try to limit it down to one tweet is disingenuous. the president is aware of how

the process works and what the capacity of the united states is and it is greater than that of north korea. >> two foreign policy questions. yesterday, you said there would be more details on pakistan. we are seeing reports the administration plans to announce wednesday and thursday that it plans to cut off security assistance. ms. sanders: we will keep you posted as decisions are finalized. >> regarding jerusalem and israel, the president tweeted last night that we have taken jerusalem, the toughest part of the negotiation, off of the table, but israel would have to pay more. first, taking it off the table, when the president announced jerusalem was the capital of israel, the administration policy stated that the borders had not been decided and it does not affect negotiations. the tweets seem to contradict that.

ms. sanders: i do not think so. it does not affect the negotiations. we want to continue to have conversations and continue the peace process. we are committed to that and we hope we can continue to push forward on that point. >> what is the pay more thing? the says that israel would have to pay more. ms. sanders: i do not know the details. i will check. >> in light of this book and the back-and-forth, will the white tose reconsider its position release visitor logs. ms. sanders: i do not foresee any changes but i will make you aware. >> two questions. first, during the campaign, the president said repeatedly that entitlements were off the table and he would preserve social security, medicare, medicaid, medicare part d, as they were.

now, with the passage of tax reform legislation and the recent statements of house speaker paul ryan that entitlements should be considered, has the president changed his decision from the campaign? ms. sanders: the president has not changed his position at this point. if that does change, we will let you know. >> is it safe to say steve bannon is off invitation for the white house? ms. sanders: probably so. those are controlled by the first lady and her statement is clear as well. >> how would you describe steve bannon's role in the white house when he was serving the administration? ms. sanders: the president addressed what he feels it was and that is the most important voice in the process to he has spoken clearly on that front. >> is the president looking for an apology from steve bannon

? what is he looking for in the future? ms. sanders: i don't think anything. >> discussing earlier the idea that kim jong-un would be the one who is mentally ill, is the president concerned that tweeting about nuclear war could cause someone like kim jong-un to act with military force? ms. sanders: i have addressed this. i think the president is concerned about threats the individual has made toward the united states and others and he will not allow him to continue to do that without saying something and standing up for the people of the country. >> three former secretaries said the deadline for daca is really this month and there is not enough time to put a new program in place by march if it is not done this month. do you agree? does that make you feel like you have to get it done sooner? there have been talks here -- ms. sanders: we would like to get something done but we want

to make sure we have complete and responsible immigration reform and we are not dealing with one piece of it. we have laid out priorities. what it would take for us to make a deal. we look forward to having conversations and getting that done. >> does it have to be done this month as they are saying? ms. sanders: i do not know. we would like to make a deal on securing funding for the border wall, ending chain migration, ending the visa lottery program, interior enforcements, we would like to do that right away. if democrats are willing to make the deal, we would be happy to get it done by the end of the month. a quick one here. >> i just don't understand the timing of something. steve bannon left in the summer, the late summer. the president said he lost his mind when he left. why did he continue to talk to him for so many months? ms. sanders: the president continued to have conversations

with him, also often asked for by mr. bannon. it does not mean he cannot hold that position. >> your comments about kim jong-un, is that the psychological assessment or is that your opinion? ms. sanders: i will not get into any further details on that front. one last question. i will come back. andrew, go ahead. >> president enjoyed a slight bump in popularity when golfing. is it possible americans like him more when he is out of the news and not tweeting? ms. sanders: i think americans like the fact that he got the largest tax cut in history done and the fact that they will see a lot more of their paycheck and the fact that american companies are investing in this country and not other ones. they like the fact that american companies are now giving out massive bonuses across the board. we are seeing every single day

more and more companies and announce decisions like that. i think that is what most americans are certainly very happy about as they went into the holiday season and had a little more money to consider spending as they celebrated christmas with their families. one last question. >> the past day or so, we have seen mother booker -- the president attacked the press and the justice department and now steve bannon. is the president engaging in authoritarian behavior? ms. sanders: not at all. he is responding often to news of the day. if the president cannot respond aggressively to an individual like the leader of north korea who continues to threaten americans, that is a dangerous place we do not want to go down. >> the president called for him to be fired from his job. that is not the president of north korea. we have seen you and the president: for critics to be fired from their job. ms. sanders: i cannot think it

is necessarily critics. we are happy for people to have different opinions but there is a difference between a different opinions and different facts. people are entitled to an opinion but not their own facts. we have a big problem with people putting a misleading information. those are very different. thanks so much. > >> former rnc chair michael steele will be part of the conversation on political advocacy. the washington center for internships and academic the discussion. live coverage begins at 9:00 a.m. eastern. in the afternoon, a discussion on the future of air warfare. the mitchell institute for aerospace studies hosts this forum. and, the vermont governor delivers his state of the state address. 1:00coverage begins at

p.m.. a reminder, you can follow these events live online. and with the free c-span radio app. c-span's washington journal. live every day. theng up, we will focus on nation's infrastructure. starting with congress and the trump administration's approach. we will speak to a senior reporter. and then, states and infrastructure spending. and the rand corporation's employee will discuss how to make spending more efficient. join the discussion. sunday on q and a.

i propose action instead of words. before it is too late. for the sake of a better world, i proposen and again it for our own american self interest. >> his book, arthur vandenberg. theman in the middle of american century. >> he finds himself in opposition when fdr is elected to read the democrats take a majority in the senate. that means, to get anything done , which often meant resisting some of roosevelt's initiatives, there needed to be a coalition. >> q&a, sunday night.

>> new york governor andrew cuomo delivered his annual state of the state address at the empire state plaza convention center in albany. he spoke about the 2017 accomplishments and criticized the republican tax bill that will take federal law at the end of 2017. [applause] allow, the moment you've been waiting for. the 2018 state of the state address. ladies and gentlemen, give a warm welcome to the 56th governor of the state of new york, andrew cuomo. [applause] 1 thank yo. -- gov. cuomo: thank you. thank you all very much. thank you very much. welcome to albany.