so i want to thank all the members of the election community who worked really hard to get the four recounts done, the judiciary who sat and heard cases, and the members of the press who have given the public information that they need to know. thank you. mr. alcorn: madam secretary? ms. mcallister: yes, mr. chairman. i would like to thank mr. yancey and ms. simonds to run in this election. it is truly unprecedented, as we all know, and for it to be so divided. it is so important that each and every one of us vote, that it is so important in our community, not only in virginia, but in the entire country. we know the voting processes are just so essential. and so much has been said of late about the voting processes in our nation. i want to commend those who want to run for elections because it is so important we have the

integrity to make sure our system works. i would like to join our vice chair in commending all the individuals she talked about going through the judicial -- >> we will leave the last few moments of this with a reminder that you can see it on cspan.org . we go live to the white house for the daily briefing. ms. sanders: american families and workers are the big winners. with that in mind, we have a message from a special guess i would like to share with you. president trump: thank you for being with us today. the historic tax cut i signed into week before christmas is already delivering major economic gains. hundreds of thousands of americans are seeing larger paychecks, bigger bonuses, and higher pension contributions,

and it is all because of the tax cuts and the tax reform, and i want to thank all of the companies that worked so hard to do it. workers at at&t, bank of america, comcast, southwest airlines, american airlines, and many other companies are receiving bonuses of $1000 or more. aflac and others are investing more in employees' 401ks. cvs announced it will hire 300,000 new workers. boeing, another great comedy, is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in employee training and infrastructure. more than 60 companies have announced they are raising wages, including many that have voluntarily raised their minimum wage to $15 an hour, and i mean they did that voluntarily, which many politicians said could only be achieved by government mandates. investing in the american workers the most important investment of business will

make. i want to thank all of these taxanies for putting the savings to the best possible use by creating more jobs and higher wages for the american family. these great results are just the beginning. when the dreams of the american people are unleashed, there is nothing, absolutely nothing we can't achieve. we're going to make america great again, and it is happening a lot faster than anyone thought possible. thank you. ms. sanders: thank you, mr. president. as he said, this is only the beginning, and we are excited to see the economic growth and optimism continued to soar in 2018. earlier today, the president hosted republican senators to talk about responsible immigration reform. he reiterated our view that any action on daca must come with action on the president's immigration reform principles which were released last year. these include a physical border wall on the social and border -- southern border, interior enforcement, which means more ice and border patrol agent as

well as a crackdown on sanctuary cities, and reforms to the legal immigration system, like ending chain migration and the visa lottery program in favor of a merit-based immigration system. next week the president is inviting a bipartisan group of senators to the white house to discuss the next step on immigration reform and continued that discussion. with that, i will take your questions. reporter: sarah from a follow-up on this key issue -- did the white house staff have to sign nondisclosure agreements when they came to work at the white house? ms. sanders: there is an ethics agreement. it'll bond that i cannot get into additional details. reporter: does the president want to have steve's for antiestablishment political candidates in the midterm elections? ms. sanders: the president wants all americans' support. he thinks they want to see us do bigger and better things. that is his focus. he is not going to single out the support from any one

individual, but he is going to bring everybody together to move this country forward. that is what he campaigned on and that is what we will continue to do the next seven years. reporter: the white house has said there were false statements in this book. the president's lawyers said there were libelous statements. could you give us a few examples of things that have been set in this book that are false, that you would like to set the record straight on? ms. sanders: i am not going to go through everything a page of the book, but there are numerous that takef falsehoods place in the book. i will give you one come just because it is really easy, the fact that there was a claim that the president didn't know who john boehner was is pretty ridiculous, considered the majority of you have seen photos and, frankly, some of you have tweeted out that the president not only knows him, but as play golf with him, tweeted about him. that is pretty civil and pretty basic. ages of employees from which would be super easy to fact check, are wrong.

there are numerous mistakes. i am not going to waste my time or the countries time going paid by page -- going paid by page talking about a book that is complete fantasy and full of tabloid gossip, because it is bad, pathetic, and our focus is going to be on moving the country forward. john? reporter: thanks a lot, sarah. i read this letter sent by the president's lawyers to both michael wolff and the publisher of the book which seeks to stop the sale of his book. did the president's lawyers share with the president the idea that this is a prior restraint, and prior restraints are generally unconstitutional? ms. sanders: i'm not sure about specific details of the conversation between the president and his personal attorney, but i would refer you to them for questions regarding that matter. reporter: does the president believe in the first amendment? does he believe in prior restraint such as the one he is contemplating here? ms. sanders: the president absolutely believes in the first

amendment, but as we have said before, the president also believes in making sure that information is accurate before pushing it out as fact when it certainly and clearly is not. jordan? reporter: what is the president's reaction to the growing number of suggestions both in this book and the media that he is mentally unfit to serve as president? ms. sanders: the same way we have when it has been asked before combat it is disgraceful and laughable. if he was unfit, he probably wouldn't be sitting there, he wouldn't have defeated the most qualified group of candidates the republican party is ever seen. this is an incredibly strong and good leader. that is why we have had such a successful 2017 and why we are going to continue to do great things as we move forward and is in ministership. john? reporter: thank you, sarah. two questions. first, the book repeatedly says that candidate trump, his family, and the top officials of the campaign did not believe he would be elected, it was the

farthest from their minds. you said yesterday you believe in this campaign and felt he would win. can you name anyone else who said at the time, on the eve of the election, that they felt he would win, did the president himself believe he would not win? ms. sanders: look, as we have stated many times before, go back and look at some of the interviews, specifically pelican conway. she did several-- kellyanne conway. she did several leading up to election saying that the president can win and would win. there were officials who echoed those same sentiments. the president, the first lady, his family, they would not have put themselves through the process if they did not believe he could win and did not want to win. this is something they were very committed to and have been committed to since taking office and will continue to do so over the next seven years. it is absolutely laughable to think that somebody like this president would run for office

with the purpose of losing. if you guys know anything, you know that donald trump is a winner, and he is not going to do something with the purpose of not coming out on top and not coming out as a winner. that is one of the most ridiculous things i think the claims in the book. is,rter: my other question tomorrow, can we expect a major personnel change? i particularly asked, is gary cohen owing to stay where he is? ms. sanders: i have no reason to know of any personal change whatsoever. gary has stated he is committed to being here. we have just come off a very successful win on the tax cut and reform package from which gary was one of the key leaders of that effort, and we are moving full force ahead to 2018 to make sure we get a lot accomplished. francesca. reporter: thank you, sarah. i want to follow up on something you said yesterday. the last time the president one to bannon --

[indiscernible] today the president said he does not talk to steve bannon. how close were they when they were in the white house? one of the claims in the book is that -- [indiscernible] ms. sanders: the book also said he had been sidelined by april, which goes further to indicate that he has very little credibility to give much information, particularly after that point, which most of the book is based after that time frame. again, this book is mistake after mistake after mistake -- reporter: were they not quotes by the time -- ms. sanders: i am not aware that they were ever particularly close. they've spoken a few times since he left the white house, but it is not like they were regularly scheduled calls and certainly no meetings between the two of them. fred? reporter: thank you, sarah. president favor a

national variety?-- voter id? ms. sanders: look, we will continue to review the best way forward. just because the election commission is no longer in existence, we will send the preliminary findings from the commission to the department of homeland security and make determinations on the best way forward from that point. reporter: why dhs instead of doj, which would seem to be more of an investigative body? ms. sanders: that was the agency best determined by the administration, and we are moving forward and letting them take over the process. reporter: two questions. first, does president trump see marijuana is a state or federal issue? ms. sanders: the president believes in enforcing federal law. .hat is his top priority that israel does of what the topic is, whether it is marijuana or immigration -- that is regardless of what the topic is come whether it is marijuana or immigration. the president believes we should enforce federal law. the move did department of

justice as made from which i guess is what you are referencing, gives prosecutors the tools to take on large-scale distributors and enforced federal law. the president's position has not changed but he strongly believes we have to enforce federal law. reporter: the meeting this afternoon with the rnc chairwoman, can you imagine they will be discussing a potential run by mitt romney in utah? is this something the president would like to discuss with mitt romney's niece? ms. sanders: like you said, i'm not going to get ahead of a meeting that has not taken place . maybe we can follow up with that question at a later time. ashley. regrettably high bar for a public figure two and a libel case. can you explain why the president thinks it is an appropriate use of attention and resources to marshal his west wing and his legal team against the author and publisher? ms. sanders: in terms of a legal argument to do president's

attorneys. i would refer you to the president's attorneys. in terms of the merits, i don't think we have been tiptoeing around our feelings about this. it is completely tabloid gossip full of false and fraudulent claims, and i would refer you to the president's attorneys on what that looks like in the court of law. --no, i'm sorry. brain is slow today. reporter: thank you, sarah. will the president go to court to stop the publication of this book? ms. sanders: again, that is something i will refer you to the president's attorneys, but our position is very clear, we think it is full of false and fake information. reporter: the book will be published on tuesday. how far is the president willing to go to prevent the book from being published? ms. sanders: he certainly police it shouldn't be, but in terms of the legal process, i would have to refer you to his legal team.

reporter: i know we are talking a lot about steve bannon, but he is not the only person quoted in the book. is quoted extensively -- ms. sanders: she has also put out a statement denying the quotes attributed to her. reporter: is there any action being taken by the white house against these individuals, whether in fact they made these statements are not? she isre reports that potentially push out of books that support -- ms. sanders: i'm not aware of any specific action being taken. i know she has set the quotes were not attribute it to her, as have many other people that have been quoted in this book. reporter: there will be implications -- ms. sanders: absolutely, particularly people like secretary mnuchin, who has pushed back on this, and several others. you also have to look at this author's track record, in which she has had a real problem with this in the past, and i think that is something that is the

foundation for us to make these options that he is definitely -- this is a practice that he is used to doing. reporter: i want to ask you, broadly speaking, what is your level of exhaustion when you have this issue out there, other poly toues to get to, and try communicate to the american people, how you balance that? did you speak to the president specifically about what has been set are released about this book. ms. sanders: i have spoken with the president. people in this country could care less about a book full of lies and would rather hear about the booming economy, the crushing of isis, the things

happening in this country and that they caregs about tackling, no trash from an author no one had ever heard of or that a fired employee was to peddle. this is the focus of the embedded ministration -- the thisistration, moving country forward instead of the ridiculous lives we have to spend all of our lives focused on. >> is it your impression that something will be done, vis-a-vis the wall, and there will be a grand announcement of some point? want to makewe sure there is immigration reform. we would like to have a deal where we have daca as well as priorities and principles relate out last year met. that is the reason the president is inviting members of the democrat party to come over next week so we can have that discussion and see if we can

move the ball forward in that process. >> candidate president trump threatened 20 lawsuits and went through it to of them. why should steve bannon and michael wolff be concerned? ms. sanders: regardless of whether or not the there is a lawsuit, they should be concerned about peddling fake stories, putting out information that isn't true, worried about the fact that we are spending all of our time focused on talking about this instead of things that people in this country care about. that is a really sad process and that should be everyone's concern. that is a question you would have to talk to his attorneys about. >> what about the threat of increasing book sales, bringing more attention to this? ms. sanders: i think you guys are drawing attention. every question i have been asked has to do with that. it's not like i came out here and read excerpts from the book. i don't think i can be

responsible for the questions you ask. in fact, if i tried to do that, i would be attacked for trying to. i did that once and it did not go over very well. >> what about a response to the revelations in this book? ms. sanders: that is a ridiculous characterization. that is about the security and technology systems here in the white house. this is something that has been in the works for over six months. we were making sure that all of the. information and the ability for the government phones to increase their ability for other applications, so that we can comply with presidential records act. that was a big piece of making sure this was done. now that that process is completed, we can move forward and that will start next week. >> how would you describe the president's relationship with the mercer family? ms. sanders: i believe it is good.

i am not aware of anything specific. espn toere eager to: fire -- you are eager to call on espn2 fire sportscasters. -- espn to fire sportscasters. ms. sanders: i think it is something they should look at and consider. i profess migrants in this, , when he goes to there other, are tests that go with that or are they purely physical in nature? ms. sanders: we will have a readout of that after that is completed and we will let you know at that time. said stevey, you

bannon was entitled to his own opinions, but not his own facts. saidadministration has that they are entitled to alternative facts. how is that different with steve bannon? ms. sanders: this administration has not -- has said on numerous occasions that there are alternative facts. i know there was one reference in which they were saying there was basically two sides to the story. i think that is very different from completely false information and an opinion. the president said today that steve bannon changed his tune about him tonight. did the deceased and desist letter have the desired effect? ms. sanders: i do not know what made him change his tune, but there was a difference in some of the language that he used for this book versus the language he used last night. scott, governor of florida, is expressing concerns the oil drilling plan,

which would allow drilling off the coastal waters in florida. can the president afford to cross this important political ally? ms. sanders: our goal certainly scott.o cross governor we have a great relationship with him. we will continue working with him on a number of issues. just because we may differ on issues from time to time doesn't mean we can't still have an incredibly strong and good relationship. we will continue those relationships with him. >> you are calling michael wolff 's a book full of lies. did you not give him access? ms. sanders: absolutely not. there were more than 30 requests by michael wolff for access that were denied.

there were at least two dozen requests of him asking to have an interview with the president, which he never did. he never discussed this book with the president. to me, that would be the most important voice you could have if you're looking to write a book about an individual, some time with him. he never did. he was repeatedly denied that. i think we saw him for the way he -- for who he was. since we were unable -- >> i will reshape that. should the letter from the president's lawyers aimed at steve bannon and the publisher be interpreted as a threat from the united states government, from this administration to not publish this book? it is not from the united states government. it is from the president's personal attorney. i think it is very clear what its purpose is and there's nothing to add be on that. if you have specifics on that, i would refer you to the president's attorney. >>