budget request before the senate budget committee. announcer: next, today's white house briefing with press secretary sarah sanders. she answered several's best several questions on the president's response to special abused allegations against rob porter. this is 20 minutes. press sec. sanders: good afternoon. good to be that with you guys. always, a busy day here at the white house, so i am going to jump in to a couple of highlights and then take your questions. this morning the president unveiled an outline for rebuilding infrastructure in america.

the six principles of the plan are $200 million in federal funds to spur at least $1.5 trillion in infrastructure investment partners at the state, local, tribal, and private levels. new investments will be made in rural america, which has been left on for too long. decision-making authority will be returned to state and local governments. regulatory barriers that needlessly get in the way of infrastructure projects will be removed, permitting for infrastructure projects will be streamlined and shortened, and america's workforce be supported and strengthened. as the president has said many times, we will build gleaming new roads, highways, and waterways all across our land with american heart and hands and grit. this morning the president also released his fiscal year 2019 budget, which addresses three of the president's most important priorities, rebuilding our priority and funding for our great men and women in uniform, growing the american economy, and ending waste. workingforward to

with congress to achieve these priorities and ensure the safety and security of the united states for generations to come. mick mulvaney will be answering questions on the budget immediately following today's briefing, so i encourage you to stick around for that and savior budget questions for director mulvaney -- save your budget questions for director mulvaney. i would like to congratulate the u.s. olympic team, who are off to a great start. with that, i will take your questions. reporter: rob porter's first wife spoke with the fbi as part of his clearance process on january 20, 2017, during which he says she laid out all of the allegations that have since been photographs.th the at any time between january 25 of last year and last wednesday

did the fbi make anyone here at the white house, whether the counsel's office, chief office, of these else, aware allegations that had been raised against porter? press sec. sanders: look, we learned of the extent of the situation involving rob porter last tuesday evening, and within 24 hours his resignation had been accepted and announced. we announced a transition was going to happen, and within hours it did. the president and entire generate -- entire administration take mr. violence seriously and believe all -- take domestic violence seriously and believe all allegations should be investigated thoroughly. we addressed the situation extensively and have nothing more to at this time. raisedr: the allegations against him would make him a prime target for blackmail, which would lead any responsible

person at the fbi to come to the white house to say, does want to let you know, this person will likely never get a permanent security clearance. was that concern ever raised to anyone here at the white house? sec. sanders: as we address last week, we let the process play out. it was ongoing, had not been completed. jan that some of the statement i just gave you, i don't have anything else. reporter: why would the president say that he takes the message violence seriously? sec. sanders: i spoke with the president and those are directly his words. reporter: why hasn't he said that? he had the opportunity. sec. sanders: it is my job to speak on behalf of the president. he relayed that message directly to me and i am related directly to you. reporter: does he believe rob porter's accusers are lying? sec. sanders: i just said the president come along with the entire administration, take the mystic violence very seriously and believe all allegations need to be thoroughly investigated, and above all the president supports the victims of the

method violence and believes everyone should be treated fairly and with due process. reporter: that doesn't answer the question. sec. sanders: as i just said, i am not going to go beyond that. that is where we are right now. reporter: does the president still wish rob porter well? does he still want to have a great career ahead of him? sec. sanders: i think the president of the united states hopes that all americans can be successful in whatever they do, and if they've had any issues in the past -- i am not confirming or denying one way or another, but if they do, the president wants success for all americans. he was elected to serve all americans and he hopes for the best for all american citizens across the country. reporter: what about the president's tweet over the weekend, "people's lives are being shattered and destroyed by near allegations?" it seems like the president was believing mr. porter as opposed to his alleged victims. why did the president tweet that over the weekend, and why is he seemingly defending mr. porter publicly?

is it because he has faced his own allegations? is there some sensitivity there? sec. sanders: as i just said, and i will repeat again, the president and entire demonstration take the mystic violence very seriously and believe all allegations need to be investigated thoroughly. he certainly supports the victims of the method violence above all else and believes everyone should be treated fairly and with due process. the president is silly saying there should be due process that should be followed and looked at. reporter: it is very tone deaf. being on the wrong side of things. sec. sanders: i don't think the president being supporting due process for any allegation is not tone deaf. i think it is allowing things to be investigated and a mere allegation not be the determining factor. he's not taking a side necessarily one way or another on any specific issue here.

he's talking about mere allegations shouldn't be the determining factor for any individual, that there should be due process. i think anybody here if they were accused of something -- hold on, i am not finished -- what i am saying is that anybody here, they were accused of something, would love the opportunity to go through due process. that is all we are saying. reporter: why did the president not use this as an opportunity to say something like that? why does he have to speak for you? sec. sanders: the president has been clear mobile times through myself and others in the administration that we condemned the method violence in all forms. reporter: he has not said it. sec. sanders: i am the spokesperson for the white house and the president. reporter: but the president has to say it. why hasn't he said it? sec. sanders: i'm not sure i can be in a more clear. i think the president has espoused his views on this. reporter: and he wishes porter

well, and that he believes that people should have due process, but he hasn't addressed the victims at all. sec. sanders: not true. if you are paying attention to what i just read to you, you would understand the opposite. he literally dictated that statement to me, so i am not really sure how that is not the president speaking on the topic. reporter: does the white house have a rule or policy regarding how long employees are permitted to operate with an interim security clearance? sec. sanders: as we've said, we are not going to get into the details of how the clearance process works. last week we went further than we ever have before due to extenuating circumstances, and there's nothing further to add on that front. this is a process that doesn't operate within the white house. it is handled by our law enforcement and intelligence community. we support that process. it is the same process that has been used for decades in previous administrations, and we

are relying on that process at this point. i do think that it is up to those same law enforcement and intelligence agencies to determine if changes need to be made to their process. to follow on that, can you say whether the white house is beginning to examine or view cases of staffers who are operating under interim clearance? [inaudible] sec. sanders: i am not going to get into the details of the process beyond what we have already said, but i can tell you that we do rely on the same process that has been used for aredes, and it changes thought to be made that would be made by the law enforcement and intel communities that run that process, not the white house. but that is something that could be looked at certainly in light of this. reporter: you have any more on how the for us

president was informed -- [inaudible] sec. sanders: at this point it is an ongoing an active investigation, so i can't comment any further. i can't say the president has spoken with her. president has a history of defending men who have been accused of sexual assault and harassment and abuse , including mike tyson, bill o'reilly, steve when, roy moore, and now rob porter. will the white house say i president --at the say unambiguously that the president believes the women in these accusations? sec. sanders: i believe the president above anything else supports the victims of any type of domestic violence, but the president also supports due process. i don't have anything else further to at. photos were tweeted out of the victim with a black

and the whiteay, house said out a statement 12 hours after. why was the white house still saying rob porter was a man of integrity after these circulated? sec. sanders: the comments that were made by members of the white house were based on our personal experience, and we can only expect -- we can only speak to the personal interactions we've had. reporter: why are high-level aides allowed to work with classified information without permanent security clearance? sec. sanders: once again, the fbi and other intelligence communities, they make that determination. that is not something decided by the white house. it is the same way it has been -- i'm sorry? i missed the other part of your question. reporter: can you guarantee you are protecting classified information when you have someone like rob porter without a permit security clearance? sec. sanders: we are taking

every step we can to protect classified information. frankly if you guys have such concerns with classified information, there's plenty of of otheras linked out communities well be on the white house. if you guys have real concerns about leaking out classified information, look around this room. you guys are the ones that publish classified information and but national security at risk. that doesn't come from this white house. we take every precaution possible to protect kospi information, and certainly to protect national security. number oneresident's priority to protect citizens of this country. it is why we spend everything will day doing everything we can to do that, and i think if or puttingublishing out publicly classified information it is measures of the press, not the white house. reporter: at the end of last week, the white house said everyone else could have done a better job handling this. can you identify anything specific?

you mentioned law-enforcement agencies, the fbi and a process. what about your process at the white house? is there anything identified that could have been done better to prevent this from happening? at. sanders: we are looking internally and agree there are things we could've have done better, and will continue to look at the process and the role we all played and how we can do a better. i think every day we come to work and hope to do a better job and we did the day before, and we will keep doing that every morning. we are going to do our best to make this day better than the last and the country better than the day before. that is our goal and that is what we are going to do in every situation. there are some things we could have done better and we are certainly going to look at every instance and everything will thing we do, how we can always do it a little bit better than the day before. reporter: tuesday night when the , theal story came out white house praised rob porter and continued to.

said general kelly acted within 40 minutes of the allegations. can you explain that? of thenders: we learned situation last tuesday evening, and within 24 hours his recognition had been accepted and announced. we announced the transition was going to happen, and within hours it did. in terms of timeline, i don't have anything else to add. i can tell you that a conversation took place within 40 minutes, and beyond that i really don't have anything else to add. reporter: dumb again, -- don mcgann was told over a period of months about these accusations and didn't do anything. can you explain why no action was taken by the chief white house lawyer? sec. sanders: those allegations are not accurate. reporter: you keep saying the president said he takes the method by very seriously. going forward -- domestic violence very seriously.

going forward, what will you do ,o raise awareness about it particularly as this administration ended the violence against women office, as well as closing down -- what will be new and different as it relates to combating this? sec. sanders: there is an individual and the nomination process to run an office specific to domestic violence, and when we have that process completed we will make that personnel announcement, but we are in process of doing that. reporter: on infrastructure, infrastructure is about jobs. job creation. you are talking about rural america. when you talk about these jobs, are they going to be guidelines as to who can and who won't be hired? sec. sanders: not that i am aware of, anything to that nature. reporter: a lot of infrastructure projects during the obama years went to hispanics. sec. sanders: a lot of those jobs were never completed or started.

they were announced but nothing ever happened on them. we are expecting a very different result to actually complete projects versus just announcing and doing nothing. reporter: i just wanted you to clarify something. i think you have answered this. it is about the white house counsel don mcgann. are you saying the white house counsel never learned until last tuesday that there was any allegation of any sort that was ever leveled against rob porter? sec. sanders: again, i am not going to go into the specific details of how the process works, but i can say that we learned of the extent of the situation -- reporter: who is we? sec. sanders: the white house generally. reporter: two don mcgann specifically though, had he learned at any time before last tuesday when the story was thatn by "the daily mail" there was any allegation of any sort level by any person against rob porter?

sec. sanders: i can't get into the specifics. i can tell you the process for the background was ongoing, and the white house had not received any specific papers regarding the completion of that background check, so i can't go any further than what we party settlement. that's what we've already said on that -- what we've already set on that. reporter: to follow up on the last two questions come up is don mcgann -- last two questions on what is don mcgann's status as counsel? sec. sanders: he is the head of the white house counsel and i have no indication to see differently. reporter: the other question is senator corker said last night he was reconsidering and possibly will reverse his decision not to seek reelection. already a republican primary is in the process in the state. what is the president's view?

again,senator corker run or would he urge and go back home to tennessee? sec. sanders: we have not had that conversation about senator corker's plans, but as always i cannot wait in on any specifics about the race. i will take one last question. reporter: last year the most rations -- the administration said the national debt is a crisis. does the president believe it , and if therisis national debt is a crisis, why hit the gas pedal instead of the brake? sec. sanders: the president, one of the biggest and top priorities of the president's first year in office, was to pass the tax cuts and jobs act, which we think will have a big impact on that moving forward.

it has been a major focus on the economy, and the budget today provides funding for the presidents priorities, including national security. the president also knows that one of the most important jobs he has is protecting this the need forefore rebuilding our military that had been ignored for so long, infrastructure, focusing on defeating the opioid crisis and a border wall. at the same time, the budget reduces the deficit by over $3 billion and puts the country on a path to restoring fiscal discipline. i encourage you to stick around and talk to director mulvaney, who would be happy to go into more detail on the budget and other things regarding that. thanks so much, guys. reporter: when will the president come and do a press conference here with us? [indiscernible]

reporter: well, i've got to ask it every day. announcer: the c-span bus is traveling across the country on our 50 capitals tour. stopped in montgomery, alabama, asking what is the most important issue in their state. in the birthplace of the modern civil rights movement, montgomery, alabama, the most important issues to me our equality, freedom, and equal justice for all people. we can't just talk about this every february in black history month. we have to live it every day of the year. we have to do more to build bridges. in alabama,cator booker t. washington, once wrote, "there are two ways to exert one's power. one is pushing down, and one is pulling up." let's start pulling people up. >> i think an important issue is the lack of jobs here in alabama, but especially in montgomery. people are graduating from

different colleges, whether in montgomery or just around the area, and coming home looking for a job, and there are no jobs here. you need more than just a college degree to get a job, and it is hindering a lot of people because a lot of people do not have the financial aid to keep going through school or for higher learning, and they can't find a job with just the average college degree. >> we've been funding college score for seven or eight years now and still have it here in alabama. fight it everything will year with the new bill, and we want to get rid of it. >> racial inequalities and justice reform. i think you're in the state we still have rhetoric in our constitution that is representative of a time that has long passed, and i think that having discriminatory language in a document that

governs a diverse group of people is very outdated, and it withs people's powers disenfranchisement. the way that law enforcement interacts with citizens across the state. i think those things need to be so that we can have the disparities and injustices in the justice system close and eventually not exist. >> the cost of college education. i feel everyone should have equal opportunity to go to college under the same amount of money because some people may be the first people in the family, and i feel the government should really take responsibility in giving us more money.

state onces from the c-span. tonight, senate minority leader chuck schumer speaks at the university of kentucky. after that, attorney general jeff sessions. >> chuck schumer spoke at the university of louisville about his relationship. this is 45 minutes. [applause]