constitution, and the landmark cases podcast at c-span.org /landmark cases. briefingite house secretary sarah standards took questions on the recent russian sanctions. as well as trade negotiations with china. this is about 20 minutes. press sec. sanders: happy friday. as you all saw this morning the administration has sanctioned seven russian oligarchs, 12 companies, and 17 top government officials and allies of russian president vladimir putin. today's sanctions and the totality of the administration's actions, which are in keeping with congress' wishes, approved the president is absolutely correct when he says no one has been tougher on russia. we want a positive relationship with the

russian government, but for this to happen there must be a significant change in their behavior. as we announced in february, the president and the first lady are looking forward to welcoming president and mrs. macron from france for a state visit later this month. today i can also add the detail that on the first night fo their visit, the president and the first lady, along with president and mrs. macron, will enjoy a private dinner at mount vernon, the historic home of our nation's first president, george washington. this setting will serve as a beautiful reminder of france's unique status as america's very first ally, going all the way back to the revolution. finally this is general mcmaster's last day serving as national security advisor here in the white house. general mcmaster is a terrific person. on a personal note, it has been a privilege to serve alongside him and to travel around the world, advancing the president's american-first foreign policy. his decades-long career in service of his nation is an inspiration to us all and we know he will do well wherever he lands next. the president

wishes him well. he will miss working with him, but they will continue to be great friends and will no doubt be seeing a lot of each other in the years ahead. and with that, i will take your questions. >> what effect did the announcement today on russia have with the proposed by the president's summit with vladimir putin? should we consider that off? press sec. sanders: no. not at all. it will continue. as the president has said, he wants to have a good relationship with russia, but that's going to depend on some of the actions by the russians. however, at the same time, the president is going to continue to be tough until we see that change take place. and we are going to continue working forward in what we can to have that meeting with vladimir putin at some point. >> but would this not suggest ratcheting up of tensions in the relationship and wouldn't a summit have to necessarily resolve some of that tension before it could even take place?

press sec. sanders: i think that is part of the purpose of the two individuals and the two leaders being able to sit down and have those conversations and develop that relationship, and hopefully put some pressure for russia to change their behavior. >> identifying these oligarchs, aren't you sending a very distinct signal to putin that you have to assume he would respond negatively to and not want to come and talk about that? press sec. sanders: we hope that he will respond positively. we would like them to change their behavior. we would like to see some significant changes. i am not going to get into all of those details right now. again, what we would like to see is the totality of the russian behavior change and we want to continue having conversations and working forward to building a better relationship. >> two questions about china. first of all, what was it that prompted the president last night to come out with the statement that he is threatening tariffs on another $100 billion in chinese goods? since none of these tariffs have taken effect, what was the purpose of upping the ante, if you will? press sec. sanders: the united states is responding to chinese actions that have gone on for

decades. the chinese have engaged in unfair and illegal trade practices for many years and this is simply a response to that. we would like to see them change, and make significant changes so that the trade back and forth that we have with them, and that's the purpose. >> but what was it that prompted the escalation? he had already announced $60 billion worth of goods targeted for tariffs, and then he upped it to another $100 billion on top of that last night. press sec. sanders: the president is actually going to do something and be tough when no one else is willing to do this. look, china created this problem and the president is trying to put pressure on them to fix it and to take back some of the terrible actions that they have had over the last several decades. >> second question, a few minutes ago, on cnbc, treasury secretary steve mnuchin said while it was not intended to, this could ignite a trade war. how concerned is the president that this could tip the balance leading to a trade war? because the stock market took a look at that statement, and didn't like it at all. press sec. sanders: we are, again, this is something that

china has created and president trump is trying to fix it. we are moving forward in that process, we are going to continue putting pressure on china to stop in the illegal and unfair trade practices that they have continued in for decades. >> is he willing to fight a trade war on this? press sec. sanders: we don't want it to come to that. the president wants us to move to a process of fairness, to free and fair and open trade, and that is what he is trying to do. >> does the president think that trade wars are easy to win? is that still his view? press sec. sanders: i think the president feels like if he is in charge of those negotiations, absolutely. he is the best negotiator at the table. and we certainly have full confidence in his ability to help move things forward. i think if you look simply at the chorus deal in which the president was able to get a much better deal for the united states, we have made great progress on nafta. and we are hoping to have great progress on the trade negotiations with china. >> and sarah, if i can ask you to clarify something he said in

his remarks in west virginia. the president said, yesterday it came out where in this journey coming up, women are raped at levels that nobody has ever seen before. what was he talking about? press sec. sanders: there was a story; i believe it was the l.a. times. i don't have it here in front of me that documented some of that. but there is also, this is a well-documented fact, that a lot of the people, i believe up to 80% in recent years, of women that have been making that journey, have been raped in that process. the president saying the president saying that is simply unacceptable, and this is something that should be looked at. >> you're saying 80% of the women coming across the border are raped? press sec. sanders: no. he is saying that the drug smugglers, the traffickers, the coyotes this is something that again, has been in recent years. i know it has been upped as high as 80%. >> sarah, the dow was down about 500 points the last time i looked, does that give the president any pause as he pursues these actions?

press sec. sanders: we know that there could be some fluctuation but at the same time the president has said enough is enough. china has to change this illegal and unfair practice that they have been in and the president is the first time -- frankly, we shouldn't be in this situation. previous administration should have stepped up and tried to stop these actions long before today. but thankfully we have a president that is willing to actually stand up, be tough, and take some really courageous and bold actions like president trump has done. >> what is the next step? what do you want to see happen now? do you want the chinese to come forward and ask for talks, negotiate? what do you want to see happen? press sec. sanders: we certainly want to be able to negotiate. we want them to stop participating in unfair and illegal trade practices, intellectual property theft, being a huge detriment to united states companies and businesses. >> following up regarding the stock market question, the dow is down nearly 4,000 points since january 26th. does the president, does the administration believe that any

of that decline is attributable to any of the president's actions concerning the tariffs that the president has announced on steel and aluminum? perhaps the tariffs the president intends to impose upon china? anything related to what the administration has done since that time period. press sec. sanders: we are focused on the long-term economic principles. let's be clear, the tariffs that we are talking about with china have not been implemented and are months away. the president has cleared the way for a strong economic environment through the tax cuts, through deregulation. we are going to continue pushing forward on long-term economic principles. but at the same time we are not going to allow a country like china to continue to have these unfair and illegal trade practices. >> i understand that, but, getting back to my question, any actions that the president has taken since january the 26th, since that period in which the dow has declined almost 4,000 points, anything that he has done or said that you think is attributable to a stock market decline?

press sec. sanders: the actions of the president have certainly strengthened our economy. we have created almost 3 million new jobs, we have gotten regulation out of the way, we have provided tax cuts for american individuals and companies. again, we are focused on the long-term economic principles, and we feel very confident in where we are. >> thank you sarah, on the sanctions. why hasn't the president spoken out personally about the sanctions and the behavior enumerated by the administration today, by russia? press sec. sanders: the president has. it is ridiculous that you guys say that. just earlier this week the president stood on a stage in an open press room and talked about how he had been tough on russia. he has continued to do that through action and we have continued to do that for a number of administration officials. but to say that the president has not addressed it directly, he did that while standing on stage with the leaders of the baltic countries, in front of, i believe, almost every single one of you earlier this week. so that is just not a fair or accurate statement. >> on these sanctions imposed today, he has not spoken out and

there has been no statement issued under his name. he has not spoken out specifically about the issues enumerated by the administration. he has not condemned the alleged subversion of western democracy, the activity in syria, a number of things, cyber crimes, all the things that your administration has outlined. he himself has not spoken out against those, he has just said that he has been tough on russia. press sec. sanders: we speak on behalf of the president, day in day out. again, the president has signed off and directed these actions. i think that that speaks volumes, actually, on how the president feels and exactly underscores what he said earlier this week when he said no one has been tougher on russia. >> just a question on how the president stands on scott pruitt. has he been advised by anyone close to him that pruitt just stepped down? where does the president stand? press sec. sanders: no one other than the president has the authority to hire and fire members of his cabinet. it is a decision that he will make, and right now i do not have any

personnel announcements. the president feels that the administrator has done a good job at epa. he has restored it back to its original purpose of protecting the environment. it has gotten unnecessary regulations out of the way. and we are continuing to review any of the concerns we have and i will keep you posted if there is anything further on that front. sorry guys, i can't hear if you are all talking at one time. hey guys, let's be respectful, i will call on you one at a time. go ahead. >> if everything that has been reported about mister pruitt ends up being true in the president's estimation, the security detail, the $50 press sec. sanders: i am not going to walk through hypotheticals until we have time to go through a full review. that is what we are doing right now, but again, the president thinks he has done a good job on the purpose of carrying out the goals of the epa. >> sarah, two quick ones. the first is, to retract on what was on cnbc earlier, that tells us about that sort of ongoing feud with amazon and responded by saying the president was focused

on the post office, and "in discussions with the post office." looking at that, the line around here has been that there are no additional actions being contemplated by the administration against amazon. i am wondering if that has changed and specifically if the white house, could the president or any part of the administration that has been in contact with the postal service, about amazon's contract? press sec. sanders: i am not aware of anything specific taking place on amazon, but we are looking at ways to help the post office modernize and certainly help move them forward. the post office just lost tens of billions of dollars over the last ten years, and we would like to see that stop. we are looking at the best ways to do that. but anything specific dealing with amazon, i am not aware of anything on the table. >> i think we are all trying to get a little clarity on whether the u.s. and china are actively in negotiations now, or if there

is sort of the routine contact that we would expect between the u.s. and china, but you are hopeful for direct negotiations. press sec. sanders: currently in routine contact, but this is a negotiation period. that is why it does not happen immediately and there is a process and we are going through that process. >> two questions, one following up on that. in terms of negotiations, earlier today chinese officials said negotiations would not be possible in this current situation with these threats of tariffs. what is your response to that? press sec. sanders: look, if they want to stop unfair and illegal trade practices that would be great, until then we are going to continue moving forward in this process. >> the second question, with the talk of tariffs, there are a number of farmers in the american midwest that have suggested that the volatility in the market has made it very hard for them to plan for the upcoming season and they are already thinking that there is going to be negative impact on them. what is the administration's response to these farmers, many of whom supported the president two

years ago? press sec. sanders: we are working with the department of agriculture. the president has directed secretary perdue to do what we can to protect our farmers and to look at different ways possible. i'd refer you to them for some of the specifics and the specific actions they are looking at taking. >> thank you, sarah. i was wondering if you could kind of speak to this, there used to be a perception that at times the president makes announcements and then the white house has to come up with policies to match what the president said, like with the talk about the military at the border. there weren't really a lot of details about that at first, and with the issue with syria, him saying he wanted to kind of pull all the troops back. can you talk anything about that perception and what is going on there? press sec. sanders: i think that perception of completely, people that don't understand i guess how civics works, the only person elected to make those decisions and actually outline what policies should look like,

is the president. so when he makes an announcement, he is the only one that has the authority to do so. he is carrying out the duties he was elected to do and it is up to his staff to implement those policies that he announces or that he makes. so he is doing exactly what the american people asked him to do. and that is to come here and change washington. and he is doing that every single day. >> i wanted to get an update on the national guard seind their troops to the border. a couple of days ago, the dhs secretary was saying that it could happen as early as that night. we still haven't seen them gone over. i was just wondering if you could kind of update us. i know california is the one that has not said what they plan to do, they are still reviewing. will you still go ahead with the plan if it is just the three other states and not them? can you tell us what the holdup is with california?

press sec. sanders: absolutely. we will continue moving forward with the other border states. we are working with state governors right now to go through this process and we hope to have national guard on the ground as soon as possible. we are going to continue to work with california and we are hopeful that they are going to do the right thing and help protect our borders. >> is there timing? press sec. sanders: there is not a specific time, but as soon as possible. >> what about the 4,000 that the president has mentioned? press sec. sanders: it is going to be as many as it takes. we are looking at what that needs to be and we are going to move forward in that process. the president thinks that is a good first step, to have two to four thousand, and if we determine that we need more we will make that decision at the time. >> a follow up one on that, and also on amazon, really fast, what happens when this honduran caravan gets there and you have this presence of national guards? what is going to happen when the caravan arrives at the border with the national guard? press sec. sanders: well, thankfully, the mexican government, in conjunction with

our team and this administration, has broken up a lot of that and is continuing to do so. in terms of what the specifics will look like of the national guard, they will be working in conjunction with cvp and they will actually be the lead law enforcement on their ground with the national guard backing them up and supplementing them and those efforts. for the specifics on that i would refer you to the individual states who will help make some of those decisions. >> then on amazon, what is the administration doing with the issue of faxing and the issues of emails? administrations before this were dealing with the fact that the post office was losing money because of the internet, because of social media, because of people being able to correspond, versus using a stamp or mail. how is the administration targeting that versus going to amazon and looking at them as the problem? press sec. sanders: as i said a few minutes ago, we are working with the post office, we are doing a thorough review and looking at the best ways to modernize that. i do not have

any specific policy announcements on that front. but that is something that we are in ongoing conversations with the u.s. postal service on. thank you so much, hope you have a great friday. >> why is the president still saying millions and millions of people voted twice? what is that is not true? >> russia wanted to respond to allegations that they were responsible for a nerve agent attack. we have from representatives of russia and the u.k.. this is just under one hour.