house sarah huckabee sanders. the iranics include deal.r >> good20 minutes to today president trump welcome the passengers of the southlake to the white house. while en route last month, the house.to the white historyficer and

remembers the plane was able to land safely. the president thanks all of the men and women for their bravery. lastly, we strongly condemn yesterday's suicide bombing in kabul. such a senseless and heinous

act. with that, i will take questions. >> the president has had a suggested list of questions for special counsel. some are beginning and the beginning of march. they have had a chance to review the questions or digest them? and what does he think? has with all questions of this nature, i would refer you to the president's outside personal attorneys. came tells of the presidents level of confidence is and is he is competent in the next veterans affair ? he is not being considered. the president and chief of staff are happy with his position and he is currently holding that which is chief of staff at the white house. i would refer you back to specific to the comment allegations about comments he had made. i have spent more time with the

president then anyone else. we have been incredibly candid and strong relationship. he always knows where i stand and he and i both know the story is bs. i'm committed to the president, his agenda and no country. this is another pathetic attempt to smear people close to the president and distract from the administrations many successes. >> can i ask about iran? he described a clerical error. there was a significant editing error that has policy implications. can you state what the white house believes is the current state of iran's pursuit of a nuclear weapon with full compliance with the joint plan of action at the iaea? >> would think -- we think the biggest mistake made was under the obama administration by entering the deal in the first place. the typo you reference was noted immediately corrected. and we are focused on moving forward on the safety and security of the country. >> could you assert that there is no current program in iran and it is in compliance with at least negotiating. the problem is the deal was made on a completely false pretense. iran light on the front end.

they were dishonest actors. the deal was made on things that were not accurate. we have a big problem with that. particularly, the fact that i -- iran's nuclear capability were far more advanced and are further along than indicated. which, if the nuclear deal maintains as it is right now when the sunset provision hits in seven years, they will be much further along in the process and able to make a nuclear weapon much quicker than they have ever indicated before. that is a big problem. >> i wanted to ask you about the eu, canada andhe mexico are receiving on imported steel and aluminum. what is going to take place during this 30 day period and what are the chances of the exemption being made permanent for them? >> we are extending negotiations because we have seen some progress.

i will not get ahead of what that may look like, but we have 30 days to continue in negotiations and hopeful that we can get something that works for everybody. >> i wanted to ask you about something that took place last week involving the presidents personal attorney, michael cohen. in court documents, he asserted that he would assert his amendment rights in the smokey daniels a lawsuit. you may recall that in september 2017, the president had said at a campaign rally, -- if you're innocent, why are you taking the fifth amendment? do those ideas also apply to michael cohen? does the president also stand by those comments? >> i cannot speak on behalf of michael cohen.

i would refer you to him. >> the president said today that a former assistant for special counsel, robert mueller suggested the white house is behind this. is he wrong? >> i cannot comment on anything regarding those questions. i would refer you to the president. >> and about specifically the white house being involved in it. >> that is why i am referencing and referring you to the presidents personal attorney to speak on that matter. and then about that white house specifically. >> are they concerned as adam schiff had said for many of the questions that point to obstruction of justice. >> at the white house we try , never to be concerned with anything dealing with adam schiff. >> let me point event with john started off with. earlier today was said that we will have to -- it somebody like this is moving along but do you agree that the -- you have to move forward pretty soon and what is pretty soon?

>> a 30 day extension. we expect for these negotiations to be completed at the end of the 30 days. will this be the last of the 30 days then? -- >> will this be the last of the 30 days then? i will not get ahead of the -- >> i will not get ahead of the process. right now we are working on negotiating a deal during the 30 day time period. we will keep you posted if there anything. >> is lonnie jackson still the president's position and if not why not? see -- >> is still an active duty dr. assigned to the white house. upon his nomination to the veterans affairs department of veterans affairs secretary, acting dr. was put in his place. he will remain there. >> why not bring him back in that role?

>> again, the other doctor reddy assumed the role but after debts and continues to be an active duty navy dr. assigned here at the white house. where there are a number of doctors that are part of the white house medical unit. and what about the response of the declaration of the defamation suit filed by stormy daniels? i don't have anything on that. >> as standard operating procedure for new president, the white house medical unit took possession of the presidents medical records. >> it was characterized as a raid. the dr. seemed to be pretty upset. >> no, that is not my understanding. [inaudible question] >> he has talked about how none of these questions relate to collusion, but that is not true. over a dozen of them do. we have talked about accuracy in the past. why is he mischaracterizing these reports? >> once again outlook into the back and forth on matters

involving the special counsel. >> i would refer you -- certainly there are implications with special counsel and i'll not get into a back-and-forth. for that i refer you to the , president'ss personal attorneys. >> there simply pretentious and what has happened with the presidents former personal dr. is a burglary in a way. that he can. -- the records will be transferred over to the white house medical unit as requested. >> and a second question. there are some allies that were apparently drafting articles of impeachment for the deputy attorney general. is it the presidents belief that ron rosenstein. >> i'm not aware of any belief of that. >> i have not seen a specific

document, but we do not have any personnel announcements and we are continuing to move forward with the department of justice. >> there are questions about james shaw junior. has the president, has he called him? is he planning to meet with him? he has been talking to the heroes. he said something about james saw -- james shaw junior. there hasrstanding been an outreach effort to bring them here to the white house. i will bring you more information on that. do these issues support those who offer questions about the

president's legitimacy? >> i'm not sure i follow the question but i think the fact , that millions came out and voted for an content to support this presidency makes him a pretty legitimate. affecting the president's thinking of the iran certainly the fact the deal was made under false pretenses. and also is problematic. the president has been clear he thinks the deal is one of the worst we've ever seen and we will keep you posted when he's made a final decision on that front. >> when did the president first heard about this composite in early march when we spoke to prime minister netanyahu? >> i'm not aware of the exact date the president was made aware but we were, the white

house and the present were made aware prior to israel's announcement. >> wasn't this chordata yesterday with white house? -- >> back to the tweet this morning he said there's no question on pollution but when you look at the specific questions about outreach by the campaign to russia, aren't these questions about collusion? >> once again i'm not going to get into a back-and-forth about questions leaked or anything having to do with a special counsel and would refer you to the president attorney. >> does this fact into whether the president will not speak with a special counsels? i would refer you to the the president outside counsel. the president has said before several times he would like to

sit down with a special counsel. where is he on that? do you believe he is made up his mind on that? i can't i would refer you to the president outside counsel to -- >> again i'm not going to get , into back-and-forth on any matters related to speed but we try a different topic. individuals as soon as we knew it happened. >> the white house never sent out a corrected statement. >> we responded to average -- we responded to every that west we received were aware of or to the best that we could responded to each person that asks about that. >> the president yesterday talked about holding his meeting with kim jong-un in the dnc and he said that some people don't like the look of it. has the location of this meeting in the dmz been subject to some debate internally? what qualms my some members of the staff have about holding to meeting there? >> i'm not going to get into the

deliberations on this at this point, but the list has been narrowed as the president said that we expect to have it has -- have an announcement on that soon. >> the iranian nuclear deal was made under false pretenses, but as is clear from historical records the u.s. the u.s. and its partners made this deal with iran precisely because they knew iran wasn't truthful about the nuclear program. that back insting 2014, 2015 we believed iran? >> i suggesting that the deal never should've been made in the first place and even the fact that they had been known to be bad actors to some degree, the degree to which they were not being honest was not fully known at the time their rent it was -- the iran deal was made is our understanding. >> two questions. one is about the lawsuit filed today by california and 17 other states over there right to have

epa fuel standards in cars. they're fighting the administration on this. i wanted to know what your response was to the lawsuit and also the broader question that this administration seems to be on the other side of the traditional republican argument on states' rights on a number of cases. is that any apprehension internally about having such a heavy hand with the state? >> certainly the administration , supports states' rights. in regards to the specific lawsuit we are reviewing that and we will let you know when we have a statement out. >> the second question was about nra given the academic -- epidemic of gun violence. what is the response from why make the decision to speak at the nra now as the presence of before, a lot of presidents have not spoken before the nra at the annual convention? >> certainly as we vindicated on

many occasions, safety is a big priority, security is a big priority for the administration -- as was indicated. we also support the second amendment and strongly supported and does either to be a problem was speaking at the national rifle associations meeting. >> you mentioned are you asked about the va secretary. where does the white house stand in the decision-making process? are you guys talking to potential candidates about that position? >> we are and the president will be meeting with a number of individuals the next couple of weeks and we'll keep you posted. >> in his recent appearance on "fox and friends," the president offered a big criticism of the electoral college and suggested reform was in order. several pundits interpreted this as support for the controversial national popular vote in which states get their electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote nationally.

is that what the president met? -- meant? would you offer a more definition of what he said? >> i don't have any policy about that front or something we're looking to come a but certainly want to always look for the best way to preserve the integrity of our election. >> also, was he aware that the republican national committee in may of 2011 had resolution for -- condemning that plan? >> i'm not sure if he is aware , but i am pretty sure that the president is more than happy at times to say we thinks is right, whether not that there was a statement made many years ago contrary to that. >> i have a couple on one policy. you mentioned the afghan attack. the president said he was

supporting mike pompeo because he now agreed with the president at the time is that withdraw from afghanistan. does the president agree with that characterization? updated't have any policy guidance on that front. we laid out our afghanistan strategy just a few months ago and there is no change to the policy at this point. >> on iran, the question of what it means to withdraw from the iran nuclear agreement has come up a couple of times. in the president's of mind does that mean immediately reposing sanctions what are -- re-imposing sanctions what are called snapback or does he mean something else? >> i'm not going to get ahead of anything the president may or may not do and once he makes the final decision he will make that announcement. >> last question. >> when the president spoke with the israeli prime minister on

saturday, did the israeli trove of of documents about iran's nuclear program? ended the the president encourage israel to release those documents on monday? >> i'm not sure the on the readout of the call, but i do know that we had discussions with israel about the rollout and we were notified prior to the announcement being made yesterday. >> does the white house encourage israel on the timing of the release? >> i'm not aware specific coordination of the tommy but we supported the announcement and supported their efforts. >> [inaudible] -- to release these documents in order to influence the domestic debate in the united states in order to have a deal in a different light? >> i think there was a desire to make sure people understood that the truth, had all the information of those out there. thanks so much, guys. >> thank you.

economy with a panel of economists including ben bernanke, henry paulson. it is followed by an interview with deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. and president trump is the crew of southwest airlines flight 1380. meets with the crew of southwest airlines flight 1380. next, dr. priscilla chan and her , thend mark zuckerberg organization that promotes scientific research and education. this event was held at the george w. bush presidential center in dallas. dr.