trum president trump i would vise iran not to start the nuclear program. if they do. there will be a very severe consequence. >> ok. let's go. >> today's briefing with sarah sanders and talked about the confirmation hearing and president trump's decision to withdraw from the nuclear depreement. his is 20 minutes.

>> she us the right person to lead the c.i.a. and the senate could confirm here. i'm go to go take advantage of this opportunity to wish my daughter who will be six tomorrow. porter: the c.i.a. director, interrogation program and is that something that the president would ever ask? ms. sanders: i'm not aware of any request by the president of

he past c.i.a. director or who we hope to be. reporter: following up on the iranian announcement. the european answer are working hard top keep the deal alive. will the white house ensure that the european companies that trade with iran will not suffer the same sambingses? ms. sanders: but for the specifics. there is a wiped-down period for any period. porter: journal iferts are going to lose their credentials. sand sadged i'm taking your questions. a number of you have mentioned

on air and off air that is one of the most acceptable white houses and committed to a free press and we demonstrate that very single day not only by me being up here and we will be in front of the press later tonight. >> taking american journal iferts advocating for a free press? mr. sarbanes: the fact that i'm taking dwess and the president took questions demonstrates this white house's commitment to provide information at the same time, the press has the responsibility. just yesterday, the "new york times" accused the secretary of state being aw omp l when he was bringing three americans home.

the washington post acued the first lady of not in the white house. we are here and taking questions and doing everything we can to provide regular and constant information to the american people and there is a responsibility to provide accurate information and we will work with you and the president did. those ng questions about cre detention aals. arsar you are asking them. companyichael cow hence nd office of the inspector general to launch an investigation. and the payments and very close when at&t was looking for government approval and payments

over a million and the president was talking about doing something to bring down the cost. is the president concerned about ny aspect? sapped sand i would refer you to outside counsel. >> is the president concerned that they were giving money to him? mr. sarbanes: i haven't heard the president express concerns. > was michael cohen qualified? mr. sarbanes: that is something we know - sand san that michael cohen millions of dollars and peddling the dollars

to america's largest corporation. is the president ashamed of that? >> it would be up to those individuals to hire someone, the same way that the contest that you work for to determine whether or not that you are decision to serve in a and has nothing to do with the white house. appreciate it. do you know whether mr. cohen approached the white house of any of those companies ap the president was aware of those payments and whether he was aware that cohen was marketing himself? > i would refer you to outside couple. >> michael cohen and his ersonal attorney was selling

assets. >> i haven't spoken with the president. >> you are the press secretary, based on what you know, what has been revealed, does the president think it was appropriate that the personal attorney was selling assets? >> and i would refer to you to the outside coal that has to deal with michael cohen or others. >> and to benefit? >> not that i'm awear. >> and there is a weapons program. would they have the sfration support? >> right now, i don't know that we have a specific announcement t we are very committed that

any does not have iran has nuclear weapons. >> the president said that's ok. doeses the president can feel he can negotiate and these two parties may be so far apart? >> as the president said yesterday, he would like to see something happen, but we are 100% committed that iran does not have nuke weapons and until we see that happens we will put pressure than all of the president bush are back in place and we are preparing to add sanctions. >> can you tell us if the president has an interest in meeting kim jong un. can you walk us through why that

is no longer the case and why he issues have not that made possible. >> the date and location have been set. ut beyond that, that will be announced. >> this administration, what are the most cry fer yeah? >> i'm going not to get in the specifics and make the date and location. we will provide location. > was the decision to send secretary pompeo to north korea, was that meant to reassure north korea that the united states can make a nuclear deal? >> i didn't hear the last question. >> it is worth while getting into negotiations with north

korea? >> the purpose was to make sure that we continue the progress that we have had onsetting the it happened as well as an additional thing which will know about. that was secretary pompeo being able to bring home those three americans, which will be back in the united states later tonight. >> north korea criticized the president claiming that his maximum pressure campaign was responsible for the meeting between south and north korea. that happened not as a result of on-site -- outside sanctions. does president trump that he had

everything to do with that meeting? does he worry that the backlash of that claim will change the tone of his meeting with him? >> he talked about the maximum pressure campaign working. we have seen north critique it korea maintain pressure -- success since the pressure. they all played a big role in the maximum pressure campaign. a lot of that is due to the fact that the president spent time developing relationships with those individuals and they have been able to put pressure on north korea. can you give us any details about how and when they were informed they were coming home? else, their families,

how they found out and whether the president has spoken to any of them directly? there has been a number of different points of outreach from the president to contact the families. we'll be happy to provide more details as we have them. were reports that nafta negotiations had hit a snag over otto -- autos. sec. sanders: we are going to continue to push forward in those negotiations. i don't have any announcements on it met -- yet. i'm not going to throw out while percentages. we are going to continue in that process. >> for a long time, you and the president and other administrations said there would be an infrastructure bill. you were saying it before

scarlet's last birthday when you corrected me on her name. sec. sanders: that is a pretty good memory. you nailed it this time. >> got it right. business, hill and in people doubt that they will see any kind of bill see the light of day. maybe the $20 billion in appropriations bill that deals could countructure as infrastructure legislation. contamination of things and other bills, will there be an infrastructure bill, yes or no? sec. sanders: ever are you talking about -- i don't know that there will be won by the end of this year. the administration secured some funding for infrastructure projects.

we laid out priorities that we wanted to see a minute infrastructure legislation package. we are going to continue to look at ways to improve the nation's infrastructure. ofterms of a specific piece legislation, i am not aware that that will happen by the end of the year. >> how does the white house square this with president trump's long-held belief that torture is acceptable? he repeatedly endorsed torture on the complaint trail -- campaign trail. sec. sanders: the president has confidence in her delete the cia at once wants to see her do that. her tooing to allow fulfill that position to make those decisions. >> does the president still believe that torture works? had aanders: i haven't conversation with him about that recently. >> if i can follow-up on questions about these payments, you said that you are not able to answer these questions in the

briefing, that you would refer us to his outside counsel. could you possibly work on an arrangement where mr. giuliani or someone who could speak of a half of the president from a legal standpoint can commit to this briefing room and answer these questions so we are not trying to ask you about all of these legal troubles facing the president? sec. sanders: he is not an employee of the white house. i would happy to encourage him. he is in a number of interviews with several of you. don't you think that the public has a right to get some answers about these questions? if there are payments coming from rushing connected entities arrest individuals connected to the kremlin through a shell company that is controlled by hen tolen -- colin -- co pay off whoever? sec. sanders: i think there are appropriate channels in which to do that. i would encourage you to reach out to them to do exactly what

you just outlined. korea, john bolton was critical of the obama administration for sending bill clinton to negotiate the release of american detainees in 2009. that the national security adviser raise any reservations about the current negotiations? can you talk about what circumstances are different now than they were in 2009 to make it are appropriate? sec. sanders: i'm not aware of anything he raised. the purpose of secretaries pompeo trip to negotiate and to discuss the upcoming meeting between president trump and the leader of north korea. can you explain what the president's views are on the discharge petition? sec. sanders: we have been clear what our position is. we laid out several months ago what we wanted to see happen. we would still like to see that

happen, we would like to see a piece of legislation that includes all for president -- four pillar the president outline. >> the president mentioned that the unemployment rate is so low that we should bring in more workers with visas. [inaudible] sec. sanders: i'm not aware of any concerns on that front. >> yesterday, hillary clinton and barack obama weighed in on the president's a wrong decision. president obama said that calls for fact-based leadership would help our country. hillary clinton said our president -- credibility is shot. what is the president's response

to that and what does the white house think about those former officials commenting on this? sec. sanders: based on each of those individuals lack of processin this entire of foreign affairs, they will be the last three people that we would look to for advice and counsel in whether or not that we had made the right decision. i will take one last question. >> do you sell have confidence in really giuliani -- rudy giuliani? the want to take us back to president's tweets earlier this week when he referred to the democrats running the investigation, setting aside the fact that robert mueller is a , is the- republican president aware that federal law prohibits discrimination hiring based on political affiliations? does he believe that political affiliation should be taken into account when hiring prosecutors, regardless of this law?

sec. sanders: we have been fully cooperative with the special counsel. i don't have anything to add. question, did a senate democrat -- a senate democrat thed the petition to repeal sgc's repeal of the obama era net and travel the world. race.esident signed 15 cr sec. sanders: we will keep you posted when we have a specific policy on that front. >> happy birthday to your daughter. [inaudible] >> coming up, the confirmation hearing for gina haspel to be the next arrestor -- director of

the cla -- cia. she will replace marco there. she will be the first woman to head the cia. she spoke earlier today in front of the senate intelligence committee. you can see that hearing tonight at 9:00 eastern on c-span. ♪ >> washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. yoho willorning, ted talk about the it u.s. withdrawal from the iran nuclear deal. washington state democratic congresswoman will join us to talk about immigration and the investigation of russell's role in the 2016 presidential election. watch c-span's washington journal live at 7:00 eastern on thursday morning. during the discussion. -- join the discussion. health and human services

secretary testifies thursday on president trump's 2019 budget request for his apartment. live thursday at 10:00 eastern on c-span3. >> monday, regents of the university of california the bucky. admissionse rejected to the university of california davis medical school, he claim to was passed over in favor of less qualified minority applicants. he took the university of california system to court. the resulting decisions struck down the university specific admonitions -- admissions program and held up the constitutionality of affirmative action. acting u.s.rved as solicitor general in the obama administration.

randy barnett was a professor at georgetown law professor. live monday night at 9:00 eastern on c-span. joing the conversation -- the conversation. we have resources on our website for background on each case. >> the house is done for the night but earlier today members a bill thatpassed reconciles federal trade commission and justice department standards for antitrust cases. the chamber also approved a measure that would require state and local governments receiving justice department grants to use those funds for pretrial services programs. tomorrow theou