with an anchor who was no longer down.s, he was taken but it was an interesting show and after three minutes of watching, and you there was no way that kerry could negotiate against this gentleman. that turned out to be a fact. so we are going to make either a really good deal with the world, or will not make a deal at all. iran will come back and say, we don't want to negotiated. and of course, they will say that. and i will say, they will negotiate. or something will happen. and hopefully, that will not be the case. so i just want to let you know, the united states is strong, our military is in a position that we have not had an a long time. we have 700 billion approved, $716 billion for next year, members have never had before. we are rebuilding our military to a never that has never been frankly. these are good times to have a

strong military, hopefully we will never have to use it. peace through strength, which i believe in strongly. we are honored by the fact that the three gentlemen are coming home, and i look forward to some ofou, probably you, maybe a lot of you. it will be at 2:00 in the morning, quite a scene. me, itery exciting to represents something very important to this country. people never thought a thing like this could happen. again, people never thought he would have a situation where we serious and positive, and we are. what happens? who knows. we have a chance at something really great for the world, for north korea and for everybody. so i thank you all for being here. we see you at 2:00 in the morning.

[shouting questions] president trump: he will announce it within three days. we are just working on arrangement. reporter: do you deserve a nobel prize? president trump: everybody thinks so, but i won't say it. the prize that i want is a victory for the world. that is what we are talking about. it is the only prize that i want . everything can be scuttled. it doesn't mean -- a lot of things can happen and. good things can happen, that this can happen, i believe that we have -- both sides want to negotiate a deal. i think it will be very successful and we have a really good shot making a successful. that lots of things can happen. and of course, he will be the first to know if it does.

but i think have a great chance of making a good deal for the world. thank you, very much. >> what will you do if iran start their nuclear weapon back up? >> iran will find out. i will advise them not to start their nuclear program, i advised him very strongly. if they do, there will be very severe consequences. ok? thank you. >> let's go. secretary white house sarah sanders took questions on the release of prisoners from of korea and also spoke about the confirmation hearing for cia director nominee. the president's announcement that the u.s. with withdraw from the iran nuclear agreement and reports from companies including at&t, who made payments to president trump's attorney, michael:. this is about 20 minutes. -- michael cohen.

this is about 20 minutes. >> good afternoon. this morning, the families of three prisoners of south -- it north korea received news they were not expecting. but they will be coming home. the president and first lady look forward to welcoming secretary pump hail and these three brave americans tomorrow at race. this will be a proud moment for all of america. but a mini for cia is the most nominated

person ever for the position. one of the chairman of the committee said he could not name the last time that so many intelligence professionals agreed on a single nominee. in her opening statement, the acting director outlined what she has spoken of as the better position for the cia to accomplish its mission. should clearly demonstrated her,er president selected her character, have experience and her commitment to protecting the country. she is the right person to lead the cia and the senate should confirm her. the president is traveling tomorrow, we will not have the briefing, so i will take disadvantaged to wish my daughter scarlett happy they. ith that, i take -- a happy birthday. reporter: gina haspel said today

that the president asked her best if he were to ask her to restart the torture program, but she would not do so. is that something the president would ever ask? sanders: i am not aware of any request by the president to the past cia director or who we hope to be the next cia director. reporter: on a tougher subject, following up on the a ring -- i ring deal -- iran nuclear deal announcement yesterday. our allies in europe are working on it. the countries working with iran suffer from the sanctions? >> the sanctions will go back into play but for the specifics, i know that there is a wind down. period. as for particular companies come

over for use of the department of treasury. reporter: the president suggested stripping journalists of their press credentials. is that a line that he is willing to cross? i am standing in front of you right now taking your questions. a number of you have mentioned and in air and off air number of occasions, that this is one of the most accessible white houses. we are committed to a free press, and we demonstrate that every single day. not only by me being up here and taking your questions, but the president has made multiple sets of remarks to and he will be in front of the press tonight as well. >> how do you suggest taking american journalist's press credentials away? those two statements don't go together. >> the fact that i am standing here taking your questions, that the president to questions from you call it's a couple of hours ago, demonstrate our

accessibility. at the same time, the press has there is possibility to put out information. just yesterday, the new york times accused the secretary of state for being awol when he was flying across the globe to bring three americans home. that is an outrageous claim. earlier this week, the washington post accused the first lady of not living in the white house. it is an outrageous claim. we, taking questions and doing everything we can to provide regular and constant information to the american people, and there was a responsibility by you all to provide accurate information. we will continue to work with you as i am doing right here, right now, and as the president did just a couple of hours ago. reporter: with we be allowed -- would begin a lot to ask these questions without these credentials in this room? sanders: you are doing so right now. reporter: the confidential financial records of michael public,re made

prompting the inspector general to lunch at investigation as to how that happened. among the records were payments to at&t, at a time when the company was looking for government approval for a merger with time warner. there were also payments from novartis from soderquist at a time of the president was talking about doing something to bring down the cost of pharmaceuticals. is the president concerned about any us act of what we learned in the last 24 hours? sanders: as you know, do to the conflict patience and the different components -- to the different components of this investigation, i would refer you to the resident council -- that president's council. reporter: is the president concerned? sanders: i have not heard the resident express any specific concerns. reporter: do you believe michael cohen was ever qualified to provide insight into this administration?

sanders: i will not get into qualifications, that is based on the independent company who makes the determination and hires individual, not me. reporter: we know that he received millions of dollars, apparently settling the insights he said he could provide to the corporation. is the president embarrassed or that?d about sanders: i think it would be up to the individual who makes the decision to hire someone. in the same way that the company you work for the term is whether or not you are qualified to serve in your position. it has nothing to do with the white house. postter: i am happy to this question. to you know whether mr. cohen ever approached the white house or the representatives of those

companies, or whether the president was aware of the payments or that mr. cohen was marketing himself that way? sanders: i am not aware of that, i would refer you to the council. reporter: does the president feel it is appropriate that his personal attorney was selling access? sanders: again, i will not way into that, it is a determination that the private company has to make. reporter: based on what you ofw, as the rest secretary, what has been revealed in the past we for hours, does the president think it was appropriate that his personal attorney was selling access? sanders: again, perversely, we are not engaging in matters in process. i would refer you to the outside counsel for anything that has anything to do with michael cohen or others. reporter: does the president -- has he taken any action to benefit novartis pharmaceuticals, at&t or any other companies? sanders: not that i am aware of.

continues withan the nuclear weapons program, with a have the administration's support -- north korea? sanders: i know that we have a specific policy announcement on the front, but i can tell you that we are committed to make sure iran does not have any nuclear weapons. reporter: the president said today about iran -- we will see what we do with iran, probably we want to do well with them, but that is ok. that he feel that he can negotiate with iran going forward, or is he resigned to the fact that the two parties might be so far apart for a potential new deal going forward? sanders: as the president said yesterday, he would like to see something happen, but we are 100% committed to making sure that iran is not have nuclear weapons. until we see that happen, we will continue to put maximum sanctionsand or must

-- and or must sanctions on the, and we are preparing to add additional sanctions coming in as early as next week. reporter: the president had expressed an interest in meeting kim jong-un at the dmz. after today, he said that would not be the case. can you tell us why that is no longer the case? why that was not possible? sanders: i can tell you that the date and location are set, but he owned to that, i do have any other information at this point. that will be announced in the next few days. that,er: to follow up on for this administration, what are the most important criteria for the location? sanders: i will not get into the specifics at this point. we will make an announcement about the date and the location and provide further detail at that point. reporter: was the decision to send secretary pompeo to north same 10sterday at the the president was ripping up the ingredients nuclear deal, was it

meant to reassure north korea -- the united states can make a nuclear deal that -- wasll stick through it intended to reassure north korea that it is worthwhile getting into negotiations with the united states, over a nuclear deal that we will stick to? sanders: the purpose was to mature that we continued the progress we've had on setting the date and location for the president chuck a meeting with kim jong-un, which happened. something you also know about, the fact that secretary pompeo was able to bring home those three americans . tone of thisa, the potential summit -- early this week, north korea criticized the president's claim that his

so-called maximum pressure campaign was responsible for the meeting between south korea and north korea. a korean official yesterday reminded that the terry pompeo that it did not happen as a result of outside sanctions. does president trump 19 that he had "everything to do" with that meeting, and easy word about the backlash of the claim impacting his own meeting with kim jong-un? sanders: the president has certainly talked about the maximum pressure campaign korea --o bring north to help north korea make progress. at the city time, he has been clear that some of that success has been due to our allies and partners, particularly both president moon, prime minister abe and resume xi jinping, and their role in helping to put pressure on north korea. they have all say the role in campaign.m pressure but a lot of that is due to the fact that the president has spent time developing relationships with those individuals who have

collectively put rusher on north korea. reporter: can you give us any details about how the three detainees, how they were informed and when, of their coming home. and how their families found out, and whether the president has spoken to any of them directly? sanders: i know that there has been a number of different points of outreach from the administration starting early this morning. i terms of other details, don't have that for you right now, but we will provided as we have it. reporter: there are reports this morning that the nafta negotiations -- is that white house pessimistic on a deal with nafta but end of this month? sanders: we will continue to push forward with negotiations among but the president has said, he was a mature we get the right deal. . i will not gamble on the odds of a deal, i will not throughout any percentages, but we will

continue with the process. reporter: for a long time, you and the president and other administration spokesmen have been saying that they will be in infrastructure built. bill.t, -- infrastructure you were saying it before scarlett's last birthday, when you corrected me on her name. sanders: very good memory, josh. [laughter] hill and in capitol business, people doubt that they will see any kind of bill see the light of day. maybe you could say $20 billion forppropriations infrastructure or the reauthorization of measures such as the faa could count as infrastructure legislation, aside from the concatenation of things and other bills -- will there be an infrastructure bill,

yes or no? sanders: ever? i don't know that there will be won by the end of this year. certainly, the administration as you mentioned, secured funding for infrastructure projects. we also laid out priorities that we wanted to see in an infrastructure legislation package. look at waysnue to to improve the nation's infrastructure, but in terms of specific legislation, i'm not aware that that will happen by the end of the year. reporter: gina haspel told the senate that she would not reopen the interrogation program if she were to become director. how does the white house square that president trump's long-held belief that torture is acceptable -- on the campaign trail, he repeatedly endorsed torture? sanders: the president has confidence in her to lead the cia and wants to see her doing exactly that. you will a heart for fulfill

that position and make those decisions. reporter: does the president still believe torture works, as he said during the campaign? sanders: i have not had a conversation with him about that. reporter: questions about payments regarding michael: kamal you said you are not ready to answer those questions. you referred us to out that counsel on these questions. could you possibly work on an arrangement where perhaps mr. rudy giuliani or someone could speak on behalf of the president from a legal standpoint? so that we are not on a daily basis, asking you about all of these legal troubles this the president? can you do that for us? sanders: he is not an employee of the white house, but i'm happy to encourage him. i know that he has done a number of interviews, and he would be have to do more. reporter: don't you think the public has a right to get answers about these questions, payments coming from russian-connected entities or russian individuals connected to the kremlin, through a shell company controlled by mr.

whomever.ay off, don't the american people have a right to ask questions about that? sanders: there are appropriate venues and channels to do that and i have encouraged to to reach out to them. , before heorth korea was a national security adviser, john bolton was critical of the obama administration for sending bill clinton to negotiate the release of american detainees in 2009. did a national security adviser raise any reservations at all about the current negotiations, and under what different circumstances, compared to 2009? sanders: i am not aware of any issues he raised. to be clear, the purpose was to negotiate and discuss the upcoming meeting between president trump and the leader of north korea, that was the purpose of this meeting. reporter: i have a question on

daca. could you explain efforts by some republicans to force a vote on daca? sanders: we have been clear on what our position is. we laid out several months ago, we wanted to see happen and we would still like to see it happen. we would like to see legislation that includes all four of the principles and pillars the president outlined. reporter: his most recent campaign rally in michigan, the president mentioned that the an employment rate was so low, that he might bring more workers in visas. the h3n2 -- through visas -- sanders: i am not aware of any information on the front. reporter: yesterday, former secretary of state john kerry and from a president barack obama weighed on the iran nuclear deal with drawl. that itt obama saying

called for a unifying leadership. hillary clinton said -- our credibility is shot and they called it a mistake. what is the president's response, and what does the white house think about the former obama administration officials commenting on this and their appropriateness? sanders: i think based on their lack of success in this entire process on foreign affairs, they would probably be the last people we would look to for advice and counsel on whether or not we made the right decision. reporter: thank you. i have two questions. presidente of the check or treats early this week when he referred to 13 angry democrats running the russian investigation. setting aside the fact that robert mueller is a republican, is the president aware that

federal law prohibits discrimination on hiring based on political affiliations? does he believe political affiliations should be taken into account when hiring prosecutors's regardless? sanders: we have been fully cooperative with the council, and at a have anything to add on that. reporter: my second question, passed anate democrats final discharge petition to fcc repeal of the obama era net neutrality rules. --?president signed sanders: the president signed that, and we will keep you updated on the front. reporter: happy birthday to your daughter! [laughter] [chatter]

announcer: they did tonight, president trump welcomes home three american prisoners were held in north korea. which begins at 2 a.m. here on c-span. ♪ announcer: he stands washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues which impact you. coming up thursday morning, florida republican congressman discusses the u.s. withdrawal from the iran nuclear deal and upcoming talks with north korea. and then washington state democratic congresswoman camilla jayapal joins us to talk about immigration and russia's role in the 2016 election. be sure to watch live at 7:00 eastern thursday morning. join the discussion. on spin networks,

9 a.m. eastern, work on the u.s. nuclear waste policy. at 6 a.m., work on intelligence and national security. we discussed that former cia director john brennan and the former director of national intelligence, james clapper. on c-span2 at 10:00, the michael bennet nomination to the seventh circuit court is discussed in senate. at 10 a.m. on c-span three, the 2019 budget for the health and human services for terry with secretary alex azor. also, at 1:30 p.m., starbucks executive chair howard schultz on the role of public companies. >> gina haspel, president trump's pick to head the cia testified before the senate committee.e she just about her 30 year career with the cia and answered questions on her involvement and ron