ever done with russia. there has been no president ever as tough as i have been on russia. all you have to do is look at the numbers, look at what we have done, look at sanctions, look at ambassadors -- unfortunately, what happened in syria recently. putin knowsident that better than anyone, certainly better than the media. he is not happy about it and shouldn't be, because there has never been a president as tough on russia as i have been. thank you very much. >> later during the daily briefing, press secretary sarah sanders was asked about the president's remarks. next, we will show you that briefing in its entirety. it runs about 25 minutes. sec. sanders: good afternoon. the president will be transit -- traveling to kansas city july

24. he will address the veterans of foreign wars convention. he is committed to our veterans and ensure veterans are given the support they deserve. the president will look forward to being with more than 4000 veterans in attendance. yesterday, the u.s. senate confirmed randy quarles as vice chair at the federal reserve. nominationtunate his was continually delayed. there are still three more nominees to the fed who have yet to receive a vote. it is inexcusable that democrats have delayed confirming nominees . and even worse example is the nomination of don stumped to be commissioner on the commodity futures trading commission. there is no opposition to her, yet she has been waiting 400 days for a vote. stopge senate democrats to these unnecessary delays and confirm these qualified nominees.

lastly, on behalf of the president and the white house, we offer prayers for the united agent secret service including his wife and young children. the secret service and announced this morning that the agent suffered a stroke on duty in scotland last week and is -- has tragically passed away. he was a five year veteran of the united states marines and spent 19 years with the secret service. arepresident and first lady thankful for his devotion to this country. men and women of the secret service make sacrifices for our security and we are in their debt. with that, i will take their -- your questions. is russia still targeting the u.s., the president said no. is it his position that no, russia is not doing anything to meddle in the 2018 elections? the president said

thank you very much and was answeringno to questions. the administration and president are working hard to make sure they do not meddle in our elections like they have done in the past. reporter: so he does believe it is going on? sec. sanders: since there is not an election today, not specifically, but we certainly we are taking steps to make sure they can't do it again, unlike review's administrations, this president is taking bold action and reform to make sure it doesn't happen again, but he does believe that they would target u.s. elections again. said the the president red likes -- lights are blinking on this topic. sec. sanders: that is why we are taking steps to ensure these things don't happen. we wouldn't spend as much time and effort as we are a for didn't believe they were still looking at us. from the beginning of his administration, present --

president trump has taken action to defend our election system from interference on a range of things. in may 2017, president trump signed an order to strengthen and review our critical infrastructure. the department of homeland security has taken the lead in working with all 50 states, local governments, and private companies to improve security. dhs has improved core nation among partners, 34 states, 52 county and local governments and five election companies received security scans from dhs. it plans to provide on-site risk assessment to all states that request it. so far, 18 states have requested this assessment. a new pilot program released rapid response capabilities on election day and on-site security support was provided. in march 2018, congress provided the election assistance commission with 300 $80 million in funding for election

assistance grants to date. these are steps we have taken to prevent it, steps we have taken because we see the threat there. reporter: i want to clarify what you just said. dan coats said the threat is still ongoing from russia. does this white house believe that currently, this threat is still ongoing? certainly, we believe the threat still exists, which is why we are taking steps to prevent it again. he wouldn't go through that link the process if you aren't. does the president stand by all his other public comments, including the interview criticizing theresa may's handling of the brexit negotiations? that russia controlled germany over a pipeline? and other comments monday where he continued to cast doubt on the intelligence assessment of russian meddling in the 2016 election? the president saw

how his comments were being interpreted, looked at the transcripts and clarify those comments. reporter: -- indictment of a --sian national accused of into north american politics? sec. sanders: we are working to clarify that, but there was massive media hysteria yesterday over confusion between that individual and white house staffer, which shows the the desire to and find the negative in everything that president -- this president does because someone was simply redheaded, they were accused of being some sort of spy for russia. this has gotten totally out of control and you guys need to take a step back, slow down, and quit going after the trump administration on everything.

i said we are looking at it, but this is a lengthy process. we are going through it. however, i have a response to the fact that because someone had the same hair color, they were accused of being a russian spy by a lot of people in this room. reporter: the president today spoke about progress being made in trade talks with mexico and i am wondering whether trilateral talks with mexico and canada, and bilateral talks with connecticut are off the table for now if -- now? is the administration choosing to go to mexico? sec. sanders: we are continuing both of those tracks. we see a lot of progress on the conversations with mexico and if we can make a bilateral deal with them, we are very happy to do that, but we are continuing those conversations with both. reporter: russians named several americans they claim were involved in "crimes" in their

terms, including the former ambassador to russia. his president trump open to having that? sec. sanders: the president will meet his team and let you know of when he has an answer. reporter: a topic that came up in their conversation? sec. sanders: there was some conversation about it, but there was not a commitment made on behalf of the united states. the president will work with his team and we will let you know if there is an announcement on the front. reporter: the president said there could be "tremendous retribution" for the european union if there is not a deal struck. in the past, we have talked 20%. putting a terra for is that what he meant today by "tremendous retribution" or beyond that? an option on it is the table, but we are investigation process right now. -- anecdotes from

across the country, what is the economy.h manufacturers are concerned about tariffs, they are dealing with higher prices because of been, metal prices have falling because of chinese tariffs. it is not a rosy picture with a tariff situation. do you have a response? sec. sanders: the president is focused on long-term economic principles. we have one of the strongest economies we had had in decades. he looks for ways to protect american workers and will continue to do that on a number of different fronts and different ways. this is short term and the president hope instead open up a number of different markets and creating a more even trade field across the globe. reporter: in finland, president the u.s.ked about intelligence community and russia. i have confidence in both parties."

after a young woman was killed forharlottesville protesting neo-nazis, he said there is blame on both sides. some view him making false equivalences. what do you make of that criticism? sec. sanders: i do not compare situations. the president said what he thought yesterday in his remarks and would refer you back to those. [indiscernible] the the president view interference with the elections as an attack on american democracy? the president said the democrats are weak, republicans have better -- do you see it as an issue of american democracy or opponents being attacked? sec. sanders: the president thinks we have to focus on securing our election integrity and our election systems, which is why he spent so much time

with his administration making sure this doesn't happen again. let's not forget this didn't happen under president trump's watch. as happened under the obama administration. steps, making bolder forums to make sure this never happens again because we take it seriously and recognize our election systems are incredibly important and the cornerstone of our democracy. the president spent two hours with vladimir putin. was there any sense of what came out of that meeting? sec. sanders: as the president said, a number of issues were raised, including syrian humanitarian aid, iran's nuclear ambitions, israel's security, north korean denuclearization, ukraine and the occupation of crimea, reducing nuclear arsenals, and your favorite topic, russia's interference in our election. all of these issues are talked about carried this is the

beginning of the dialogue with russia and our administration and theirs and we will continue working through those things, but those are all of the topics and probably others that were covered. reporter: on a number of issues from the annexing of crimea 2 -- the president criticizing barack , doa for letting it happen you have any sense of why the president has not and more critical of putin for reasons the world stage has gone after? he has been: tougher on russia than anybody. you can see that in all of the actions he has taken, whether it duea plant that was closed to aluminum and steel tariffs put in place by this president, the treasury department has issued new sanctions on numerous individuals and entities in russia, the president continues sanctions on russia's malicious cyber activity in response to election hacking. we have expelled 60 rushing

diplomats from two consulates. condemned thep poisoning abroad. he has repeatedly called out russia's actions exporting energy to allies in eastern europe. extremelyhas been tough on russia and to say anything different is not true. why won't he criticized putin by name? sec. sanders: i think he has. he has called them out for interfering with our election, he has been tough on russia repeatedly and taking action on russia on a number of fronts i just listed off. reporter: on monday, why wasn't he critical of vladimir putin's actions? sec. sanders: they had a number of conversations. the president addressed some of these things face-to-face with vladimir putin. he addressed him yesterday.

the presidency's this as an opportunity to be able to work with russia. 90% of the world's nuclear weapons are under the control of the united states and russia carried he thinks it is good to get along with the person who controls that across the globe. he wants to create a more stable and peaceful world and we can't do that if we can't get along with russia in some capacity. been tough,e have we approached this in a totally different fashion than has been previously done because what has been done in the past hasn't worked. we are trying a new approach. act like he hasn't called them out is not true and is simply completely changes everything this administration has done regards to -- i will keep going. [indiscernible] in theative impact short-term, but that is only

true if we are able to strike a better deal. , it seemed like those negotiations had broken down. status ofask what the them are, why the treasury is meeting with china and what it would take from the chinese or u.s. to restart those talks? i'm not going to negotiate with you guys. i will leave that to the secretary and the ambassador. we are continuing to have conversations and look for ways to have a better trade deal with them. reporter: i want to follow up on maggie's questions. she asked about the idea that putin offered, allowing robert mueller to go to russia to oversee or witness the interrogations of the russian america officers if would reciprocate and russian investigators come here to watch american citizens take questions for crimes they allegedly committed in russia. the president said it was an interesting idea. sec. sanders: he didn't commit

to anything. he wants to work with his team to see if there is any validity that would be helpful to the process. we have committed to nothing. that it was an idea they throughout. reporter: some democrats on capitol hill are saying they want to drag the translator who was in the room with the president and vladimir putin before a congressional committee to find out exactly what was said in their private meeting kerry is that something the white house would ever? sec. sanders: that would go through the state department. reporter: the list of subjects for the one-on-one meeting, or sanctions discussed at all? did the president bring it up at all or did president putin bring it up at all -- putin bring it up at all? revision seemed widely that he was leaving himself a little room that it could have been

others who meddled. anyd you agree there is specific intelligence on that? sec. sanders: the president receives a number of briefings and has talked about the subject pretty extensively. we are aware of others who have made attempts, but i cannot get into that at this point. clarify: i want to something talked about at the beginning of the briefing. despite the video of the president answering no about whether russia is still multiple the u.s. and people in the room understanding he was responding to that he had never said no, no before to leave the room. the first thing the president says after the question was "thank you very much, no, i will not answer any more questions." understand what the question was because she asked for clarification.

because she wasn't sure. >> i talked to the president. he was saying no, he is not taking questions. reporter: the president, the second time in three days, the white house has reversed what the president has said. sec. sanders: i'm interpreting, not reversing. i did not take it the way you did. reporter: why should the president have any credibility to americans in what he said if in fact 24 hours or three hours later the white house said, just kidding. sec. sanders: that is not what i said. i was interpreting what the president's intention was. it was not what you explained. we never said, just kidding. and i think that you can take the fact that the president has credibility because he saw he and he wanted to

clarify yesterday. when he sees he has misspoken, he says that. reporter: just a follow-up on my second question, sarah. once again, moving on to jordan. jordan, go ahead. reporter: go ahead, if you want. reporter: thank you. we don't remember a time when the president has publicly called out vladimir putin. sec. sanders: i think that stating the fact that russia interfered with our election, that is a callout. jordan, go ahead. reporter: there was legislation that would impose new sanctions on russia if intelligent agencies find russian meddling in the 2018 elections. would president trump support that? sec. sanders: i will not get into a hypothetical situation until we see a idle piece of -- final piece of legislation and a determination if there is

meddling. our goal is to stop that from happening. which is why we spent time focusing on protecting election integrity. go ahead. john, go ahead. reporter: is voter suppression part of that election -- what -- part of that election process that the president is trying to look for? you're not going to answer that? sec. sanders: john, go ahead. reporter: you're not going to answer me? that's fine. reporter: john, -- sec. sanders: john, go ahead. i wanted to ask about the immediate reaction. -- the immediate reaction after the press conference in helsinki. supposing he gets every cable channel, cnn, reacting to the suggestion the president made. he did not believe russia interfered. i had my inbox inundated from emails -- with emails from

republican members of congress. why did it take so long to -- for the president to clarify the comments he made at a press conference? sec. sanders: the president put out an initial tweet after boarding air force one that clarified his comments. the very first chance he had in a public setting the following day he clarified his comments. i don't think it was that long be the first public appearance he had arriving back to the united states. reporter: it was a pretty long time, 24 hours. sec. sanders: it actually was not 24 hours before he responded at all. he put out an initial tweet from air force one. reporter: he changed the wood to wouldn't.- would to

a lot of people would argue, there was ample time. to put out a statement which clarified what he meant to say. he did not do that. sec. sanders: once he reviewed the transcript, he wanted to publicly address the clarification. which he did. reporter: there are currently efforts in congress to impeach attorney general rob rosenstein -- rod rosenstein. is that something the white house would support? sec. sanders: the president has made it clear he would like those documents to be turned over but we don't have anything further. reporter: -- sec. sanders: the president would like to see the documents turned over. when the president no longer has confidence in someone his

administration will let you know. reporter: and it press conference with latimer -- prime minister may i asked the telldent if he would vladimir putin to stay out of u.s. elections. did the president tell vladimir putin in helsinki to stay out of u.s. elections? the president, they discussed election meddling. we have made it clear what our position is. reporter: did the president of the u.s. tell the president of russia to stay out of u.s. elections? sec. sanders: the president has made clear to putin he should stay out of elections. i'm going to take a couple last questions. reporter: was they were a recording made of their one-on-one meeting? sec. sanders: i am not aware of one. reporter: is the president concerned about the election process? you talk about what he is going.

you did not mention voter suppression and that has been an issue for decades, particularly in the last few elections. when he was talking about voter fraud he should have been talking about butter suppression as well -- voter suppression as well. we want to do everything we can to detect the -- protect the integrity of our elections and we are going to look at that. the reason i addressed of these issues is because of russian involvement in our election. reporter: i want to change topic if i may and go south. the incoming president of mexico has made two very bold suggestions. number one, he is looking at giving amnesty for the drug cartels operating in there. today they say they are seriously looking at legalizing all drugs in mexico. now if they do that, obviously it will have a tremendous impact on the incoming amount of drugs into the united states. what is the president's position

on that? are they going to do anything to stop that from happening in mexico? sec. sanders: certainly we will continue to engage with our mexican partners. i don't have a specific policy announcement on that front. however, i can say that we would not support the legalization of all drugs anywhere, and certainly would not want anything that would allow more drugs to come into this country. thanks so much. have a great day. reporter: what is the administration doing about -- [indiscernible] >> c-span's "washington journal ," live every day with news and policy issues that impact you.

morning, a utah republican congressman would discuss the fallout from president trump's meeting with vladimir putin and the robert miller probe -- robert mueller probe. a congresswoman talks about russia's meddling in the 2016 election. measure to watch "washington journal," live at 7:00 eastern this morning. join the discussion. weekend on american history tv on c-span3. saturday at six a car p.m. eastern on the civil war, -- 6:00 p.m. eastern on the civil war. history,n lectures and san diego state university professor on the vietnam war. sunday at 11:00 a.m. military

historian patrick o'donnell and his book about the untold story of america's unknown soldier and world war i's most decorated euros who brought him home -- heroes who brought him home. alaska.four films about >> watch "american history tv," this weekend on c-span3. on capitol hill yesterday federal and state emergency management officials talked about the lessons they learned from the 2017 hurricane season and the efforts to improve disaster response in puerto rico. this has transportation and infrastructure subcommittee hearing runs about an hour and 45 min