people who lived foreign countries from finding shelter for what they stole in rule of law countries like the united states. if you are an oligarch, the kleptocracy initiative is a significant threat to your life and business model. >> thursday, at 8:00 p.m., the house, energy, and commerce committee on the status of the toy for century cures act to help facilitate medical innovations. >> last month the team led by stephen rosenberg announced a novel modification of an immunotherapy approach that led to a complete regression most likely a cure of widely metastatic rest cancer in a woman with deviously universally fatal forms of the disease. onwatch and prime time c-span, c-span.org, and listen on the free c-span radio app.

>> at the white house briefing, sarah sanders told reporters about the federal government's emergency preparedness efforts for hurricane lane as the storm approaches hawaii. she was asked about the paul manafort trial of the verdict and michael collins guilty pleas. this is 20 minutes. hurricane lane as a category four storm that is expected to have an impact on the state of hawaii, kristen nielsen briefed the president on the hurricane this morning. we encourage all those in the path of the storm to listen to instructions. of state and local authorities as it relates to evacuation orders and shelter locations. president trump wishes for the well-being of all hawaiians, and has instructed fema to stand ready to support them in whatever they may need. also, the president had a phone call with prime minister abe of japan.

they committed to maintaining strong sanctions on north korea, they expressed that they look forward to seeing each other later this year to continue and to continue these important conversations with allies. on behalf of our entire administration, i want to extend prayers to the family, friends, and loved ones of mollie tibbetts. the nation watch for 30 days as locals and federal officials search for mollie. a rising soft -- sophomore at the university of iowa. sadly the individual believed to , be responsible for the murder has given us an unfortunate reminder of why we need to strengthen our immigration laws. the bible tells us in psalms that the lord heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds, the tidbits family is hurting and they are on the hearts of all americans and we are grieving with them. i will take your questions. cohen under oath

pleaded guilty to, among other things, paying a stormy daniels and karen mcdougal and he said he did this under the direction of president trump. >> the president has stated many times that he has done nothing wrong and there are no charges against him. we have commented on this extensively. >> nine -- why not report [indiscernible] >> as a president has stated on numerous occasions, he did nothing wrong, there are no charges against him. just because michael cohen made a plea deal does not mean he is implicated on anything. the president in this matter has done nothing wrong and there are no charges against him area -- him. >> the president said to fox

news that this could not the an illegal campaign contribution, he put more than $60 million of his own money into the campaign. how do you draw the line between what was a campaign contribution and what might have been a payment to someone for other purposes? >> i will not get to the back-and-forth of the legal part of this, i would refer you to the president outside counsel. aat the president has stated number of times, he did nothing wrong, there are no charges against him just because michael been charged. -- >> perhaps you can shed more light, because the implication is that michael: gave something up that the president would rather stay secret. expressedsident has his views, i do not have anything further to add.

>> is the president intent on pardoning paul manafort? >> the manafort case doesn't have any to do with the president, his campaign, or the white house. >> even if it has nothing to do with the president, is that something he has begun discussing? does he relate out? -- rule it out? >> i'm not aware of any conversations regarding that. other than when he was asked by a news outlet earlier this week and he said he hadn't been thinking about that at all. >> in times like this, they're -- the white house is often trying to figure out if there are any internal adjudged -- adjustments needed internally with lawmakers, is the white house making any adjustments in terms of responsibilities to the chief of staff with voters,

supporters, how you respond protectively and offensively to the question? >> i wouldn't view it that way at all. i would disagree with the premise of the question. the white house is focused on the same things we were focused on the first day that you got here. that is growing the economy, which is doing extremely well, protecting our borders, strengthening the safety and security of all americans. those are the things we are focusing on and they are the same things we are focused on right now. >> i would like to start off congratulating you on your 100th briefing. no way that we do every day is is easy. jonathan over at actio quickly wrote -- several republican operatives working on the midterm elections could depress

republican turnout and make the blue wave even bigger. are you familiar with republican operatives that would concur with this statement. >> not that i'm aware of. i think the thing that will encourage people is a lack of a message from democrats. they have nothing to run on other than attacking this president. the record that republicans have had is a great one to run on. we have an incredible story to tell, the economy is booming, record numbers just today and we will continue focusing on the things americans care about and that will be what encourages them and certainly what will help push republicans to do well in november. >> yesterday the president stated that they will pay a price, should israel be concerned that the price that they have to pay is not one they are not prepared or willing to? >> we think that the president's

decision was the right one, to move to the embassy, something other presidents of promised and failed to do. this president delivered. >> what price are we talking about, what price does israel have to pay question mark >> i don't have anything further for you. >> the guilty verdict in the paul manafort trial, the president has called mr. manafort a good man and a good prison and he feels badly for what has happened to him. he tweeted today that unlike michael cohen, he refused to break and make up stories to get a deal. he tweeted great respect for a great man. is mr. manafort a candidate for a presidential pardon? >> that is not something that has been up for discussion, i don't have anything for you. >> some democrats are saying that the nomination for brent cobb -- brett kavanaugh should be put on hold because of the legal developments yesterday. hawaii's senator put out a statement saying that this president was an unindicted

co-conspirator in a criminal matter and doesn't deserve the courtesy of a meeting with his nominee. what is your reaction to that? >> this is a desperate and pathetic attempt by democrats to obstruct a highly qualified nominee. the hearing date has been set and judge kavanaugh will be there. >> trade talks between the united states and china are resuming. the president earlier this week expressed low expectations for the talks. i'm wondering if that has changed and what you would like to see come out of these discussions. >> as you said, these conversations are continuing. i don't have any announcements on them. they are ongoing. we would like to see better trade deals for the united states. the president wants to see free, fair, or more reciprocal trade between other countries, particularly with china. we will continue in those conversations. >> does the president feel the

trade by michael: and is he concerned about what he might say to robert mueller? >> the president isn't concerned at all, he knows there -- that he did nothing wrong and we will continue to focus on the things that americans care about and that we can have an impact on. >> do you anticipate a deal between mexico and the united states on nafta? >> i'm not getting ahead of any potential announcement. for decades nafta has harmed american workers and cost the u.s. billions of dollars and we are focused on addressing those problems and we will let you know when we have an announcement. >> in his interview the president said he found out about the payments from michael cohen later on, but he is on tape discussing how to make one of the payments with michael: before was made. how do you explain that? >> i have commented on this extensively. i can tell you the president did nothing wrong, there is no collusion.

anything beyond that i would refer you to the president's outside counsel. >> rudy giuliani is not the taxpayer-funded sponsor for the -- spokesperson for the president. you are. audio seems to confirm that it is the president saying that. -- it is confirmed of the president saying that. >> i have addressed this a number of times because you continue to ask think russians over and over, i'm not going to give you a different answer. the president has done nothing wrong there are no charges, , there is no collusion, that is what i can tell you. if you want something further -- i would refer you to the president outside counsel. >> does the white house maintained that which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> you have said that there is no discussions about a potential pardon for paul manafort. so are you are not ruling it out entirely. the president hasn't said he won't do it. it's possible that the could be a pardon for him in the future.

is that correct? >> the only comment the president has made on this was when he was asked by a news outlet earlier this week and he said that no he was not considering that. beyond that there has been no other discussion. >> that was before paul manafort was convicted on eight of the 18 counts. i'm asking now, now that he has been convicted. >> and i'm answering that there have been no discussions of the white house on that matter. >> on a different the last time point, that we were in here, you read off officials and one current official that the president was considering taking away their security clearance. i wanted to follow up and ask you -- who was conducting that review, to determine whether or not those security clearances would be pulled? and second of all i wanted to ask you about a tweet from the president that said he thought the james clapper was being nice to him so that he doesn't lose his security clearance. is that a threat that if james clapper isn't nice he will lose it? >> i don't have any other announcements on that front and

when we have one i will let you know. >> who is doing the review? >> a number of people involved here at the white house. >> in the tweet this morning about paul manafort, the president seems to be set -- praising him for refusing to work with federal prosecutors. doesn't that seem to indicate that he thinks that loyalty to him personally is more important with abiding by the law or cooperating with the government? >> not at all, it doesn't involve the president, his campaign, and has nothing to do with the white house. the president has expressed his views. your hasl: slow lawyer has- cohen's suggested publicly that there is new evidence they would like to present about foreknowledge of hacking. the president and the white house maintain that there was no knowledge? >> i'm not aware of anything, no. >> given that five convicted felons are now linked to the

president or his campaign and given his promise to hire the best people, did he fail to live up to that promise? >> the president has employed thousands in his lifetime and had incredible successes in business and in the public service. he's the president of the united states i think he's doing quite , well. >> that's my second question, i understand you don't want to answer anything incriminating they, you said the president did nothing illegal, but i didn't hear a response to whether he lied to the american people. >> the president has addressed this in number of times, no. >> he said he feels badly for cohen and manafort. the men pled guilty to crimes, or robbed the american public of tax dollars that they were owed. why does he feel bad for either of these men? >> once again, the president has expressed his views on this matter.

i have nothing else to add on that area -- that. >> to follow-up up on that, does he believe that there is an intrinsic problem with the justice department? or does he only believe that someone close to him is a victim of the justice department? >> we have certainly seen a lot of concern, out of some of the activities of people that worked at the department of justice. whether it is peter strzok, lisa page, or james comey. we have walked through those and -- a number of times and it has given calls -- cause for a lot of americans. >> as far as people close to him , the president seems to have his own justice department and saying it's not doing its job. >> the president has certainly expressed his views on this matter and he has raised concerns about a number of other problems he is seeing in the department of justice. >> i wanted to follow-up about the earlier question about his comments on fox news with the regards to the payment to

daniels and mcdougal. when exactly did he learn about them and are there any other payments that he has now become aware of? are those the only women who received the money for agreeing not to repeat their stories of alleged affairs with the president? >> i have addressed all the -- that i will say on the issue. for those specific questions with more details -- >> if we refer special counsel outside matters -- >> here in the white house i would encourage you to reach out to them. >> thank you, sarah. going back to security clearances, all signs are that this is the first time that a president has personally been handling the removal of security clearances. it's usually done by superiors, even in the last two big espionage cases of the cold war, 1961 and 1990, the secretary of state pulled the security clearances of the accused.

you said that others are reviewing it. who are these others and does the president take a personal role in the potential removal of security clearance? >> certainly the president has the constitutional authority to do so. i'm not aware of the details of those specific cases that you outlined, but the president has the authority to make that decision and is also consulting with members of his national security team and his team here at the white house. >> is he also considering a policy of simply having all security passes turned in when someone leaves government service? >> i'm not aware of that as a policy and certainly we would like the ability of needed to be able to consult with individuals on national security matters.

but they do feel, the team here, that we should look at the security clearance process as a whole. my understanding is that there are roughly 5 million people that have security clearances in the united states and we would like to take a look at the overall process of who has and who maintains them. deborah? >> you are right about the president having constitutional authority about security clearances and pardons as far as i understand. the question i have is -- even though he has that authority, has anyone in the white house thought about putting something together to look at security clearances for former personnel and for pardons as well? the president doesn't seem to be consulting the pardon attorney and ag's office much. has he thought of doing something that would be more transparent, perhaps? >> certainly in that review of those security clearances there is a working group looking at the overall security clearance

process. there is someone who maintains those and determines whether or not those are needed across the board within government and in terms of the pardon process, the president has the authority to carry out those decisions. he takes input and looks at them on a case-by-case basis. >> who is on the committee? >> can you tell us? >> there are a number of members, i would have to get back to you. i know that the chief of staff is involved in the process. >> earlier this week the president told reuters -- >> speak up, sorry. >> he told people that he could run it, in reference to the mueller investigation. what does he mean by that? >> many times he has said that he has chosen to remain uninvolved in the process. that is where we are right now. >> is that an indication that he is thinking about some kind of action against robert mueller, like revoking his security clearances? >> i'm not aware of any

conversation around that. >> is it an indication that the president sees himself as above the law? >> not at all. >> some legal experts and lawmakers are saying his conduct and they are grounds for the impeachment case, is the white house concerned that that could have an effect on the midterm elections? and does the white house take these allegations seriously? >> certainly we do. the idea of impeachment is, frankly, a sad attempt by democrats, the only message they seem to have going into the midterms and a great reminder of why americans should support other like-minded candidates like the president that are focused on continuing to grow the economy, secure our borders,'s focus on the safety and security of all americans. the biggest contrast that you could possibly make is the

message of the democrats, which is nothing more than attacking the president and looking at cheap political stunts while this white house and republicans in the house and senate are focused on doing good things for the american people. >> earlier this week the president had tough words of criticism for the federal reserve chairman. can you tell us the last time that the president and powell met face-to-face and whether the president brought up that criticism with him directly? >> the last time that they met, i will have to double check, was right around the time that jerome powell took his place on the federal reserve board. >> have you spoken to him directly? >> i am not aware that they have spoken about that. >> thank you, sarah. on venezuela, does the president plan on getting involved there at all? there is millions fleeing the country now what is the u.s. am a stance on venezuela at this point? >> the united states continues to support the neighbors of venezuela and provide emergency aid and shelter to venezuela and

continues to stand with the people of venezuela. we are going to keep all options on the table and we will keep you posted if we have further announcements. thank you so much, we are going to wrap up so that we can join the president for the honor >> tonight on c-span a senate judiciary subcommittee on a cyber threats to u.s. infrastructure and elections. prisonssion on reforming sentencing laws. and a medal of honor ceremony. government officials and utility company executives discussed how computer hacking threatens critical u.s. infras