partnership with states in rebuilding america's infrastructure. just before the election, just before we left washington, the head of what has congressional affairs came to visit me. i did not even know they had a congressional affairs office, but maybe they have their finger in the wind. she and i talked about areas where i could agree in potentially work with the president. two things, infrastructure and trade. she said there is a recognition on the part of the president, and there goes that your piece again. that we need to rebuild our infrastructure and make real federal investment. i think it is doable. a few colleagues have said to me, you want to help from. trump, this is not about this is about the united states of america in the fact we of been ignoring these needs for a long time.

the country is falling apart. americans get it. we've had three examples in the selection the show is not politically toxic. kevin mccarthy and mimi walters sponsored the repeal of the gas tax in california and they failed miserably. one of my colleagues, the new governor of minnesota, campaigned on a gas tax increase got one of the largest margins in history it and the new governor of michigan, red to blue. she also said, six the roads. americans get it. it is not politically toxic. i think there is a bridge that mitch mcconnell is interested in , a couple of billion dollars, we cannot do it with existing funds. >> see the entire interview with oregon representative peter defazio here on c-span. you can also here on c-span

radio or watch it online at c-span.org. part ofdent trump spent his saturday meeting with california officials and looked at some of the damage caused by wildfires. as he left the white house in the morning, he spoke to reporters and took questions on a number of topics. president trump: were going to california. we are making two stops. we are going to the two areas you know well, and it is a shame. it seems many more people are missing than anyone thought possible. i want to be with the firefighters and first responders. we will be spending a lot of time -- we will be coming back here, probably landing at 4:00 in the morning or something like that. but we want to spend a lot of time. we want to discuss many things. i am meeting with the governor and the new governor, the

governor-elect feared we have a lot of things to -- the governor-elect. we have a lot of things to talk about. we will be talking about force management, i have been talking about that a long time. this would be a different that this people know is something we have to do with, it should've been done years ago. but i think everybody is on the right side. it is a big issue, big issue. but verynsive issue, inexpensive when you compare it to even one of these horrible fires. and it will save a lot of lives in addition to a lot of money. we will be talking to the governors, to the first responders and fema, they have been incredible. the firefighters have been unbelievably brave, some of the stories i read last night, unbelievably brave. reporter: [indiscernible] president trump: we have not been briefed.

the cia will be speaking to me today. we have not been briefed yet. as of this moment, we were told that he did not play a role. we will have to find out what they have to say. reporter: [indiscernible] we do that next week. they are all done. yeah. reporter: [indiscernible] president trump: we are taking a look at it. we also have a great ally in saudi arabia. they give us a lot of jobs, a lot of business, a lot of economic development. they have been a truly spectacular ally in terms of jobs and economic development, and i also think -- i have to dig a lot of things into consideration. we will be talking with the cia later and lots of others. i will be doing that on the plane. i will be speaking also with

secretary of state mike pompeo. reporter: [indiscernible] president trump: we have not been talking about it. we will see. reporter: [indiscernible] president trump: it is not under consideration. we are always looking. whatever we can do for turkey, and frankly, countries we get along with very well, we are having a good moment was turkey. they gave a pastor back last week and we appreciate that. we are doing well with turkey. i get along very well with the president. he's a friend of mine. he is a strong man, a tough man, and a smart man. he is a friend of mine, and whatever we can do, we will do. that is something we are always looking at. but at this point, no. reporter: [indiscernible] president trump: what?

we haven't even talked about it. yeah, we have a tremendous military force on the southern border. we have large numbers of people trying to get into our country. i must say, the reason it has increased so much is because we are doing so well as opposed to the rest of the world. if you look south of our border, it is not doing so well. regardless, we have millions of people online to get into the country illegally, and those people have preference, they have been waiting, they have done it legally. we have a lot of things happening and a great military force on the southern border. we are not letting people into our country illegally. we are not doing a release. we will do a catch, but not a release. if they think they will be released into our country like the old days, like the years and

years they would catch and release -- we are not releasing. they will not be released. what? as long as necessary. they build great fencing, they have built a different kind of fence., -- of nobody gets through, and when they are caught, they are not released. they talk about all of their problems with their country, but they are all waving their country's flag. what is that about? if they hate their country, why do we see all of the flags being waived for guatemala, honduras, el salvador? we see flags all over the place. why are they waving flags? this has to do with getting into our country illegally.

we have to know who wants to come into our country, ok? reporter: [indiscernible] no, i don'tump: question his loyalty at all. he is 100% loyal. it was a phony story. i doubt it had any story. a typical "new york times" phony story. mike pence is 100%, no doubt about it in my mind. he has been a trooper. since then with me primaries, he is the one i chose, and i could not be happier. i do not question his loyalty at all. mike pence is a terrific person. that was a phony story written by the "new york times," who by the way, never called me for comment. -- you do a story like that it is fake news, that breaks of the country. fake news. how do you do a story like that and you don't call the principal?

i would give them a quote and say it is not true, and that is the end of the story. they don't do that. they make of sources. they may speak to one person, but they make up phony sources, like writing a novel. have you ever written a novel? that's how a lot of fake news stories are written. that's why a college fake news. it is fake. it is adapting for our country, it is very dangerous. mike pence is 100% and they should retract that story. you can't do that story without calling me for a quote, or you could call sarah huckabee and say, could i get a quote? there she is. can i get a quote from the president, i would be happy to give a quote. the quote would be, mike pence is 100%. now you can't do your story. that's why they don't like calling me for a quote. reporter: [indiscernible] helpdent trump: i would nancy pelosi if she needs votes. i would perform a wonderful

service for her. i like her, if you believe it. i like nancy pelosi. she is tough and smart, and she deserves to be speaker. now they are playing games with me, it islike with called presidential harassment. the president of your country is doing a great job but he is being harassed. in a way, her own party is harassing her. nobody else should be speaker. should start out with nancy pelosi as speaker. i already have a lot of votes. if she needs any foes and she asks me, i will give her the votes to put her over the top. as an example, he is a fine man, a congressman. i would call him a moderate. him from there. i don't imagine he has seen too

many -- however many votes she needs, she has them for me, automatic. they are wasting their time. reporter: [indiscernible] president trump: we're talking about the border wall, we're talking about a big sum of money, about $5 billion. i think probably if i was ever going to do a shutdown over border security, when you look at the caravan, when you look at the people coming in, this is a good time to do a shutdown. i don't think it's going to be necessary because i think the democrats will come to their senses. if they don't come to their senses, we will continue to win elections. we won the senate, you do recognize, right? all of the judges i am getting approved will be easier because we actually picked up, it is historic, two seats in the senate.

from 51-49, to 53, 47. that is a tremendous difference. these are senators i really like. thank you all very much. reporters: [indiscernible] close to trump: i am making a decision on you and ambassador and attorney general, until that attorney -- that decision is made, we have a great attorney in matt whitaker. he's doing a fantastic job. i would consider pam bondi for anything. she has a very good job. she's doing a very good job, has always done a very good job. in some form, i would love to have her in the administration. we have great people. we have tremendous people. our cabinet, we are very happy. will i make adjustments?

yes. but we have a great cabinet. if you look at what we are doing with the military, very happy with the secretary of defense, by the way. jim mattis is doing a great job, mike pompeo is doing a great job. i could go through every one of them. but then you might be able to figure out the one or two i am less happy with and that would not be good. ok, thank you. i will see you in california. [indiscernible] president trump: we will be looking into that. thank you very much. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.

visit ncicap.org] president trump's first stop in california was an air force base. he was met by governor jerry brown and governor-elect gavin newsom. with the president was kevin mccarthy and brock long. from there, the president toured damage areas from marine one and motorcade. there is a look at some of the visit. [no audio]

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[no audio] president trump: i want to thank the mayor, the governor, and the governor-elect. we have been with fema a lot the last couple of years, and brock, i want to thank you for the job, it is been incredible. law enforcement has been -- enforcement has been beyond anything you could imagine.

the federal government is behind you, we are all behind each other. speaking, have been have beenand i getting to know each other, and we are going to do a real job. this is very sad. as far as the lives lost, we don't know yet. a lot of people are not accounted for. this is the kind of destruction -- they are telling me this is not as bad as some areas, some areas are beyond this, they are just charred. one thing we have, the greatest people helping the first responders, fema. the fema people have been incredible. law enforcement, always. they never let us down. , and kevin, thank you very much for the job you have done and the support you have given in washington.

can do,n, anything you we are here, just bring it over to the office, you know that appeared -- that. >> what needs to be done from the federal government? >> what is being done. fema on the job, making sure first responders are supported. we get the manpower and woman power we need to get the job done. we have the cleanup, the search for those who have lost their lives. it is a date, massive cleanup after a terrible tragedy. it is basically people that are right here, local people, state people, doing the work. the federal government provide some help and a lot of money, and some expertise good and somehow -- expertise. and somehow, we will pull through. >> [indiscernible] we were talking

about that on the right over, and i think we're all on the same path. we have to do management, maintenance, and we will be working also with environmental groups. i think everybody has seen the light. i don't think we will have this again to this extent. we have to work quickly. a lot of people are very much -- there has been a lot of study going on over the last little while. i will say, i think you will have -- hopefully this will be the last of these. this was a really, really bad one. committed, gavin is we are all committed, i am committed to make sure we get all of this cleaned out and protected. we have to take care of the floors of the forest. it is very important. you look at other countries where they do it differently and it is a whole different story. i was with the president of finland and he said, we have ach different -- we are

forest of nation, they call it a forest nation. they spend a lot of time doing things and they don't have any problem. when it is, it is a small problem. i know everybody is looking at that. it will work out well. right now, we wanted to give the people that are so badly hurt, the families -- a lot of people have been lost. we won't know the final count for a while. there are areas you can even get to them yet. we have incredible people doing the job, so we will get that done better than anybody else could do it. we want to thank you all for coming and being here, and showing them up because i think people have to see this to understand it. in washington, mr. congressman, you know that, and kevin, and everybody, we have two of our great members of congress and their with this

100% and whatever is necessary, we will do. thank you ray much. >> we will get it taking care -- taken care of. >> thank you. [indiscernible] [indiscernible]

[indiscernible]

[indiscernible] >> ok, i want to say a few words. hard to find the right way to put it. people are really working hard, people have suffered. so many people from so many different places, backgrounds, and services have pulled together. thanks to the firefighters and first responders, and thanks to the federal government. we appreciate the president's help them being here and putting the focus in the spotlight on probably the worst tragedy california has ever faced.

president trump: thank you, jerry. theso want to think fema, first responders, the firefighters, they are out there now. they have a lot of territory to cover. still going very heavily. there is a big area of very intense flame right now next to a very explosive area, wouldn't you say? that is a big problem out there. they are fighting it like hell . we've never seen anything like this in california. it is total devastation. again, i want to thank everyone. brock is going to give you a little presentation about what we are doing and how we are doing it. again, the men and women fighting this fire are incredible. we know that more than 70 people were lost. we are looking for hundreds of people right now, literally

hundreds they are looking for good hope -- looking for. hopefully that will be a good thing and not a bad thing, maybe they left in their with loved ones somewhere else and we don't know about it. but they are looking for hundreds of people, and we will have an answer to that over the next 48 hours, i think, for the next part -- for the most part. brock, you have a presentation about how we will stop this monster. >> this is probably the worst disaster in my career. it will take all levels of government, not only helping the governor achieve his recovery goals, but neighbors helping neighbors. fema is on the ground. i have been here since tuesday, making sure we have full situational awareness on how to help the state achieve what needs to be done when it comes to firefighting, but also taking care of people.

we have set up disaster recovery centers. we are also asking people to call our hotline or go to our website to register. as of this morning, we've had over 12,000 people already registered into our system. we have handed out close to $3 million directly to those who have qualified for assistance. obviously, the firefighters are the main priority, taking care people and making sure we can get people transitioning out of shelters into long-term homes, and we are also working with the state of california, who was then a tremendous job in making sure they understand how were going to get the infrastructure backup so we can start to help communities like paradise and stratford. we think it is time to turn over to the incident commander. >> [indiscernible] fire frommap of the

the very first day. the most extensive damage was in the first 12 hours. [indiscernible] there are still significant challenges because of the drainage and the weather you'd -- weather. the wind, and a red flag warning for this weekend. [indiscernible] especially the river drainage, and their communities like bear creek and other communities we are concerned about. >> good luck. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> [indiscernible] i think we have a lot of factors. we have the management factor that i know jerry has been up on

andwell. well. been up on very gavin is going to be looking at it. it's a very big problem appeared in the farm bill, we have put about $5 million in the farm bill for management and maintenance of the forest. beyond this area, but management is $500 million. that bill is moving along rapidly for our great farmers. we have a new category, and that is management and maintenance of the forest, it is very important. i want to thank you folks over there, law enforcement, great job. [applause] >> [indiscernible] president trump: no. i have a strong opinion. i want a great climate, were going to have that, and were

going to have horse -- forests that are very safe. were going to have very safe forests. that is happening as we speak. >> [indiscernible] were going top: work with the state, local, and federal government. the federal government is going to work with the state and help them with funding. it is going to take a lot of funding, i will tell you that. >> [indiscernible] president trump: a lot of things have been learned, a lot of things have been learned. they have been working very hard and i think you're going to see something spectacular over the next number of years. if you look at the facts from an open point of view, a lot of elements need to be considered. the president came, he fell, and i'm looking forward over the begin tohs that he understand the threat of fire, the matter of drought and all the rest of it.

it's not one thing, it is a lot of things. i think if we open our mind to look at things, we get more stuff done. >> think you very much. -- thank you very much. >> join us this weekend for live coverage of the miami book fair. 11:15 a.m., a guardian columnist on the middle class and her book. at 2:55 p.m., a fox news politics editor discusses his book. at 6:00 p.m., former secretary of state john kerry with his memoir. watch the miami book fair, live this weekend on c-span2's book tv. listen to c-span's weekly podcast. this week, part one of a two-part interview with three nationally known presidential historians.

they share historical context for the trump presidency. an andrew johnson like president, someone who has impeachment swirling around them, and someone who is not able to heal a racial divide in the country. >> there is a real animosity between the president and congress as early as john adams. he is the person pushing toward the sedition act of 1798. what that does is try to prevent criticism of the government and the president. >> find c-span's the weekly on the free c-span radio app, or wherever you go for podcasts. welcomeuld like to michael ferrin for comg