two cents. host: before you go, our human resources staffers at your agency, are you considered exempted, nonessential? caller: we are considered nonessential. i work for a small agency. my role is to come in if there is a shutdown to make sure there is an orderly shutdown conducted. am to be on call if necessary, to return to work if needed, to bring more people back. host: when you return to work, how easy is it to pick up where you were after a shutdown? depends on thely agency. the agency where i am now, i

think it is a smoother transition between both issues, but previous agencies where i worked it has literally been very cumbersome to reboot after a shutdown and get things going again. ms. sanders: my apologies for the delay. good afternoon. as you know, the world economic formal take place in dollars, switzerland january 22 through 25. the president will attend, as he did last year. mnuchin will lead the delegation. that will include secretary of state mike pompeo, secretary of commerce wilbur ross, secretary of labor alex acosta, secretary of transportation elaine chao, secretary of homeland security kirstjen nielsen, trade representative robert

lighthizer, small business administrator linda mcmahon, advisor to the president, you ivanka trump, senior advisor to the president, jared kushner, and chris lavelle. -- liddell. this morning the acting attorney general signed the final rulemaking clear bump stocks are illegal because they fall within the definition of machine guns that are banned under federal firearms law. began, in which people in possession of bump return those items to an atf field office or destroy them by march 21. propertions for destruction will be posted on the atf website today. appointed tos been the u.s. senate and we congratulate her. she has been helping advance a number of the administration's priorities, including rebuilding our military and increased border security.

the president applauds governor ducey for his swift selection and thanks -- for his service to the people of arizona. with that i will take your questions. reporter: there was a delay, the usual inquiry from judge sullivan asking prosecutors if -- committed treason? ms. sanders: that is between general flynn and the courts. something for them to determine. in the meantime, we wish general flynn well and continue to focus on doing what we do here every single day. reporter: what about the inquiry as to whether he committed treason? does the president see any reason why flynn should be asked if he committed treason? ms. sanders: i am not aware of anything we would know of that would indicate that. reporter: i was in the courthouse the last hour when the judge said he was disgusted by michael flynn's crimes.

he had disdain for flynn. flynn said he knew it was illegal to lie to the fbi and acceptling to responsibility. given that come are you in a position or would like to revisit your comments that the fbi ambushed flynn? ms. sanders: no. look,ll firmly believe -- the things which may have taken place, that is for the judge to make that determination whether he engaged in something inappropriate. what we do know was an -- admitted by james comey, the fbi broke standard protocol in the way they came in and ambushed general flynn and the way they questioned him and the way they encouraged him not to have white house counsel present. we know that because james comey told us that and said the very reason they did it was because -- only reason they did it it was the trump administration and they felt they could get away with it. those are facts. issues.uld be other

we do not have any reason to walk that back. reporter: michael flynn has cooperated with the special counsel 19 times. the presidentson has not called him a rat the way he did about others? ms. sanders: we know michael to be a liar on many fronts. the president is clear on that front. i do not see any reason to go beyond that comment. reporter: two questions. can you clarify the current white house decision? a demand for 1.6 billion dollars in border wall funding, or continuing resolution to take this matter up after the christmas break? ms. sanders: the senate as thrown out a lot of ideas. we are just hoping they vote yes on something and pass something. when they do that, we will make a determination on whether or

not we sign up. we're looking at every avenue available to us. we will look for funding that can be used to protect our the presidentve the ability to fulfill his constitutional obligation to protect the american people by having a secure border. we're looking at other options. in the meantime we will see what the senate does. [indiscernible] reporter: there are other forces that could potentially pay for the wall. ms. sanders: as i said, the president asked every agency to look and see if they have money that can be used for that purpose. that is exactly what we are doing. reporter: can they find that money, the president would accept a budget that does not include any money to fund the border wall? ms. sanders: once again, we want to see what the senate can pass. they throw out a lot of ideas and have yet to take a vote.

once they make a decision and they put something on the table, we will make the determination whether or not we will move forward on short-term or long-term. flynn said heael worked to the fbi and for foreign government during the campaign. does that concern the president? he seemed to be concerned michael cohen is a liar, but is he concerned one of his former the russian for government and lied to the fbi? remember whatet's the whole thing this is supposed to be about, whether or not russia influenced in the election and whether or not the president had anything to do with it. we know that russia tried to create chaos within the election, but they did not impacted. the only reason the president is

the president is because he was a better candidate and beat hillary clinton. we also know the president never colluded with russia. that is the whole reason we have this. we know those things to be false. reporter: is he worried that he lied to ivanka? does that concern him or not? ms. sanders: there is concern, but that is up to the court to make that determination. the court play that out and make a determination whether he gained -- engaged in something, right or wrong. reporter: given these things -- ms. sanders: it is perfectly acceptable for the president to make a positive comment about somebody while we wait for the court determination. if he continues to vent frustration about the federal reserve, he said he hopes the fed -- raised the op-ed, u.s. growth might be

slowing, the president's tariff s, and there are cracked showing in the credit market. isn he talks about the fed, event in, or genuinely worried that if there is a rate hike tomorrow that the economy will slow down? ms. sanders: the president is stating his opinion, which he is perfectly within his right to do so. i think that is one of the reasons people like him, because he does that and he doesn't regularly. he has been very clear about what his position as. at the same time he understands the fed is an independent agency. that does not take away the president's right to speak his mind on a particular matter. reporter: i just want to clarify one thing and back onto the border wall. clarification on michael flynn. you said it had nothing to do with the president. one of the things the judge is product today is that it was so concerning to him that michael flynn lied inside the white house as a national security advisor to the president.

it is also the reason he was fired. we are saying actions he engaged in have nothing to do with the president. those things,o but it does not have anything to do with the president directly. reporter: when it comes to the border wall, today on television you said the president would be willing to accept a $1.6 billion for the wall. also, that plays into a broader $25 billion bill over 10 years. is that is what the white house's current offer and capitol hill would accept? we are continuing to have regular conversations with the hill. i will not negotiate here. we laid out what our parameters are with congress. we want to know what they can pass. we want to know what they can actually get done. we laid out what we would like to see. in the meantime we're looking at

other areas we can draw money from to make sure the president can protect our border, protect american citizens. reporter: with that the deficit ballooning to under one chilean dollars under this president, where are the additional moneys for this wall going to come the american ask taxpayer to pay for them when he promised mexico would pay for it? at sanders: we are looking existing funding through other agencies we can draw on to do that immediately. the president has been clear that the usmca deal would thatde additional revenue would show that mexico is paying for the wall. reporter: the trade benefits, if there are any, do not go to the treasury. ms. sanders: the money that would be provided could pay for the wall. reporter: trade benefits go to private citizens. ms. sanders: he is talking about

the general revenue that comes from that. we are talking about additional revenue that would not have existed without the president getting a new deal. reporter: have you done the math on that? ms. sanders: there are number things we have looked at which we know will have additional revenue that comes in through the usmca. we think there will be more than that that comes in. reporter: it was announced today the president's charity is being dissolved. does the president or family have regrets about how the charity was handled? ms. sanders: that is something i would refer to the trump administration. we cannot comment on. has the president give any indications to turkey he would be willing to extradite the cleric? ms. sanders: the only thing he said is that he will take a look at it. nothing committal about that process, just that he would look into it. reporter: you have said a lot

things do not have to do with of the president, he is just giving his opinion, he has a right to give his opinion. does he not have a broader responsibility that if his national security advisor is lying, should he not be speaking on behalf of the american people, not just himself, president trump, man under investigation? you're are saying he is just speaking for himself and not being linked to collusion and therefore it does not matter and that his comments on the fed have no bearing he is just giving his opinion. ms. sanders: he is the president of the united states and he should, not only does he have the ability to give his opinion, he should give his opinion. that is why people elected him. they test them to make decisions on policy matters. they want to know what his decision -- positions are on policies. he absolutely should state his

opinion on not just that, but every topic that concept -- comes up that he wants to hang gauge in. feelter: a lot of people the fbi is unfairly targeting them, but the president usually has a different role. the fbi engaged in an outrageous amount of political bias. deny there was political bias in the fbi, particularly under james comey's leadership. reporter: [indiscernible] does he not have a broader responsibility to preserve confidence in the rule of law for the american people? ms. sanders: certainly. that is why you pointed new people to do exactly that, aether it is director ray, new attorney general, someone who can come in and be transparent through this process. i wanted to go back to the shutdown.

you said they were going back to look for more money. is your redline in these negotiations that you need congress to reprogram money , congress say, you can send us money we did not spend on something else on wall construction, or do you think you have legal authority? what are you basing that legal authority on? ms. sanders: i would never use nancy pelosi for my legal source on anything, but attorneys that worked at the white house and agencies, that is their entire job, determining whether or not something is legal. we are looking to those individuals to find out those specific types of money they can be used for that. reprogrammed by congress [indiscernible] we would like to

see congress passed an appropriations bill that fully funds our government and that allows the president to protect our border and provide substantial border security funding both for the water, for cbp, i.c.e., dhs. we are looking at other avenues to provide in do our constitutional authority and the president to carry that out by protecting order and american citizens. i encourage you to tune into the president's event. we will talk to you soon. thank you, guys. !eporter: do your job, sarah [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] >> coming up live from the wilson center today, i discussion about yemen and perspective peace talks to end the civil war and a look at

saudi arabia, the united arab emirates and iran. that discussion live at 2:30 eastern, a couple minutes away. the french embassy in washington, d.c. hosting a discussion about organizations and their role in peace talks, fair trade, climate change and security. live at 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. you can also watch online at www.c-span.org or use the free c-span radio app. host: judith shulevitz joins us now from new york and she is a contribute for "the atlantic. she recently explored the technology behind digital assistant. start by explaining what digital assistants are and how prevalent they are today in society. judith my piece was specifically : about voice activated digital assistants. beital assistants tend to shorthand for that.