but i think that his ideas about, his idea, the american first thing is something i think he holds dear. that our country has been shortchanged by the rest of the world and it reflects in trade policy and immigration policy. in the minds of many of his supporters in the middle of asrica, he looks at that sincere on his part. announcer: home and jenkins -- &a.man jenkins on c-span's q announcer: next, sarah sanders answering questions on whether or not there will be a government shutdown ahead of the holidays. and reaction to news of a delayed sentencing for michael flynn. ms. sanders: my apologies for

the delay. we will get to as many things as we can. good afternoon, the world economic forum will take place in dodd bows, from -- davos, so delivered the president will attend. steven mnuchin will lead the delegation. that will also include mike pompeo, secretary of commerce wilbur ross, secretary of labor alex acosta, secretary of transportation elaine chao, secretary of homeland security kirsten nelson, u.s. 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 l. on another note, the president is was again for filling a promise he made to the american people, and this morning the acting attorney general cited the final rule, making clear that bump stocks are a legal

because they fall under federal law. begins now,iod where those people in possession of bump stocks must turn them over to an atf field office or destroy them by march 21. instructions for destruction will be posted on atf's website. martha mcsally has been appointed to the u.s. senate and we congratulate her. she has been a partner in the house of representatives helping advance a number of priorities, including rebuilding our military and increasing border security. the president applauds governor ducey for his swift selection and appreciates senator jon kyl and thanks him for his service to the people of arizona. >> is their reaction to the delay in the michael flynn sensing and they quarried from the judge asking prosecutors if he possibly committed treason? ms. sanders: the delay is something between general flynn and the courts, and that is some

info. them to determine what the timeline looks like in the meantime, we wish the general well and we will continue to focus on doing what we do here every single day. >> 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'm not aware of anything that we would know of that would indicate that. >> i was in the courthouse the last hour, the judge basically said he was disgusted by michael flynn's crimes. he said he had -- flynn knew he said it was a legal to lie to the fbi and was ready to accept responsibility, this was all before the delayed sentencing. are you in a position or would you like to revisit question -- comments from earlier today that the fbi ambushed him? ms. sanders: no, we firmly believe -- look, the things that may have taken place, that is for the judge to make that determination, whether he engaged in something

inappropriate. what we know that was inappropriate by what was admitted by james comey is the fbi broke standard protocol in the way that they ambushed general michael flynn and the way they questioned him and in the way they encouraged him not to have white house counsel's office president. we know that because james comey told us and the very reason he theit, the only reason was trump administration and they thought they could get away with it. those are facts, and there may be other issues there, but we do not have any reason to walk that back. >> about michael flynn, he is cooperating with the special counsel and met with him 19 times, is there a reason why the president has not said -- the way that he has said michael cohen is a rat to cooperate? ms. sanders: we know michael cohen to be a liar on a number of fronts and the president's

opinion is extremely clear on that front. i do not see a reason to go beyond that. >> two quest is on the government shutdown. can you clarify the current white house decision toward the continued resolution on the hill? the demand for border wall funding, or is it supported the continuing resolution to take this matter up after the christmas break? ms. sanders: right now they are throwing out a lot of ideas. we are disappointed that they have yet to vote on something and pass something. when they do that, we will make a determination on whether or not we will sign it. in the meantime, we're looking at every avenue possible, the president has every secretary looking for funding that can be used to protect our borders and to give the president the ability to fulfill his constitutional obligation to protect the american people by having a secure border. we are looking at the other options. we will see but the senate does and let you know when we have an announcement on that front. >> sarah?

following up on that, are there other sources that could pay for the wall and what are the other agencies you are looking at? bri the president -- ms. sanders: the president has asked every agency to look and see if they have money to be used for that purpose. >> does that mean that they would accept a budget proposal that would not include mining for the -- money for the boardwalk? ms. sanders: the senate has thrown out a lot of ideas, they have yet to take a vote. we are disappointed in the process and the inability to put something ford, that once and they make a decision and put something on the table we will make a determination on whether or not we will move forward on a short-term or long-term solution. go ahead. hatmichael flynn tweeted t he did lie to the fbi. does that concern the president? his --oncerned one of

lied to the fbi? ms. sanders: not when it comes to things that have to do with the president. the activities -- again, we will that the court make that determination -- to have engaged in do not have anything to do with the president. remember how this started and what it is supposed to be about, whether or not russia influenced the election and whether the president had anything to do with it. we know that russia tried to create chaos within the election, but certainly not that they actually impacted it. the only reason the president is the president is because he was a better candidate and beat hillary clinton. we know the president never colluded with russia, that is the whole reason we have this and we know those to be false. >> is the president concerned michael flynn lida to a representative of his own government and was working with another government during the campaign? ms. sanders: that is something for the court to make that determination and we will let them do that. >> what about the comments on

this? ms. sanders: the court will make a determination on whether he engaged in something. >> what about the president making comments about the things? ms. sanders: it is acceptable for the president to make a positive comment about somebody while we wait to see whether determination is. >> what about a tweet the president sent out earlier today and continues to vent frustration about the federal reserve. he said that part of the op-ed from the washington journal, they point out that u.s. growth is slowing, and the tariff battle has hurt investment, autos are down, and cracks are in the market -- so when the president talks about the fed, is he venting or is he generally worried -- generally worded 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, he does that and does a regularly.

he has been clear about his position, while at the same time he understands the fed is an independent agency, but that does not take away his right to state his opinion on a particular matter. >> let me ask -- ms. sanders: go ahead. >> i want to clarify one thing and then go back to the border wall. teh clarification on michael flynn, you said it has nothing to do with the president, but one thing the judge brought up was it was so concerning to him because michael flynn lied inside the white house as the national security advisor to the president, so is the white house disputing that michael flynn is a liar? that was also the reason he was fired. ms. sanders: we are disputing any actions he engaged in had nothing to do with the presidents. just because maybe he did do those things, it does not have anything to do with the president directly. >> when it comes to the border wall, today you mentioned that the president would be willing to accept $1.6 billion for the

that plays into a broader $25 billion bill over 10 years. is that what the offer is on capitol hill that it would accept? ms. sanders: we are continuing to have read the conversations within the hill, i will not negotiate here. we have laid out what our parameters are with members of congress. and we want to know where they can pass, we want to know where they think they can actually get done. we have laid out what we want to see. in the meantime, we are looking at other areas where we can draw money from to make sure the president can protect the border and american citizens. -- with theicitith deficit ballooning under this president, where is the additional money for the wall going to come from and why is he asking the american taxpayer for them when he promised mexico to pay for it? ms. sanders: we are looking at existing funding through other agencies right now that we can

draw on to do that immediately. the president has been clear that the usmca deal would provide additional revenue through that deal that would show that mexico is paying for the wall. >> but the trade benefits, if there are any, do not go to the treasury. ms. sanders: he is saying the revenue provided in the money saved through the deal we could pay for the wall four times over, and by doing the new trade deal we have an opportunity to pay for the wall. >> but the trade benefits go to private citizens. ms. sanders: he is talking about the general revenue. >> so you will tax it? ms. sanders: we are talking about additional revenue that would have not existed without the president getting a new deal. >> have you done the math? ms. sanders: there have been a number of things we have looked at which we know will have additional revenue coming in. we think there will be more than that that comes in. >> it was announced that the

president's charity is being dissolved, does the president or anybody in his family have reaction to how this was handled? ms. sanders: that is not something we can comment on. >> real quick on something else, whether the president has given any indication to turkey that he would be willing to extradite the cleric who left? ms. sanders: he said we would take a look at it, nothing beyond that at this point. nothing at all about the process, just that he would look into it. >> you have said things do not have to do with the president, he is giving his opinion, he has a right to give his opinion, but does he not have a broader right, i mean he has a responsibility as far as his national security advisor, if he is lying, should he not be speaking on behalf of the american people, not just himself, president trump, man under investigation, but in all these aspects? you are saying he is only

speaking for himself and has not been linked to collision, is the claim, and therefore it does not matter what he says -- ms. sanders: that is not what i said appeared >> he is just giving his opinion. ms. sanders: i said that he is the president of the united states and he should, not only does he have the ability to give his opinion, he showed, that is why people elected him. they trust him to make decisions on policy matters and they want to know what his positions are on policies. he should state his opinion absolutely on not just that but on every topic that comes up that he wants to engage on. >> a lot of people involved in the investigation feel the fbi is unfairly targeting him, but the president normally has a different -- ms. sanders: we know the fbi has engaged in political bias, the fact anybody could the ninth there was political bias within the fbi, particularly under james comey, is frankly laughable. >> using terms like rat to talk

about people who are cooperating witnesses with the fbi. ms. sanders: people who have been dishonest. and lying. >> what about preserving confidence in the rule of law for the american people? ms. sanders: certainly, that is why he has appointed new people to help do just that, whether it is director ray, the new attorney general, somebody who can be very transparent through the process. one more. >> i want to go back to the shutdown. you say that you have asked agencies to look for more money. is the red line that you need congress to reprogram money exquisitely, so that dhs or whatever or whoever it might be can say, you can spend this money on wall construction, or do you think you have the legal authority and what are you

basing the legal authority on? nancy pelosi said today that -- ms. sanders: i would never use nancy pelosi is my source for legal authority on anything, but i would use attorneys who work their entire job determining whether or not something is legal. and we are looking to those individuals to find out those specific moneys that can be used. isthe money that reprogrammed by congress -- ms. sanders: we would like to see congress pass an appropriations bill that fully funds the government and allowed the president to protect our border and provides security funding, both for the wall, for ice, all of dhs. but in the meantime we are also looking at other avenues that would allow us to provide and do our constitutional authority and the president to be but to carry that out by protecting our

border in american citizens. tune into the event from the president. we will talk with you soon. thank you guys. announcer: join us later when the french embassy hosts a discussion on international organizations and their role in peace talks, fair trade, climate change and security. live coverage at 6:00 p.m. eastern . and you can also watch online at c-span.org or use the free c-span radio app. money running out for several federal agencies friday night unless congress passes legislation. negotiations continue among the house, senate and white house. among the issues, whether president trump's border wall will get funding. the housemates on wednesday with votes scheduled in the evening. the senate is in session today working on criminal justice reform and changing sentencing laws. watch the house on c-span and the senate