security council staff during the obama administration. he had previously been a civilian advisor to general civic vitreous and john allen in afghanistan. >> he is a veteran of the obama administration having served as a system secretary of state for democracy through most of the second term new congress, new .eaders, watch it alone sees -- watch it on c-span. >> reporters also asked about the u.s. troop withdrawal from syria and the president's reaction to a critical op-ed written by republican senator elect mitt romney. this is just over one hour and a half.

>> ok, thank you all for being here and joining the first cabinet meeting of 2019. it is going to be a very exciting year and goodyear. some people think it will be controversial and tough, and it probably will.

i think we can work with the democrats and get quite a bit done. we will look at infrastructure, many things that can happen. both sides want them. we just did a very big and highly touted criminal justice reform bill. that's a very bipartisan thing. we finished the year with that. it's been a tremendous year in terms of achievement, whether it is regulation cuts or tax cuts. so many things we did. judges, to supreme court judges, and many federal fence, judges. time in sixquite a more years of great success. -- and six more years of great success. every day, border patrol encounters roughly 2000 illegal immigrants. i have to talk about this. trying to enter our country. 2000 a day. that is a minimum. every week, 300 americans are

killed from what comes across the southern border. it just pours to our southern border. -- through our southern border. unless we have physical barriers, it will never be stopped. last month, 20,000 miners were illegally smuggled -- minors were illegally smuggled into the united states. criminalsed 235,000 were able to come in over the years. we have a very tough order. -- border. people charged the border but they couldn't get through because we have a wall up. teargas was flying. a lot of things were happening. for the most part, have seen it. it is very set. if they knew they had a physical area or wall, if they knew they to stop them, they would have never come up in the first place.

children get sick on the trail up. very sick. they knew they couldn't get theygh -- if they knew couldn't get through, they wouldn't even start. we have lowered the payments to vendors and if you other countries that are not playing right. -- a few other countries that are not playing right. we shouldn't allow the caravan to happen. the u.s. needs a physical barrier, a wall, to stop illegal immigration and the inflow of drugs and crime. we have human traffickers, a thing that is horrible. think of it human trafficking. they kidnap people and so people. because of the internet, one of the bad things that happens with the internet, one of the many the highest it's ever been in history. this is a world problem.

the southern border is a very use place by people who do human trafficking. how could it get worse than that? there's a reason why politicians and wealthy people build walls around their houses and their compounds. president obama recently built a wall around his complement -- compound. there's a reason for it and i don't blame him. we are in a shutdown because democrats refuse to fund the border security. they try and make it like it is just about the wall, and it is about the wall. i said over the weekend, to a number of people, the wheel, the wall, some things never get old. it is never going to change. the wall is your number one point of security. if we had a wall, and we will, and by the way, those that don't know, we have done tremendous amounts of renovation of existing wall and fences, we

brought them back into brand-new condition. we have spent a lot of money doing it and doing it properly. we have a lot of brand-new fencing. last night, they tried to come through a walled area. if it didn't exist, you would've had hundreds of people flowing into our country. some of these are criminals. some of these was split up families by killing people. and, hurting people very badly. but, we did not have a form of barrier up last night -- if we did not have a form of barrier up less like him people would have been able to come through. we are in the shutdown because of the fact that the democrats are looking into 2020, they think they are not going to win the election, a lot points of the fact that they won't win the election. i hope they don't win the election. they view this as an election point for them. i actually think it is bad politics, but i'm not thinking about the politics, i'm thinking about what's right and what's wrong.

and, we need a physical barrier. everything else is bells and whistles. i know more about drums than anybody -- drones than anybody. it is all good but, it is very minor compared to the powerful. -- powerful wall. al the people you see coming, thing knew we had a physical presence there -- if they knew we had a physical presence there, when you have ice, the military, border patrol, it is great to have them, but you have 2000 miles. anywhere from five to 600 miles where you need barriers. some of it, we have not completed as you have seen and as i have told you. but, we need barrier. you cannot put a soldier every hundred yards. people are going to go right through. there is nothing you can do about it unless you're willing to build a wall. walls work.

if you look at israel, i was with prime minister netanyahu, he threw up his hands and said i do not understand why they fight you on a wall. in israel, they built a wall. works.it it would work almost 100% of the time. and, we save money, so much money on a monthly basis. it would probably pay for itself in a month or two. because we lose the aliens of dollars on illegal immigration -- billions of dollars on illegal immigration. in a couple of months, it would pay for the wall. know, approvedou $5.6 billion. that is a very small price to pay for total security of the southern border. drugs alone, that nobody can even calculate, it such a big number. the number saved just on drugs

and helping families. right there you save a lot. bill, the big eight plus me are meeting in a little while at about 3:00. we have ice and border patrol that are going to make a plea for the wall. they need the wall. they can't do it without the wall. all they can do is add many more men and women, but protection is not good because you go to a certain area without the wall and they will walk right through. like the killing that took place a few days ago. the young police officer -- great young, beautiful person. great family. just took a picture with his son and his wife on christmas. if you hours later, he was shot and killed by somebody that came across the border.

things like that would not happen. it would be happening far less. the democrats and the bill want $12 billion additional for foreign aid. billion, which is by itself, a lot. but in foreign aid, they want $12 billion over the $54.4 billion. think of it. we get $54 billion, a lot of it because they want to give it, they do not even know who they are giving it to. people do not even know the name of the country and nothing about the country. and yet, they give $54.4 billion in foreign aid, but they want $12 billion more than that in foreign aid but won't approve $5.6 billion for a wall that is going to pay for itself? almost in a monthly basis? it is just politics, folks.

it is purely politics. have a lot of loopholes. whether it is catch and release or the world's most ridiculous local, you catch somebody in the new release them. -- and then you release them. the problem is we have to build placeselds of rooms and for the people to say that we are catching. retaining.hing and whereve a lottery system, we bring people into our country is on the lottery. lottery.on the you pick them out of a jar. you want people to come into the country on the basis of talent so that all of the companies that are moving in, large movies

companies -- large companies. the company is that left our country are coming back because of what is going on. we need people to come in. but, we can't have these loopholes. with ing i have to say daca, we are all for it, but has been so misreported. we had the confines of a deal. the 25 billion didn't discover a wall, it covered a lot of border security. has been covered very incorrectly. it is confusing for a lot of people. we were close to having a daca deal and then a judge from the ninth circuit, amazing ruler, he said daca was ok. probablyially said, can't find this and it is not legal, but i am going to sign it anyway.

everybody knew it was going to be easily overturned by the judge. the judge amazingly rolled in favor of itruled in as he signed it. had the ninth circuit court of appeals. and now, it is going to the supreme court of the united states. we had a deal pretty close to being done. pres. trump: they minutes they judge overruled the case and they allowed stock, they did not answer the calls. they said they won the case. why should we make a deal with daca? i think it will be overturned in the supreme court. nobody thinks that should have happened. it was a fluke.

it was a disgraceful situation that they judge ruled away -- the way the judge ruled. we think it will be overturned. court. be in the supreme case, and i say that for all to hear, we will be easily able to make a deal on daca and the wall. but until we win that case, they do not want to talk about daca. there are those who do not want to allow daca. i think they are foolish if they do not want to make a deal. if we get overridden, everybody that has been here has to leave the country. there are a lot of things going on. things goingot of on in respect to the wall and the renovations we have done.

we have covered a lot of territory. that continues to go on. we need the wall for the security of our country. it is about border security. i think we will be successful. i want to thank the military. they have been fantastic. patave been working with shanahan, who is acting secretary of defense. he has been a pleasure to work with. so much has been done. not only in terms of protection, but in helping us in respect to areas that we need help for physical barriers. the army corps of engineers has been fantastic. say that, i will ask pat to a few words.

and then i will ask matt and kiersten to say a couple of words. i will start with pat shanahan. shanahan: we have been very closely coupled with kiersten and the border patrol. i was speaking with general shaughnessy. the team is executing operational training every day. the collaboration has been seamless. , the national guard has been in support. manny padilla has done a great job.

restoration of the fences and building out of additional mileage, the army corps of engineers is dialed in in doing this cost effectively, quickly, and with the right amount of urgency. the threat israel. -- is real. the risks are real. planninging additional to strengthen and support. pres. trump: your people have been fantastic. they have done a great job. we want to finish it and completed. you cannot have a partial wall. people come through the areas that are not belts. the areas that are built, you

cannot get through. unless you are a world-class pole vaulter on the olympic came. -- team. you have done a fantastic job. i just got back from iraq. we had a fantastic meeting with the generals. person in the history of our country that could really decimate isis. say we are bringing the troops by come over a. of time. i never said so quickly. but everybody gives me credit for decimating isis. we do that and we say we will bring the troops by come. i have been campaigning on that for a long time. i want to bring our troops back from the endless wars. they have gone on for 19 years in the area. i will bring them home from syria. i am the only one can do that.

when i took over, syria, they were supposed to be there for 3-4 months. and they ended up being there for five years. they have been there for a long time. we are continuing to fight. we never let anybody down. there was a lot of misinterpretation. it is working out. we are bringing our troops by come. -- back home. we are doing things that i cannot talk about. they are very exciting. a lot of great people understood it. lindsey graham understood it. what we are doing is the right thing to do. it is very exciting because i like winning. syria was a mess.

it was riddled with isis. now everybody says it is down to 1% of the land. sometimes you could even say less. that place was a mess. it was terrible. we also have to have other countries fighting isis. we are helping by doing this. everything we do over there helps russia and iran. they don't want to see us leave because we are knocking out isis. let them fight isis as well. i want to spend money and our country. we have had tremendous success in syria. we are slowly bringing people back. we are hitting the hell out of them, the isis people. we are doing something that frankly, if i would have told you two years ago when we first came into office that we would've about that kind of success, nobody would have believed it. they would've said you are exaggerating. it is not possible.

we are down to final blows. those generals were fantastic. when we met with them and iraq. we have a lot of exciting things to talk about militarily. a lot of victories. i just got a great letter from kim jong-un. those few people i have shown that letter to, they have never written letters like that. it is a great letter. we have made a lot of progress with north korea. kim, we have-- established a great relationship. i never said speed. it has been this way for 80 plus years. we had our meeting six months ago in singapore. we will probably now have another meeting. he would like to meet. i would like to meet. we have established a very good relationship.

we are given no credit for it. if another administration came one ---- other than just this one, we would be at war right now. you would have a nice big fat war in asia. it would not be pleasant. instead of that, we are getting along fine. there is no need to rush. there is no rockets. no testing. last night i watched pbs. i was in the white house all by myself. it is very lonely. my family was down in florida. i said stay there and enjoy yourself. inhought i should be here case people wanted to come and negotiate the border security. i was watching pbs and they really covered it accurately. they said in chairman kim's speech, he really wants to get together. he wants to denuclearize.

a lot of good things are happening. they covered it nicely. i was surprised. i will have to start watching pbs much more. i actually put a quote out last night about what they said. they really do want to do something. does that mean it will be done? who knows. deals are deals. you never know. we have established a very good relationship with north korea. that could have been a world war iii to be honest. a lot of people would have been involved. then it spread beyond asia. have someone who wants to get on to economic development and making a lot of and money for his country. north korea has tremendous potential. we will help them out. they have tremendous economic potential. i look forward to our meeting with chairman kim.

we will be setting it up in the not-too-distant future. with that i will ask secretary nielsen to say a few words. sec. nielsen: i was in san diego reviewing our border security efforts. discussed, we are having a security crisis. we are doing our best job here. i always want to thank the men and women of the border patrol. but the system itself is .verwhelmed i can tell you that the crisis is getting worse. saying, now more

than ever, we need the wall. today i will talk specifically about how bad things have gotten. we need a barrier that will keep illegal aliens, drugs, terrace, and other threats from entering our country. it is not a political issue. it is an operational one. we have seen the success of walls in el paso, yuma, san diego. under your leadership, we are building the first new wall in over a decade. but we need more. we need more sections of walls at our top entry points. toalso need to continue replace the old, outdated, and an effective wall sections. we need to replace them with a wall that has been identified for operation additional -- purposes.

the southern border remains the set -- entry point for cocaine and methamphetamine. we have seen an increase in fentanyl coming across the border. they kill 72,000 americans every year. the southern border is also the primary entry point for criminals and gang members. last year we apprehended more than 17,000 criminals and a thousand gang members. we are also concerned about potential terror as well. we apprehended 3000 special interest aliens coming into our country from the southern border. we need a strong border wall system to keep these threats and others out of the u.s.

i strongly suggest your continued effort. let me give you a little bit more about the site test. we need to address poorly written and outdated laws. our laws allow illegal aliens into the country and allow them to say. this must change. here's is the reality of the crisis we are facing. see about 2000 people all day come it illegally into our country at the southern border. we will never be able to's and the majority of them back from unless and until congress acts to close the loopholes these people are exploiting to stay in the country. there are three countries -- categories of illegal aliens. single adults, on company mpaniedn -- unacco children. single adults are the easiest to handle. stepped upmatically

prosecutions of these illegal border crossings. we will continue to do so. the demographics are changing. the vast majority of the people we see now our family units and unaccompanied children. they now make up two thirds of people arriving at our borders. writtenof our poorly laws and activist court decisions, it is virtually impossible to send them home. we are only allowed to hold families for 21 days. then we have to get them go -- let them go. most of them disappear into the u.s. thesee out of 10 cases, families are found not to be eligible. and should be deported. havey then, most of them -- banished.

they are using this as a fast fast to get illegal aliens into america. if they come in, they are likely to get them for good. a comerd category is on they children. because of outdated laws, we cannot send kids to show up to their home countries. they have to be chance to the department of health and human services, which places them with sponsors or relatives in america. the result is we see more and more of them everyday. parents are making the unconscionable decision to send long, dangerous, and deadly journeys to our country. seams, hhsing at the is at capacity.

these loopholes serve as a giant magnet. our system was simply not built to handle the influx of families. the human toll is real and shocking. women are being trafficked and raped. women reportree they are sexually assaulted on the journey to our borders. are getting abused in getting sick. very sick. them are being recycled to get more people in the united states. 70% of illegal aliens report being victims of violence along the journey. 70% of those traveling north to our country. our hearts break for families who have lost children. we are doing everything we can to ensure rapid medical care. we do not have the resources or

legal authority to keep up with us crisis. only congress can keep up with that. we need congress to fund and build the wall. give us the resources to deal with this crisis. grants dhs the authority to retain and remove illegal family elliott -- alien units together. and allow unaccompanied children to be returned to their families. agents are dealing with so much overflow that we are having to pull them off national security cases, counter drug cases, and we cannot do this anymore. i would like to close by thanking the whole of your administration. we are all working together to address the security and humanitarian crisis. mr. president, you have brought the rule of law back to our border.

couldn and women of dhs not be prouder to be given the opportunity to do the job that congress and the american people expect. but we need congress to act. we cannot continue to do more with less. in an attempt to secure our country with our hands tied behind our back. thank you for your leadership and your continued focus as a work with congress to try to adjust -- address this. pres. trump: thank you so much. that was a really fantastic it -- presentation. you have been working hard on their -- there. if we had a wall that was not penetrable, you would not have people making the journey. if wek we could say that had the wall, people would not even bother making the journey. because the journey is tremendously dangerous. children are getting sick. they are being accosted.

you heard what she said about all of the crime and raped and everything else that takes place during that horrible journey. if they thought they could not get in, they would not be making the journey. we want people coming into our country. we need people. but they have to do it through the system. they have to do it legally. we want people coming who can help our country. it can be based on merit and achievement. people who are going to help companies that are coming into our country. which are so many. thank you for that great presentation. we really appreciate it. acting attorney general matt whitaker, please. whitaker: you stayed in washington dc over the holidays. congress wentof on vacation and ignore the problem.

you have demonstrated your dedication to delivering on this critical issue for our country and for the american people. but congress has to act. they have to fund the wall. it is undeniable that a border wall improves the security of our southern border. it will reduce the flow of drugs, gangs like the violent ms 13, and criminals across our border. au highlighted the case of officer who is a legal immigrant who was murdered by an illegal immigrant in california. it would reduce incentives and restore integrity to our immigration system. we need congress to close the loopholes in our immigration laws. ,ot only do they frustrate dhs

but these loopholes overwhelmingly contribute to a substantial number of meritless cases languishing in our immigration courts. shutdown and afterwards, the doj will ourinue to do everything in power to support dhs and its critical mission and address the legality of the border. it will not go unchecked. and we will continue to prosecute aliens for crimes like a legal entry and reentry, which are at a record level for prosecution in your administration. we will never let up. we will continue to target transnational organized crime and gangs like ms 13. the immigration courts are working. we have over 400 immigration judges and we are hiring more.

we are restoring the height -- rule of law court system. we will continue to do everything we can. we are seeing tremendous progress. the number of cases originating from the border are overwhelming our system. we will continue to defend our actions in federal court. this administration has taken strong action to restore legality to our immigration issue. but advocates continue to try to frustrate us in federal courts. we will prevail. finally, and i cannot stress is more, we need congress to act. to show up. to negotiate with you. and to solve the challenges that our country faces. the doj will work every day to support this administration. but we need congress to do something instead of just going on vacation and avoiding the issue. to fund theress law, funds the government, and close the loopholes and hour laws.

have catch wants to and release of the border and more drugs, gangs, and crime to come into our country, it can continue to refuse to provide the funds that we need to build the wall. and it can continue to refuse to close loopholes in our immigration laws. pres. trump: that is great. thank you very much. i know you are hiring judges. we are one of the only countries where if you step one foot into our country, you now have a court case. others say get out. they put you out. or worse. with our country, if you are able to put a foot on to our land, that is what catch and releases. even beyond that. value end up with lawyers and judges and, it is so ridiculous. this is the system that we have. nobody pointed it out before we came along. you have to have a court case.

you can't just say we are on your land and get out. we catch. we do paperwork. we bring them to court. you can never have enough judges because you are talking about tens of thousands of people. you end up and trials. but they don't take place because what they have to do, it is impossible to hold all of them. this is by law. these idiotic laws given to us largely by the democrats. that we can change in one hour if people got together. so we end up with court cases for people who just happen to step a foot on our land. you are talking tens of thousands. i think we have close to 800,000 pending lawsuits. these people disappear into the united states. never to show up for their case. which comes back and three or four years or even longer.

it is the most ridiculous system. we should be able to say sorry, you cannot come in. you have to come in legally. done with asylum and all of this, we are trying to be the nicest people on earth. and it is destroying our country. notink honestly, if i had have come a, no one would be talking about it. and it would be just as bad. our country gets eaten alive by what is happening at our southern border. we have to do something about it. and we are doing it now. one of the things we can do is the wall. it will take care of a large number of the problems. even the changing of some of the laws will be nearly as important. because people won't come up because they know they cannot come for. of the other things i would like to mention as i had a very successful mention about a month xi of china.ident

meeting that was going to be 45 minutes but lasted close to four hours. very successful. one of the things i asked him to do was criminalize fentanyl. has very strong criminal penalties, including the death penalty. if you are criminalize fentanyl, it would really help us. we are losing 80,000 people a year. think about that. that is like a football stadium full of people a year. from taking this horrible drug. most of which comes out of china. he has agreed to criminalize it. it's coming along very well. we will see what happens. i talked about fentanyl. it ateed to criminalize which means,evel,

i assume, death penalty. that will be put into effect fairly soon. that should have an amazing impact on the fentanyl coming into our country. opinionsto have your on the barriers we have to put up. >> your focus on this is really important. while i was the governor, i toed with very poor results get the previous administration to recognize the lack of support

that the state of texas was getting. we ran numerous operations along the border. it at theabout governors association meeting, the challenge that we had with that 1200 mile border. thethirds of the border has always been the lack of support from washington, d.c. to have a chief executive that it'scognize going to take washington acting to address this issue, it's really heartening from my perspective, having basically been ignored for those eight years as i was the governor.

comeshis message that those whoedia, from don't want to secure that border, that you can come and be rewarded. that's got a stop. -- to stop. one of the ways to do that is with a clear message to those that are trying to use that border as an access into the united states. there's not a reward anymore. don't come. here,he summertime gets the humanitarian issue here that all too often doesn't get talked about, the lives that are lost in mexico, in the desert southwest, in that region of

texas that is incredibly inhospitable. you are out there trying to cross -- that's the heart reckoning side of this. what about the hundreds of people who have died trying to cross that border? because of the incentive that people have given them, all of these different incentives to come and penetrate that border. you are standing up and saying, don't come. don't put your family in jeopardy. i personally like to see the media really get focused on those stories, about what you

are doing to stop that type of danger. frankly, hostility to these individuals. security ist border the most powerful message that we can send. the most powerful message is from the chief executive of the united states. standing up and saying, congress, you have to -- a responsibility to protect and defend the people of this country. i'm sitting here ready to negotiate with you. i'm sitting here ready to find a solution, to deal with this horrendous condition that we find in this country. all they need to do is come and sit down with you, mr. president. i know where your heart is. we are ready to find a solution.

to this issue of illegal trafficking,drug potential terrorist activity along that southern border. we got the expertise. all we need is the will from congress to come. we would be more than happy to find a solution to this. >> they will be here at 3:00. we will see what comes of it. say, it would be a lot 80 year -- easier if i never took up this issue. if i left it as it was, where people stream into this country. we've had tremendous difficulties. you look at the numbers, the crimes, what we are doing now. we're taking out thousands of ms 13, the are -- brutal gang. becausee using knives

they are far more painful than guns. what they do to people is incredible. we are moving them out by the thousands. people don't talk about that. they came here over years. they have taken over towns, long island and other places. they are bad people. doing biglling -- numbers. they don't like donald trump, i can tell you that. ms 13 and other gangs, we are getting them out. eyes and border patrol, people who have done an incredible job. it will be making a presentation at 3:00 to the folks coming up from congress. i would be a lot easier if didn't do anything, if i just enjoyed the presidency. and don't bring up the southern border, don't talk about all of the problems that we are -- that are taking place at the southern border but nobody wanted to discuss. people were flowing like water.

a lot of things happen. 11 million, 35 million. for years, we've been hearing the same numbers. i used to hear 11 million all the time. i said, does it ever increase or go down? nobody knows. they would flow in mostly from the southern border. nobody would talk about it. nobody would do anything about it. problems were caused, including to our educational systems, or hospital systems, so many different things that we have. tremendous damage was done. it would've been a lot easier for me to sit back and let it continue. it was out of control. our strong economy makes it even more difficult. people, because our country is doing better by far than any other country in the world. we are the talk of the world.

we had a little glitch in the stock market last month, but it's still up around 30% from the time i got elected. it's going to go up once we settle trade issues and a couple of other things happen. it's got a long way to go. the trade deals we are making is just our fantastic for our country. whether it's china, mexico, canada, south korea. we started negotiations with japan. they were all bad for our country. we are changing that. we were taken advantage of by so many countries on our military. we are providing all they want. they are not helping us. they are not doing anything toward helping us monetarily. disgraceful. i've been saying it for years. military protection to countries that are very wealthy and are doing anything for us. you can call them allies if you want.

a lot of our allies were taking advantage of our taxpayers. we can't let that happen. shanahan agrees with that. that was very important to me. i couldn't get other people to understand. they didn't get what i was saying. a lot of great things are happening. it's a lot easier if i did nothing. point,lly, at some really bad stuff would take place. we are very proud of the job we are doing. i'm very proud of the people around this table. we're talking about the migration coming up. if alex azar, who has been doing we are almostb, ready to make that big final push. it's not an easy situation. they've been trying for years. i don't think anybody's actually been trying. we've done an incredible job. you will see a final couple of

strokes made. uptakes a long time to stand -- set up statutorily. we have gone through a big process. you will see a tremendous reduction in drug prices. a lot of great work was done. acosta wassecretary created some incredible health care programs, cooperative programs. where the price of health care has really gone down, far below obamacare. some really great programs. people are signing up in tremendous numbers. i would like to thank you, very great job you done on health care. some incredible health care programs that are far better than obamacare and a lot less expensive. if i could ask secretary is our -- azor. children are very sick by the time they come up. remember this. the coyotes, they are the bad ones.

they are not stupid. they know our laws better than the people who wrote them. to gain using children access into this country. they are using these children. they are not with families. they are using the children. they are taking the children. they dispose of the children. this has been going on for years. >> thank you for your strong leadership. these are miners who arrive at the border without their parents. traveling to the u.s. border is extremely dangerous.

miners suffering physical, mental or sexual trauma on the way to this country. parents should not send their kids on this journey. this is not a compassionate act. it's endangering your children. unfortunately, more and more miners have been arriving over the past year. when they are apprehended at the border, the department of homeland security takes them into custody. dhs refers them to hhs. grantee to care for them until we can release them to a suitable sponsor. we saw automatic drop in the number of unaccompanied children arriving after the children took office. the numbers are now rising significantly. we received approximately 29,000 unaccompanied children. in 2018, we received approximately 51,000 unaccompanied alien children.

almostly, there are 13,000 in our care. we expect that number to rise during the new year. brought more capacity online to address the situation, almost doubling our capacity. having to continually expand capacity is simply a symptom of a broken system. caring for a company children in an appropriate environment is incredibly expensive. care for you ac in 2018 cost about $2 billion. we expect something similar for this coming year unless the situation is addressed. imagine if we secured our border and we didn't have to spend that money caring for those kids. we also have had to provide technical assistance to help address medical needs of both adults and children migrants when they arrive. we are proud of the standards that we set for the care of these kids in the program. situation thatc

will continue until our immigration system is fixed. mentioned, went need a system that discourages parents from working with smugglers to bring minors into our country on this dangerous journey. we need it now. i want to note the great work i todid with president x get fentanyl scheduled. if we do not have border security on our southern border, it will redirect to mexico and come in from there and keep killing american citizens. thank you very much. thank you for what you are doing with drug pricing. it's going to be something very spectacular. president, please. >> thank you, mr. president. having spent the christmas break here in washington along with

you for theto thank strong stand you have taken on border security. not just because you said you would, but because as the cabinet and nation looking on can see, you recognize that we have a crisis at our southern border. we think the tragedy of officer sayingh -- singh, a legal immigrant, being struck down during the christmas holiday. we think of the videos of the american -- of a large assault on our border that required our border patrol to deploy teargas. this is the information you. every day. -- you hear of every day. you being willing to take a strong stand to shutdown the government until we secure the funding to build a wall and bring about the kind of changes i know it'seve,

something that millions of americans appreciate. i personally appreciate your stand. you gave the numbers before. they are worth repeating. have beenminals apprehended attempting to come into this country. since this is ministration took 235 criminal aliens have been apprehended. about the tragedy along the border that the secretaries both spoke about today. we think about the human cost to the american people in our society by not addressing this issue in a meaningful way. directed our, you entire team to reach out to democrats in congress. we met several times before christmas. mick mulvaney and i traveled. a prevented -- presented good-faith offer to resolve this issue, to achieve a compromise,

only to find out that days after christmas, the democrats had stopped negotiations altogether. they are coming here today at your invitation. our sincere hope is that, confronted with these facts, that democrats on capitol hill will join republicans in your call to achieve real border security. we are ready to deal. we have an offer on the table. it would reopen the government and achieve border security. i know other senators are talking about fresh ideas, some of which reflected on today. i know will get due consideration. we owe the american people nothing less than our best efforts. not just to reopen the government, but to reopen the government once we have the andurces to build a wall

make measurable progress on achieving real border security. pres. trump: thank you very much. it's true. mulvaney,thank mick he's been a real activist. he's got great energy. doing a great job. we appreciate it. hold everything together very quickly. things are going very well. say, we inherited a lot of problems when i became president. i took over a whole lot of problems. the middle east, the southern border, north korea. that was the easy stuff. we took over a lot of problems. i think we will do well with all of them. we are doing really well. whether we should have ever been in the middle east or not, that's a question for a lot of people. you know where i come from on that. we are doing something very special in the middle east. you're going to see that.

work andng a lot more a lot more results. north korea, you know how i stand on that. it was rough there for a while. if you go to before i got elected and look at what was happening, the relationships really have been very good. we will see what happens. i only say, dealing with people. i know you guys would love to see what's on this letter. i would love to read it to you. relationshipy good going. time will tell. time will tell. the economy is doing fantastically well. unemployment is at a record low. unemployment for black, hispanic, asian is at the lowest

it's ever been in the history of our country. even kanye west came out today and said great things about trump. he's a good deficit. he said great things about us. he sees what we are doing. unemploymentd low for african-americans, for asians, or for hispanics. that's tough to beat. we are doing very well. the world isn't doing so well. the world has an effect on us. china has gotten hit hard. other places have been hit hard. europe is not doing too well. they will come back. we have to do what we have to do. we are doing well. we are doing very well. i want to thank everybody very much. i want to thank the cabinet. we will talk about some other issues. great job. thank you very much everybody. thank you to the media.

. was lonely over the weekend i was in washington hoping that we would see a little action, i get a call, let's get together and work hard. they're just whining over washington. i really believe that they want to do something. what mike said is true. there's been a lot of good discussions going on. jared has been working very hard. some of the talent we have around this table has. they have a lot of friends in congress on both sides. we have a lot of good discussions going on. i think that the democrats want to see something happen. i know that the republicans want to see it. you can't have border security without the wall. you can't have border security without a very strong barrier, call it anything you want. it has to be very powerful. it has to be very strong. something that people cannot just walk through.

you have that, many of the problems we have spoken about will totally disappear. even some of the laws we have to have changed. we have laws once they enter. nobody's going to be able to enter once we do with the way we are doing it. we made a lot of progress on the wall and the renovations. much of that is finished. -- wet gave out a large are in the process of giving out additional large contract for iny miles, 115 miles of wall a very important area. as i said to you over the weekend. i appreciate everyone coming. our country had a lot of problems when i was elected. we have a lot less problems now. ones, we are in the process of getting them solved.

process of solving problems that a lot of people thought were not solvable. the easiest way, when you don't have a problem you think is not solvable, just sit back and enjoy the presidency. i can't do that. i want to get them solved for the country. we have a long way to go. this country has a great future with tremendous potential. problems, solve the not just sit back and enjoy the presidency. thank you all very much for coming. we appreciate it. [inaudible] >> happy new year. i want to ask you a few questions. number below $5 billion that you might be willing to accept in order to reopen the government and get this thing moving forward? pres. trump: i would rather not say it. could we do it for a little bit less? know, i've heard numbers as high as $275 billion we lose on illegal immigration.

a lot has already been done. we've been getting money in. somebody said we didn't spend the money. we have spent it. we don't pay contractors before they finish the job. we like to have people do the work. we are building the wall. we are paying as they build it. we pay it when it's finished. so that they do it good -- do a good job. not all of the money has been paid. but the money has been used. maybe if you guys could remember that. we spent the money. we want to finish it up. 5.6 billion approved by the house is such a small amount compared to the level of the problem. when you see that the democrats want to give away 12 billion extra, we are giving away 54 billion in foreign aid. we don't give money to our own country. we are cutting that back. it's very unfair when we give money to guatemala and honduras

and el salvador and they do nothing for us. pakistan,ve money to $1.3 billion. i ended that. they haven't been fair to us. we want to have a great relationship with pakistan. enemy, they take care of the enemy. we just can't do that. i look forward to meeting with the folks, the new leadership in pakistan. i ended the 1.3 billion we paid like it was water. we just paid it to pakistan. we ended a lot of other money that was being sent out on a monthly basis, on a yearly basis to countries that don't even vote for us in the united nations. we give them billions of dollars. we want something to help certain countries. it's not all about the rich countries. the rich countries to take advantage of us.

they pay a small percentage of the military. they cheat on trade. other than that, they are wonderful. there are countries that are poor. we don't want anything from them. we want to help them. we don't want money from them. we don't want that. we're not looking for that. when you have massively wealthy countries that have very low military costs because the united states subsidizes them, they take vintage of us on military. they could easily pay us the full amount. they also take advantage of us on trade. when i speak up -- that's why i got elected. issues like that. issues like the border. it would be so easy not to do anything. when they say i'm not popular in europe, i shouldn't be. i wouldn't be doing my job. i want europe to pay. germany pays 1%. they should be paying 4%.

other countries pay a small percentage of what they should be paying. you have to pay up, i shouldn't be popular in europe. i was at 88%, now i'm at a very low number in europe. i don't care about europe. i'm not elected by europeans. i'm elected by americans. by american taxpayers, frankly. i think my relationship with the leaders in europe is very good. a lot of them don't even understand how they got away with it for so many years. angela merkel, i'm friends with all of them. how did this ever happen? they go, i don't believe it either. presidents, and other people within the administration's, love them to get away with it. no one ever asked us to pay. we have negotiations going on

with numerous countries right now to pay a lot of money to the united states for what we are doing for them. i wouldn't say they are thrilled. they had many years were they didn't have to pay. now they are going to have to pay. if that makes me unpopular, that's ok. they should at least respect us. they didn't respect us. go ahead. >> i appreciate it. maybe the military has an angle there or possible -- pres. trump: there are no angles. they have no angle. the military under past leadership was taken advantage of by other countries. allies and not allies. they were taken advantage of. our country has to be respect for. , whene are taking horrible things are happening on trade, where we have barriers put up and tariffs put on, and

we open our country up. cars are sent into our country with no taxes. yet they won't accept our cars. when cars are sent in and they pay no taxes but we are expect -- i will be honest with you, it it's not in my dna. i don't know how people allowed that. are not allowing it to happen anymore. i could be the most popular person in europe. i could run for any office if i wanted to. i don't want to. i want people to treat us fairly. there's no angles. there's nothing. when a country sends us 200 soldiersto iraq or 100 to syria or afghanistan, and

then they tell me, we sent you soldiers. 100th.one presidents, they are involved in the afghanistan war. because they sent us 100 soldiers. it's costing us billions and billions of dollars. i could give you an example, i get along very well with india and the prime minister there. he's constantly telling me, he built a library in afghanistan. that's like five hours of what we spend. he's very smart. we are supposed to say, thank you for the library. i don't know who's using it in afghanistan. it's one of those things. i don't like being taken advantage of.

what other countries have done for the last long. -- longtime has given us soldiers. they talk about it like it's the end of the world. we are subsidizing their militaries by billions of dollars. many, many times what those soldiers cost that country. >> did you hear about the mitt romney op-ed? what is your reaction? pres. trump: i'm surprised he didn't this quickly. i was expecting something. look, i endorsed him. he thanked me profusely. it was very nice. i am surprised. we've done a lot. i read the op-ed. he said it. he agrees, i don't think anybody would of been able to do the tax cuts like i did. we got an war approved. we got rid of the individual mandate. that case from texas should win

in the supreme court. obamacare, kept, because of the individual mandate. now that that's gone, i don't know how you could possibly keep it. that's repeal and replace. john mccain voted against it. i've been campaigning for many years. he went phones down and that was the end of that. for many years, it was repeal and replace. at 2:00 in the morning, he went phones down. i'm a very flexible guy. we were part of that lawsuit. , highly respected, said the individual mandate is dead. that means we should win at the supreme court. downwe do, we will sit with the democrats and come up with great health care. far better, far better. we will have everything included. obamacare is too expensive.

the premiums are way too high. , you can't even use it. it's so high. unless you get hit by a tractor, you can't even use it. nobody's seen everything like it -- anything like it. obamacare is a tremendous failure. now that we won the individual mandate, which was the most unpopular thing in obamacare. i would love mitt romney to be a team player. possibly he won't be. i'm surprised he acted so quickly. i gave him an endorsement. i was happy that he won in utah. i have great popularity in utah. i did something for them that nobody else would of done that has to do with their parts. -- parks. we did that for a very special person who is now going to be retiring after 42 years.

who is a friend spectacular man. also for mike lee who pressed it very hard. orrin hatch and mike lee. the people of utah really appreciate what i did for them. hundreds and hundreds of miles of park that they will be able to now use, as opposed to not. i was surprised at mitt romney. i hope he's going to be a team player. if he is, that will be great. i will say this. -- he thought really hard fought really hard against president obama like he does against me, he would've won the election. does that make sense to you? i'm telling you. he would've won the election. i think he's going to end up being a team player. i think he agrees with many of the things we have done. we will see what happens.

[inaudible] pres. trump: i think india should be involved in afghanistan. a give you an example. i gave our generals all the money they wanted, they didn't do such a great job in a -- in afghanistan. they've been fighting there for 19 years. general mattis thanked me for getting money. he thanked me even more when i got him $716 billion. he couldn't believe it. our military was depleted. now we are rebuilding our military. pat was responsible for a lot of the orders for new fighter jets, all the things we're doing. general mattis was so thrilled. what has he done for me? how has he done in afghanistan? not too good. i'm not happy with what he has

done there. i shouldn't be. he was very thankful when i got him $700 billion. the following year, $716 billion. i wish him well. , anddent obama fired him essentially so did i. i want results. >> [inaudible] pres. trump: we are talking to the taliban, we are talking to a lot of different people. here's the thing. you mentioned india. india is there. russia is there. russia used to be the soviet union. afghanistan made it russia. they went bankrupt fighting in afghanistan. russia. you take a look at other countries, pakistan is there. they should be fighting. russia should be fighting. the reason russia was in afghanistan was because

terrorists were going into russia. they were right to be there. the problem is, it was a tough fight. they went bankrupt. they went to being called russia again. a lot of these places you are reading about now are no longer part of russia. because of afghans. why isn't russia there? why isn't india there? why is in pakistan there? why are we there. we are 6000 miles away. we want to help other nations. we do have taliban, isis. i will give you an example. taliban is our enemy. isis is our enemy. we have an area i brought up with our generals four or five weeks ago. taliban is here. isis is here. they are fighting each other. i said, why don't we let them fight?

why do we get in the middle of them? sir, we didn't want to do it. they end up fighting both of them. it's the craziest thing i've ever seen. i think i would've been a good general but who knows. these are two enemies fighting against each other. we end up fighting. when we doing? -- what are we doing? india, great relationship with the prime minister. he's a great man. he's done a fantastic job. he's brought the country together. india, russia. look at some of the satellite countries that are extremely wealthy with oil. i spoke to some of them. i said to a certain country, very rich country, what would you do if the united states pulled out? we would be taken over by the taliban. why are you charging us when we have to use your country

to send products through? why are you charging us when we send airplanes over to your country? we're doing the job for you. gentlemen,me, smart nobody ever asked me not to. i said, i'm asking you not to. we will not charge you. i'm talking about millions and millions of dollars. flights over his country. i said, what would happen if we weren't here? he says, we would be overrun. we could not defend ourselves. he charges us, but he doesn't charges anymore. please. >> [inaudible] what's your timetable? say that.p: i didn't we are getting out of syria. we don't want syria. obama gave up syria years ago when he didn't violate the red

line. , did when i shot 59 missiles but that was a long time later. when president obama decided not --violate his statement making a threat is ok. you always have to follow through with the threat. you can't do nothing. syria was lost long ago. that, we are talking about sand and death. we are not talking about vast wealth. sand and death. kurds, is very interesting. turkey doesn't like them. i didn't like the fact that they are selling oil that they have to iran, we asked them not to. the kurds are selling oil to a ran. -- iran. we're not thrilled about that.

at the same time, they fight better when we fight with them. when we sent 30 f-18s in front of them, they fight better. you've seen what has happened. we want to protect the kurds, nevertheless. i don't want to be in syria forever. it's sand. it's death. isis, -- everyone says, they will come to our country. that's true of a small percentage. they are going to iran. russia, whong to hates isis more than we do. out, russia we pull is the rep. degette: russia is not happy. -- is thrilled. russia is not happy. we are killing isis for assad. we are killing isis also for iran.

while we are on iran. people don't write the fact. iran is a much different country than it was when i became president. when i became president, i had a meeting at the pentagon with lots of generals. it was like from a movie. better looking than tom cruise and stronger. i had more generals than i'd ever seen. we were at the bottom of this incredible room. i said, this is the greatest room i've ever seen. boards thanomputer they make today. every part of the middle east, and other places, that was under ran --was because of a iran. i said, wow. you look at yemen, syria, every place. saudi arabia was under siege. because of aemen border with saudi arabia. that's why they are there.

every place was under siege. i asked the question, how do you stop these people? they have plenty of money. themdent obama had given $150 billion. i'm still trying to figure that one out. 1.8 billion in cash. play modes of cash. -- plain modes -- planeloads of cash. we didn't have enough cash in the tri-state area to give them 1.8 million. they had to use the currency of other countries. said, i of that being did something called terminate the horrible iran nuclear deal. in eight years, if iran the legal right to have nuclear weapons. i did it. iran is no longer the same country. iran is pulling people out of syria. they can do it they want their, frankly.

they are pulling people a lot of lemon -- yemen. iran wants to survive now. they were a power in the middle east. they were given take over the whole middle east. they wanted to destroy israel. iran is a much different country right now. they are having riots every week. in every city, bigger than they've ever had before. their currencies under siege, thanks was. a lot of bad things are happening. when we do all of the things we have done monetarily to iran, it is in trouble. i would love to negotiate. they are not ready yet. they will be. iran is a much different country right now than it was when i took office. two years ago, iran was going to take over the middle east. they would have all the nuclear weapons they wanted. because of that stupid deal. deal, andminated that

then did what i had to do, iran is a much different country today. >> [inaudible] we are withdrawing. we are hitting them very hard. what i meant with the generals in iraq, i said, why didn't you do this before? he said, our commanders were telling us what to do. i said, don't you tell them? no, we tickle jurors -- orders. differently after a few minutes, they loosened up. this is what we should do. we were supposed to be out of syria many years ago. if you remember, we went to syria for some spot hits. that was five years ago. we never left. i don't want to be in syria.

i go to walter reed hospital. i see soldiers that are so badly injured and hurt -- i don't want that. i want to rebuild our country. i want to spend money on our military without depleting it every day. that's what happening. our military is getting really strong. i could tell you stories. i don't even want to talk about it. one of the things i told the secretary and other people, we do these reports on our military. there, mostly appointed by president obama. we will have ours too. he goes over there. they do will report over every single thing that's happening. they release it to the public. what kind of stuff is this? the public means the enemy. the enemy reads those reports.

they study every line. report, that they should be private and locked up. if a member of congress can see it, he can go in and read it. for these reports, criticizing everything of thing. even in some places, saying good. for these reports to be released to the enemy is insane. i don't want it to happen anymore. you understand that. critical -- it's not my fault. i didn't put us there. we are getting out. we are getting out smart. we are winning. we are winning. just answer your question, over sometime. i never said we are getting out tomorrow. they will be pulled back in syria. absolutely. we are getting out very powerfully. >> [inaudible]

we're asking for 5.6. somebody said 2.5. look. this is national security we are talking about. just like we talk about the military and syria. all these different places. inspent in afghanistan more one month than what we are talking about for the wall. think of that. we spent in afghanistan more money than most countries spent, except a few. it's ridiculous. is 5.6m talking about billion that the house approved. the house was very aggressive. they stepped up. they went in. i'm not holding nancy to this. she said, you would never get the republicans to vote for it. i never saw anything so beautiful in my life. the spirit they had.

i would like mitt romney to join in that spirit. we are doing some great things. we don't need another democrat. i want the democrats to join in. 5.6 billion is such a small number. literally. it's one month in afghanistan. we are talking about national security. this isn't just a border. this is national security. this is health and wellness. this is everything. >> [inaudible] pres. trump: let's see. maybe they have an idea. we ared daca to i think better off waiting for the supreme court. if they rule that president obama was wrong, which they should, if he was right, i've been given tremendous power. could you imagine me having that power? wouldn't that be scary? if president obama is allowed to do what he did with daca, i'm allowed to do whatever i want to that a president

probably doesn't have the right to do. >> [inaudible] pres. trump: could be a long time. it could be quickly. it's too important a subject to walk away from. i was here on christmas evening. i was all by myself in the white house. it's a big house. except for all the guys out on the lawn with machine guns. i was waiting to them. i never saw so many guys with machine guns in my life. these are great people. they don't play games. they don't like waves. they don't even smile. i was there all alone with the machine guns. i felt very safe, i have to tell you. they are great people and there are a lot of them. that maybe somebody would come back and negotiate. they didn't do that. it's ok.

this is really something that should be bipartisan. we will see if it is. i hope it is. ok? >> [inaudible] pres. trump: no. i think this should be settled. if the supreme court would do a great favor to this country, if they would say, the president should not have done that, we will settle this whole thing, including a big immigration policy. not just border security. because we would do something with daca. a lot of the republicans are fine with some deal on daca. these are people that have been in the country a long time. in many cases, they don't even speak the language of the country from which their parents came. >> [inaudible]

pres. trump: this is to tell chuck, nancy and some others, from ice and border patrol. also from some local law enforcement. how bad it is, how dangerous it is. why we need a wall. they know that. when they say, the wall is a moral, you better do something about the vatican. the vatican has the biggest wall of them all. the wall is a moral, look at all the countries that have walls. they work 100%. it's never going to change. a wall is a wall. we could have all the drones flying over the people last night as they tried to rush the border. the only thing that stopped them was the wall. drones are wonderful. we will get nice pictures. >> [inaudible] pres. trump: it was never 25. a lot of people thought it was 25 billion. that was for overall homeland

security. that was for much more than the wall. the wall was a piece of that. a lot of people said, he should've taken the 25 billion. the covered a lot more territory. >> [inaudible] pres. trump: as long as it takes. i'm prepared. i think the people of the country think i'm right. the people of this country think i'm right. i could've done nothing. i could've had an easier presidency. i'm here. i want to do it right. i'm not only talking to you. i'm talking about middle east problems in north korea problems. >> [inaudible] i don't know. i hope he does. i think i have the highest rating in the history -- i was just looking at that poll. i don't know why. they like me. they say on the most popular president in the history of the republican party.

you see the same polls that i do. a number that is hard to believe, considering i never get fair press. people see the job we are doing. people see that gasoline is way down. the reason it is down is because i called up some of the opec people. i said, don't do it. if you look back a few months, gasoline was at $83 per barrel. it was going to 100. some people were saying 125. i make calls. you better let that gasoline flow. they did. now it's down to 44. i put out a social media statement yesterday. do you think it's luck that that happened? it's not. i called up certain people. oil andlet that damn gasoline flow. to $125.ing up

if that would've happened, you would've had a recession, depression like we've had in the past. >> [inaudible] pres. trump: i don't know if he's going to be a team player. if he does, it will be better for him. people are very upset with what he did. he has even gotten to office yet. he was very happy when i endorsed him. i don't know what changed. other then, we've succeeded at many of the things we were going to do. we are succeeding. things that people thought were impossible. i think that mitt romney will be a team player. if he's not, that's ok. i'll handle it. retired, they say the bob corker retired. ,hey say that jeff link

wonderful guy. i never even met him. he was going to tell people how to win in 2020. he wrote a book about it. it didn't work that well. we didn't want to wait till 2020. is now selling real estate or whatever. he will probably go to work for cnn. -- we had a good relationship. his ratings to. two -- he was going to be a senator for another 20 years. for some reason, he hit me. it didn't work out too well. with met, i hope he's a team player. if he's not, that's ok too. we have some great republicans. way they aret the standing up for border security, you'd be very proud of them.

if you are a person that loves our nation. thank you very much, everybody. thank you. ♪ >> c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies. today, we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court and public policy events in washington and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. here's a look at our live coverage thursday for the opening day of the 116th congress. the house gavels in at noon eastern to elect a new speaker and swear in members. other actions include adopting the rules package and consideration of two spending bills that would and the partial government shutdown. on c-span2, vice president pence

administers the oath of office to senators. they will name a new president pro tem. on c-span3, senators pose for pictures with vice president pence and a ceremonial swearing-in. that's followed by the ceremonial swearing-in of house members with the newly elected speaker. california will have seven new members of the house in the 116th congress, all of whom are democrats, and all of them represent districts previously held by republicans. the first of four representing district in orange county. he's a businessman and attorney. he and his wife also opened a homeless shelter for families when they lived in ohio. oversaw the implementation of a $25 billion settlement between mortgage servicers and homeowners on the

state of california. she's also a law professor at the university of california, irvine. mike levan was elected to represent the 49th district. he's worked in environmental law in the kilim -- and the clean energy industry. he spent time as the executive director of the orange county democratic party. he had been recently laid off won his job in 2010 when he $266 million in the mega millions jackpot. he and his wife used some of the money to establish scholarships and an educational foundation. democrats picked up a ftse in the los angeles area. katie holmes elected to the 25th restrict. she used to run a nonprofit for the homeless. be the31, she will youngest member of california's congressional delegation. tj cox was elected to the 21st

district, located southwest of fresno. he has a degree in engineering and work for a time as a mining engineer. he later received a business degree and open several businesses in the area, including two companies that process nuts. josh harter was elected to represent the 10th district, located further north. he's a venture capitalist and talked business at a local community college. new congress, new leaders. watch it all on c-span. a discussion of events in washington, d.c. because of the shutdown. two guests joining us for that discussion. ests joining us, sahil kapur of bloomberg news, international correspondent, and katherine tully-mcmanus of roll call, a staff writer for that publication. thanks for joining us and happy new year. guest: happy new year. host: