it appears, please say, the tragedy is over as well as the danger appeared north lake college, irving, texas. >> jenna: more on the reagan years breath the day here from fox news, thank you for joining us. >> jon: "america's newsroom hq" starts >> sandra: the white house briefing about to get under way after a day of fireworks on the hill. hello, everyone, i'm sandra smith. fbi director james comey facing pointed questions about the russia investigation, new leaks and hillary clinton's e-mail. director comey responding forcefully to questions about the timing of the clinton e-mail probe announcement. >> i'm not picking on the attorney general loretta lynch, who i like, but her meeting with president clinton on that airplane was the capper for me. i then said, do you know what? the department cannot, by itself, credibly end this. the best chance we have as a justice system is that i do something i never imagined. two actions.

speak or conceal. i don't think many reasonable people would do i differently than i did no matter what they say today. >> sandra: katherine herridge is live outside the hearing. what did we hear in general about the decision to reopen the clinton e-mail probe 11 days before the election? he was asked multiple times about that. >> reporter: the fbi director james comey testified that clinton's aide routinely sent e-mails to her husband, anthony weiner to get them printed out. in the process when the fbi got inside anthony weiner's computer -- you know what it's like after these hearings. everyone is clearing out. anyway, when the fbi got inside anthony weiner's computer as part of a separate investigation, they found thousands of clinton e-mail, many were new to investigators and classified. this one in late october, less

than two weeks before the election. the fbi director testified to senators today that he felt he only had two options and that was to either go public or to conceal this evidence. >> i said, okay, if that's where you are, then i also have to tell congress that we're done. look, this is terrible. it makes me mildly nauseous to think that we might have had some impact on the election. but honestly, it wouldn't change the decision. everybody who disagrees with me has to come back to october 28th with me and stare at this and tell me what you would do. would you speak or would you conceal? i could be wrong, but we honestly made a decision between those two choices. >> reporter: but this decision was really not very convincing for democrats on the committee, including the ranking member senator diane feinstein, who pointed out that this was a decision that was made by the fbi director less than two weeks before the election and he had no indication at that point that

there were new and incriminating e-mails on that laptop. >> you took an enormous gamble. the gamble was that there was something there that would invalidate her candidacy, and there wasn't. i think most people who have looked at this say, yes, it did affect the campaign. why would he do it? >> reporter: the director kept saying that he felt he only had two options in late october of last year. to go public or to conceal that they had this new evidence. but senator kuhns, a democrat, said in fact, fbi director comey had a third option, that a third door was open to him. and that was to also publicly face that the fbi had an on going investigation into the alleged contact between russians and members of the trump campaign. and that would have, in effect, levelled the playing field and in the eyes of some senators today, would have been a more

right and just decision at that time. sandra? >> sandra: a lengthy day of testimony. at one point the fbi director was asked if he needed a break and he said, no, i'm made of stone, let's keep going. there are new accusations against the former attorney general? >> reporter: i think this is one of the most significant headlines to come out of the hearing today and for some context, it's because there's an on going justice department inspector general investigation into the actions of then attorney general loretta lynch, as well as the fbi director and his closest aides during the election period. what we heard today for the first time were details about a document that related to attorney general loretta lynch that had been obtained by russian hackers and that the document indicated that lynch would do whatever it took to prevent criminal charges from being brought against hillary clinton in the e-mail probe.

let's listen. >> the new york times recently reported that the fbi had found a troubling e-mail among the ones the russians hacked from democrat operatives. the e-mail reportedly provided assurances that attorney general lynch would protect secretary clinton by making sure the fbi investigation, quote unquote, didn't go too far. how and when did you first learn of this document? also, who sent it and who received it? >> that's not a question i can answer in this forum, mr. chairman, because it would call for a classified response. >> reporter: on several of the questions related to loretta lynch, the fbi director said he couldn't discuss it in an open, unclassified setting. but there was certainly a strong indication from the fbi director that he felt that there might have been documents, as well as this arizona tarmac meeting with

loretta lynch and bill clinton in late june of last year. in his words this was really the capper for him, and he felt he had no choice but to go public when there was a decision to close the clinton e-mail investigation. there was kind of a theme today that the fbi director, in his testimony, portrayed himself as being boxed in by lynch and kind of a victim of circumstances. but that really didn't wash with republicans, who were on the committee, who felt that the fbi director did something extraordinary at the end of last year. that he really overreached. that his principle job is as an investigator, not a prosecutor. and he put his prosecutor's hat on when there was a decision not to go after hillary clinton for mishandling of classified information. and then also not to pursue criminal charges for whom anthony weiner, now that he has said publicly that there were hundreds of classified e-mails found on his home computer, sandra. >> sandra: a lot coming out of

there today. thank you. for more on this we want to get to chris stirewald. you were listening to all of this. lot of news, lot of headlines being made. but to stick with katherine's point, the opening remarks that we heard from senate judiciary committee chair chuck grassley, a cloud of doubt hangs over the fbi's objectivity. but you heard the fbi director fiercely defending all of his decisions along the way. >> yeah. i think republicans ought to tread lightly here. i know they want to prebutt whatever might come out of the russia investigation that would be harmful to any of the associates of the president. i understand wanting to put, scuff that ball up a little bit so comey doesn't look too pristine if, in fact, something were to issue from this long and on going investigation. but they ought to be a little careful because in so doing they all scuff up his findings that were so harmful to hillary clinton and cast so much shadow

on her candidacy. >> sandra: well, if there is anyone who thought we were going to hear from the fbi director about him having any regrets about the timing and the decisions that were made reopening this probe into hillary clinton's e-mail investigation, he did not show any sign of regret. he called it a hard choice, but the right one. you did hear that multiple times. >> well, what on earth could he have done? he made what i thought was quite a sound, maybe a rationalization but at least an explanation of why he did what he did. he, like almost every mammal living in north america, believed that hillary clinton was going to win that election. donald trump thought hillary clinton was going to win. it was the comeback. it was the surprise of the century in politics. so his assumption was, president-lect hillary clinton could have a bombshell drop on her during the transition and he would have been the guy who prevented voters from knowing about it in a timely fashion.

he made the calculation that it would be worse to with hold what could be a big deal and then, of course, he was wrong on both counts. there was nothing in it and she sure isn't president. >> sandra: chris, how about that moment though when comey said, abadine had a regular practice of forwarding hillary clinton's e-mails to anthony weiner, her husband. some contained classified info. this was a regular occurrence. >> well, and we don't know what the context was. could have been a simple put on her account to print at home or view on a different device on the lap top and all this stuff. but let's make no mistake about this. the absolute garbage way in which the clinton team dealt with the most secure and most secretive parts of this job that they held and the public trust which they held was a big part of her loss. it showed that she was cavalier and unserious about the sacred trust of the people.

it showed that she was arrogant. and it showed that she was out of touch with what people want from their leaders and their politicians. that was a big part of this. and that's just another chocolate chip in that cookie of disdain. >> sandra: going back to some of his other words, he said concealment in my view would have been catastrophic. he would make the same decision again. chris stirewalt, thank you. fox news alert. the white house press set to start any minute now. the press briefing at the white house should start any minute. sean spicer will likely discuss president trump's meeting today with the palestinian leader at the white house. their first face to face after which they held a joint press conference on the possibility of restarting stalled midmiddle east peace talk. john roberts has more on this. john, president trump's plan is that he is ready to negotiate peace between the palestinians. a lot of news coming out of that

meeting today as well. >> definitely. you see this a number of times in the past. there's no question that every time a new administration comes in and we've seen it over the past three administrations, there's always optimistic talk ab finally achieving middle east peace. but there is a sense particularly among the palestinian, that president trump may be the one who can get this done. and his national security adviser speaking at the israel independence day dinner last night was suggesting that his disruptive nature may make him the sort of person who can change the status quo. he's got a good relationship with benjamin netanyahu. he appears to have a good relationship with mahmoud abbas. he's saying to abbas that the palestinian authority has to stop payments to the families of terrorists. and also saying to the israelis that the continued development of settlements is not helpful to achieving peace. president abbas seemed to indicate today in the joint statement that he did have hope

that president trump might be able to get this done. let's take a look at statements from both of the leaders here. >> we want to create peace between israel and the palestinians. we will get it done. we will be working so hard to get it done. it's been a long time. but we will be working diligently. and i think there's a very, very good chance. and i think you feel the same way. >> reporter: there you saw it. with you, mr. president, we have hope. mahmoud abbas starting off the meeting on a positive note. president trump try saying he is fully prepared to provide a slate of economic opportunities as well as an on going partnership with the united states. >> sandra: what's the latest on healthcare at 2:12 in the afternoon eastern time? >> reporter: this is really starting to look like it could potentially happen. as of last night, early this morning, there were some people

who were definite nos. two of those were congressman fred upton and bill long of missouri. so they came down to the white house this morning. the sticking point for both upton and long was this idea of the waiver that states could ask for, which would allow them to opt out of the mandate for covering preexisting conditions. it would throw people with preexisting conditions into high risk pools. but the amount of money they'd have to pay for premiums could become exorbitant. today congressman upton and billy long came down with a proposal to create a fund of $8 billion that would be granted to states to pay to insurance companies to lower the cost of premiums for people with preexisting candidates. listen to congressman upton about how he is changing his position here now. >> i talked to the president yesterday afternoon. i told him i could not support the bill as it was then moving through the rules committee without added protections for those with preexisting illnesses. and based on our discussions and

the agreement on this amendment, can now be in a place where i can support the bill with such amendment. >> reporter: so, as of this morning, congressman upton and long were firm nos, as firm as you can be before you can negotiate to a yes. they are both now yeses. i'm told the white house is within two or three votes of the 216 necessary to pass this. the rules committee will be looking at it tonight, we're told, and they could have a vote on it tomorrow. sandra? >> sandra: all right, john roberts, thanks for that update. we are moments away from another update from the white house press briefing, where we are sure to hear about the explosive testimony we heard from james comey before congress. stay tuned.

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>> sandra: fox news alert. we are awaiting the white house press briefing. as soon as sean spicer takes to the podium there, we will take you there live. we also want to alert you to a deadly shooting outside dallas inniving texas. police confirmed two people have been killed. a suspect and one victim. officers con working to clear the scene. trace gallagher is live with more on what's happened. trace? >> reporter: hey, sandra. the call of shots fired came in just before noon central time at north lake college just outside dallas. a short time later, a number of students reported three shots had been fired and that students were scrambling to get inside the nearest classroom or building and barricade themselves inside. the college also sent out a warning for students who were not on campus to stay away. now police confirm that two people are dead. one of them is believed to be the shooter, and they do not believe there are other suspects. it's unclear if this was a murder/suicide. but here's what a witness told our dallas fox affiliate.

watch. >> i saw a guy standing and there was a girl sitting on a chair. it happened so quickly. i saw him shooting her three times. >> reporter: police are now in the process of clearing the campus. sandra? >> sandra: trace gallagher, thank you. we are just moments from the start of the white house daily press briefing as republicans take another crack at repealing and replacing obamacare. the administration confident it's going to get the votes and it's going to get this done. thomas massey tweeting today, the hhca is like a kidney stone. the house doesn't care what happens to it, as long as they can pass it. including the hash tag sassy with massey. thomas massey tweeting today what you just heard, a kidney stone. >> well, what i meant by that,

sandra, we don't know what's gonna happen to this bill in the senate. if it's even got a chance of passing, it's not going to look anything like it does in the house, in my opinion. right now i'm a no on the bill that's in the house. >> sandra: you saw the president spend time with some of your republican colleagues trying to change their mind. we know that he changed the minds of reps long and upton. is there any chance to change your mind at this point? >> it would be almost impossible at this point. let me tell you my objection. my main objection, sandra, is it doesn't do anything to lower the price of health care. if this bill had something in it like requiring hospitals to publish the price of the procedure that you're about to get, that could help customers shop. that could help patients look for good value. but nothing like that's in the bill. >> sandra: so you're a no. you're comparing this to a kidney stone at this point. you've seen the president have

the ability to change some of your colleagues' minds. where does this eventually go? if you're a no, they get -- john roberts just reported that they're two or three votes away from the 216 needed. this goes through to the senate. where does that leave things politically? >> politically, i hope we go back to the drawing table. i hope trump will start with his own proposal, the ones he campaigned on, instead of coming here to the house of reppives. i call it the swamp over here. i think he called it the swamp. why is he asking us to drain the swamp for him, or to come up with the answer? i think he had some good ideas in the campaign. i'd love to see those here. this bill's got a long way to go. i'm worried that none of the states will get the exemption from obamacare that this latest amendment would offer them a chance to try an get. i'm also worried that's a temporary exemption and so no insurance companies will under

write those policies to the states. >> sandra: congressman massie, really important that we get your words and thought, but we've got to leave it right there. i'll get to you on the other side of this commercial break. stay tuned. liberty mutual stood with me when this guy got a flat tire in the middle of the night. hold on dad... liberty did what? yeah, liberty mutual 24-hour roadside assistance helped him to fix his flat so he could get home safely. my dad says our insurance doesn't have that. don't worry - i know what a lug wrench is, dad.

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>> sandra: let's go straight to the white house where sean spicer stepped up to the podium for the daily press briefing. >> -- who expressed their support this morning. it is especially important that we continue to make progress on repealing and replacing obamacare as rates sky rocket and insurers keep fleeing the market around the country in anticipation of this impending implosion. earlier this week, aetna atphoupbed it will scale back its presence even further in 2018 withdrawing from the iowa

exchange. aetna had already cut its participation in the exchanges from 15 states to 4 in 2017. iowa is going to be hit particularly hard by these recent developments as medica, the last insurance for most of the state, also announced this week that it will likely stop selling individual healthcare policies in the state, which will affect tens of thousands of americans. with reports like these seemingly coming every day, it couldn't be clearer that it's time for action on healthcare. we're glad so many members are with us and look forward to welcoming even more on board. also earlier today, the president dropped by an e srepb focusing on school choice that was hosted by the vice president and secretary devos with students ranging from kindergarten to high school. most of the students who visited the white house today are some of the thousands of local children who will benefit from the three year extension of the dc school choice scholarship secured by the president and congressional allies in the budget deal. the district of columbia

opportunity scholarship program which was launched in 2004 provides vouchers to dc students whose family either received benefits under the supplemental nutrition assistance program, snap, or earned less than 185% of the federal poverty level. this program gets results. last year 69% of dc public school students graduated from high school. that's compared to an incredible 98% of the dc scholarship students who received their high school diplomas last year. funding for the opportunity scholarship was one of our priorities during these budget negotiation, and the trump administration is glad to have ensured that the program's extension was taken care of through this appropriations bill on top of the increases in military spending and funding for border security. today the president welcomed the president of the palestinian authority to the white house for an official visit. the visit stems from a phone call the two had on march 10th when president trump invited president abbas to washington so they could discuss, in person,

ways to move forward on a comprehensive agreement that would end the israeli/palestinian convict. the two leaders made their own statements just a little bit ago. some of the topics that were discussed during their meeting and the lunch were advancing the israeli/palestinian peace, preventing incitement to violence, particularly in media outlets directly associated with the palestinian authority, strengthening efforts to combat terrorism, including defeating isis, measures to provide economic opportunity to the palestinian people, and additionally, the president raised concerns about the payments to palestinian prisoners in israeli jails who have committed acts of terror and to their families and emphasized the need to resolve this issue. later this evening the president, along with the vice president, mrs. pence, will host a discussion prayer and dinner. the president is proud to welcome the faith leaders to the white house for the first time an thank them for their support

ahead of the national day of prayer which is tomorrow. the vice president hrauls deliver a keynote address at the susan b. anthony 2017 campaign forgala. the vice president office has more details on that. and with that, take your questions. ken? >> sean, on healthcare, does the president feel like we've reached a point here with the house that's a make or break moment in terms of getting the bill through the house? what precisely do you think the president is doing and what arguments is he making to members on why they should support this bill? >> well, i think he's making several points. one is the need that obamacare is failing. as i just mentioned, so many cases around the country, the need to have a provider is becoming greater and greater. two, is that costs are out of control. these are two basic tenets that you heard us talk about. overall, the efforts were made

especially the effort this morning with congressman long and upton to help bring more people into this effort, make it a stronger bill and ensure that americans have a healthcare system that gets them the care they need and a price that's affordable. >> is this a now or never kind of moment? >> i don't want to put it there. the president's made it clear before that he's not trying to set a date certain. obviously, that's up to the speaker and the house leadership to determine when that time is appropriate. but as you have seen, we continue to move closer to that time and the number of members who are supporting it continues to grow further and further. i think that's a very promising sight. >> yesterday the president tweeted that fbi director comey did hillary clinton a, quote, great pass for many bad deeds. is the president comfortable having an fbi director that gives out free passes served during his administration? >> the president has confidence in the director, but i think

clearly his point was after some of the comments that were made yesterday regarding the reason for the outcome of the election, he wanted to make it clear what exactly happened. >> on healthcare, the president appears to be directly involved behind the scenes. how much responsibility does the president plan to take for the outcome of the vote if it does occur this week? >> i think if we have a vote which is looking greater and greater every day. i'm not going to get ahead of the house leadership on when that is. my guess is the leaders will call it when the numbers will put us over the top. you saw two votes change today. the president's been on the phone constantly, the vice president, the chief of staff, calling member, talking to them, hearing their concerns. i think we've made this an unbelievable bill and in an unbelievable replacement for obamacare which is failing. that's what we sought to do from the beginning. >> sean, there was an important political yesterday that indicated that president trump

in a sense signed an executive order tomorrow in the name of rosa freedom. will the president sign an executive order tomorrow? and will it eliminate discrimination among lgbt people. >> tomorrow is national day of prayer. there will be a proclamation the president will sign looking forward to having religious leaders from multitude of backgrounds come to the white house and celebrate with us. but i never got ahead of executive orders. >> you can deny it? >> i understand that. i answered the question. thank you. >> i want to get reaction to former president obama. he tweeted yesterday that went viral, monologue you saw about his child, kimmell talked about the need to have a preexisting condition, need for funding for nih, and mr. obama said well

said, jimmy, that's why we fought so hard for the aca and why we need to protect it for kids like billy. your reaction? >> well, i think we share that concern for the kimmells' child, as well as any child that needs care. that's, frankly, why the president fought so hard to improve the bill like he did this morning, to make sure there was that extra layer of protection for anybody with a preexisting condition, no matter their stage in life. that's why we're fighting so hard for this. most importantly, and i think at the end of jimmy kimmell's monologue, he said we need to have some of these things that aren't republican or democrat. that they're american policies. that's what the president's fighting for. to make sure we have a healthcare system that doesn't matter where you live or your background, that it takes care of people. we're making sure right now -- we talked about this endlessly over the last month. we've got a healthcare system that's failing. it's costing people too much. it's giving people a card not

coverage. what the president's trying to do by working with these members of congress is to make sure we have the strongest possible health care system that covers them, that gives them the care they need, that allows them to go see a doctor, that covers preexisting conditions and does so in a way that's not gonna be out of range and unaffordable for most americans. >> i'll ask you about what hillary clinton said yesterday. she said, quote, if the election had been on october 27th, i would be your president. on the hill today, james comey testifying said, quote, speaking about october 28th, he said, would you speak or would you conceal? did james comey make the right decision on october 28th? >> look, i'm a patriots fan. if games ended in the third quarter, there would have been a different team here last week. but you play a game four quarters. you play an election until election day. so with all due respect to her, that's not how it works. you don't get to pick the day the election is on. it's set by the constitution.

the president won 306 electoral votes. i think there's been plenty of analysis on the election and where people chose to spend their time and their resources and their messaging. i think it's somewhat sad that we're still debating why the president won in the fashion that he did. >> speaker conceal, did he make the correct decision? >> again, i think with respect to the election, i think the american people made their decision. >> there's been a lot of focus raoepbly on ivanka trump's role in this white house. can you clarify what exactly her responsibilities are here and what her qualifications are for those responsibilitys? >> sure. i think ivanka has set, built a very successful business. she's been working with women to talk about empowerment and education for quite some time. it's a passion of hers. i think for her to bring both her business success, her passion for women and

empowerment and education and entrance into areas that they haven't been able to get to is one of the reason chancellor merkel reached out to her. i think she can use her voice to help bring attention to issues. she can use her resources and knowledge of individuals to help break down some barriers that young women, older women, faith, education, business. that's where she has always had her passion. that's what she's working on now. >> what are her responsibilities? the new york times reported that she has a weekly meeting with the treasury secretary. >> again, i think that i mentioned it. there's a lot of times where she's meeting with folks to understand an issue, to get up to speed. i think her primary focus, what she's always said, where her passion is, where her time will be spent, is figuring out how to empower women, how to break down barriers for women, whether that's in small business, in education. young women in poverty,

families, figuring out how to help them. part of that is to have conversations with people in government, find out where programs exist, where we can help people or fix a program that's not properly being utilized. there's a lot of that. >> back to healthcare. announcements from aarp showed the sickest patients will pay nearly $26,000 a year in premiums under the new healthcare law and that $8 billion which was included in that amendment is not nearly enough to lower those costs. so i'm wondering, how does that, which would be a major premium hike on the sickest patients, square with the president's promise to lower premiums and take care of those with preexisting conditions? >> so it sounds interesting to me that without -- there are so many variables that are unknown. to make an analysis of that level of precision seems almost impossible. let me give you an example. so right now preexisting

conditions are covered in the bill. they always have been. we talked about that before. states have the right to receive a waiver. if someone has continuous coverage that's never gonna be an issue. regardless of no circumstance. if someone chose not to have coverage for 63 days or more and they were in a state that opted out and they had a preexisting condition and they were put into a high risk pool, then we validated an additional $8 billion to help lower costs. so for someone to know how many people that is, what number of states are going to receive a waiver, ask for and receive a waiver, literally is impossible at this point. so to do an analysis of any level of factual basis would be not possible. >> one, would the president prefer, does he have a preference, as to whether or not states opt out given that option? and, two, yes or no, will people

with preexisting conditions pay higher premiums under this bill than they currently do? >> i think everything that we've done, including the additional 8 billion this year, have everything that i have seen shows the cost curve goes down for them in a lot of ways. if you have preexisting conditions -- again, remember what a small pool that is. if you have a preexisting condition currently, the bill protects you. the only factor would be if you live in a state that potentially has a, asks for a waiver and is granted it and if you have gone 63 days without continuous coverage. so if you have continuous coverage, if you live in a state, it will never, ever be a factor. but the president has worked to make sure that in every single scenario, everybody he has kept true to his word that preexisting conditions are covered and that the cost curve continues to bend down. >> on the other question, the congressman from michigan was saying he's confidence from conversations with his governor that his state will not ask for

a waiver. so does the president have a preference as to whether or not states ask for waivers? >> the president's preference -- the president believes in states' rights. number one. number two, not just preference. his goal is to make sure that he stated repeatedly that preexisting conditions are covered. care coverage goes up and costs go down. those are the principles that continue to guide him. cecelia. >> thank you. talking about russia. one of the things he said was the russian government is still involved in american politics. is that the view of this white house? >> i think that's the view of the fbi. >> what about the white house? >> we rely on them and the rest of the intelligence community to provide the president with updates on what they're learning. we don't -- it doesn't go that way. the director and the intelligence committee update the president on all of the threats that the united states faces and all of the intelligence activity that need to be briefed. >> in that particular one, does

he then accept that? >> i don't know what he briefed the president -- i'm not trying to be coy. i don't know what he has recently briefed. i know the question was asked during his testimony. i don't know what new evidence beyond what they shared with the president in december has happened between then and now. >> one more thing on that front. he called russia, quote, the greatest threat of any nation on earth. is that something the president agrees with? >> i think the president's been very clear that he thinks the threat north korea poses with the potential nuclear weapon that has range capacity something that he finds threatening to the lives of americans and our allies. alexis? >> healthcare question. can you tell us what you were saying about the president's conversation. i heard yesterday the president thought there was sufficient funding and congressman upton came to him an suggested $8 billion more. you were just saying that it's impossible to estimate what would be needed. my question is, why did the

president think that there was sufficient protection for those individuals with preexisting health conditions yesterday, but today he now believes $8 billion will cover it? what persuaded him that the number that he had embraced yesterday was not sufficient and that $8 billion is gonna do it? >> so, in this particular case, congressman upton and i think congressman long addressed it, that he through a series of conversations he had with the president, shared a concern they had and their shared goal of covering preexisting conditions. president, as congressman long discussed outside, expressed that the president expressed to him that the preexisting conditions were covered. congressman long felt as though there were scenarios in which potentially the high risk pool. it wasn't a question of coverage. it was a question of cost. and so the president engaged in a conversation with them and, through some of the analysis that congressman upton and congressman long had done, the president agreed that if we add

an additional safety net, which is frankly what that is, not on the coverage, but on the cost, that that could ensure that the cost curve further bent downward. and the president agreed. at the end of the day, look, the president talked about this from the beginning. he wants to work with members to make it the strongest possible bill to have the strongest outcome for the american people and a healthcare system in which both the cost continues to go down. that's one point that we keep forgetting in this discussion. it's not just replace obamacare. obamacare is dying on the vine. the costs are spiralling out of control, deductibles are going up. this isn't a theoretical discussion. aetna is pulling out of states and counties around the country are going down to one in some case zero choices. so this isn't a question of just replacing something. we are actually at a point where if we don't do something, some people in this country will have no options for coverage. we've got to do something.

that's where the president has been willing to work to pick up the phone, figure out how do we get this done to make sure every american has got the coverage they need. >> there are members of the house who are concerned that they could vote for something that will change dramatically in the senate. what does the president's message to those members who are concerned about that? is he going to press the senate to embrace whatever may or may not come out, but you hope may come out of the house? >> of course. i think the hrepbl slay teufrb process works as well. the senate will take up the house vote and they'll go to conference. that's when both sides will have an opportunity to discuss any potential change. the president feels very good about how this bill has evolved, how much stronger it's become to achieve the goals that he set out. he continues to work with leader mcconnell and others to make sure that anything that -- there could be issues that come up between now and then, but our

number one goal is to get it out of the house and have conversations with the senate and then go to conference. in a perfect world they would just take it straight up and we'd go, but i have a feeling the senate will want a say in this. john? >> chairman upton and congressman long were pleased to hear about this legislative fix, saying they turned their nos into questions. are there additional fixes that are set to come before this bill hits the house floor? >> look, the president's always said he's willing to hear ideas. this is a question for speaker ryan, leader mccarthy and congressman scalise in terms of when's the appropriate time. if they feel like they've gotten to a place where they feel like they have the votes necessary to take to it the floor based on the number of suggestions and fixes and updates, then that will be up to them. i'm not gonna prejudge, through the conversations and the president constantly had been on the phone for the last several days and continues to do so, to

hear members issues and concerns. and so if there's a point -- i think we're getting to that number closer and closer. but that will be ultimately a decision that speaker ryan and leader mccarthy have to make. >> on timing, i heard different things from the president over the course of the past few weeks. one point i heard the president say he wants the bill to be taken up now. other times, it's not important, just get the bill right. what's your view? is it very important as far as the administration is concerned that this bill, vote takes place sooner rather than later? >> well, obviously the sooner the better, right? but we don't want to put it up for a vote -- the goal is to pass it, which we continue to get closer to. you don't want to put it up and not move forward. so the president wants to make sure the leadership is confident that it can pass the bill. he's done everything he can in terms of speaking with members of the house to get there. ultimately that will be their decision to do it.

i think we continue to feel optimistic about the direction that we've seen the legislation go. mike? >> wanted to revisit the president's comments and tweets about the ominous spending bill he campaigned on his business record on his ability to make good deals, make better deals than politicians have in the past. does the president view the spending bill as a good deal? >> yes. >> thank you. >> sean, can you say definiti definitivety that will be with a preexisting condition will pay more under this amendment? >> i think we've done everything we can to do that. and every measure the president has taken further not only ensures that people with preexisting conditions get covered in every scenario, but does so in a way that bends the cost curve down. >> can you guarantee it? >> with all due respect to answer a question and say can i guarantee something? but i can tell you every single thing the president has done

including the actions he took this morning does everything he can to bend the cost curve down to help anybody that would potentially fall into that small group of individuals to bend the cough curve down who have preexisting conditions. the answer is yes, that we have done every single thing possible to get that down and to ensure that, number one, that that potential is as small as possible. because the bill covers people with preexisting conditions, number one. number two, it does everything to ensure that a state would seek a waiver, that they are still covered. it looks at every single possibility to ensure that people get the care that they need. >> you kreut sighed former president obama rushing through his healthcare plan. is this not being rushed through? this legislation hasn't even been scored yet by the cbo or put up by public debate. >> every piece of legislation has had to go through a process. we saw that this morning. the underlying principle that we have been talking about is

something republicans have been talking about and have had the contours of for the last seven years. the president -- i answered this. the president expects to see a vote when the speaker and the leader and the whip call a vote because they have a the votes. >> sean, looks like we're on the precipice of a vote of spending bill. senator lindsay graham said the republicans got their clocks cleaned on this bill. looks as many as 100 house republicans will vote against it. how do you square that with the pronouncements out of this white house that this was a big win for republicans? >> i think director mulvaney addressed that yesterday. to get back to mike's point, this is a great deal for the president. he got $21 billion in military funding. that is a huge campaign pledge that he made very clearly to modernize and update the military. it fully funds the largest military pay raise in six years. it ends the obama sequestration

policy of pairing domestic spending for dollar to dollar. got $1.52 billion in border security which is the first installment in securing our nation's southern border. $1.3 billion to coal miners which delivers on another promise he made. there's no obama bailout, obamacare bailout, which was something the democrats wanted. there's a three year extension of the dc opportunity scholarship choice which you saw the children that will benefit from that this morning. eup increases funds for opiod crisis. it terminates 150 programs or initiatives. director mulvaney laid this out. when you look at what the president came forward and said these are my priorities, he got what he asked for. i think that's big. the president feels very good about what he got. and again, i think it's important to under score two points. number one, in the senate, we needed 60 votes.

this had to be a bipartisan action. because it is a spending bill. so, therefore, we needed to get democratic votes with us. if you look at, as director mulvaney pointed out yesterday, used to be a one for one spending increase. we got that down to $1 to 20 cents. that's a huge win for the president. he negotiated a fairly strong deal when it comes to what they got versus what they got. the other thing that's important to understand is this is just the final five months of nfy '18. any president coming into office wouldn't get the first shot at a budget until the end of the first year. he got to push for his priority, military spending, border security, dc schools, all the things i mentioned, right out of the gate. for the last five months of this fiscal year, something that should have happened during the obama administration, he got his priorities, a down payment on them. >> this is at least the fourth white house, fourth administration who has come in

with optimistic predictions of how middle east peace will go. what's going to be different this time? >> i think the man is different. you look at what -- the president's diplomacy style is paying dividends, whether it's getting someone who was held for years in egypt released, whether it's the action china's taken. the relationship and the foundation that the president is rebuilding are going to page huge dividends to this country in terms of our economic interests, our national security interests. but this president's style is one to develop a personal bond with individuals. and i think you saw that today with president abbas, him talking so kindly about the president. you saw that the relationship that exists and is only getting stronger between him and prime minister benjamin netanyahu. you have two individuals that, because of this president, are increasing their desire for peace. you've got an individual in president xi in china that has

taken fairly significant action to work with the united states, especially with respect to our desire to end the threat in north korea. that has been unprecedented. the president's ability to connect with an individual, to work with him toward a shared goal, to have back room diplomacy, is something that is going to pay dividends and get results for this country. >> follow-up on john's question. in january the president did an interview, walls on the southern border. and said i don't know why they are even wasting their time. why is the governor so much on existing border security measures rather than fighting for the wall that he promised that he'd build. >> thank you for an opportunity to show you something. so if i can get the first image up. you asked. no. but, you literally could not

have helped me. this is what exists right now throughout our country. this is the kind of barrier that exists throughout the country. you see a place where cars can literally create things and drive over. you've got places that can get burrowed under. that one they cut through. that one doesn't seem effective. those images represent our nation's current border security according to a ga report from earlier this year from fiscal year 2010 to tpeus wall year 2015, the customs and border patrol recorded a total of 2 -- excuse me, 9d 270 breaches at an average cost of $784 per breach to repair. right? so every time they cut through, break through, put something over, it's costing just under 1,000 bucks for us to go out and have to fix. now to the next slide. you had no idea you were getting this, did you? so the bill that is about to get

passed title vi, states that an additional $497.4 million quote for procurement, construction. $341.2 million -- this is what it says in the bill. to replace approximately 40 miles of existing primary pedestrian and vehicle border fencing along the southwest border using previously deployed and operationally effective design such as currently deployed steel ball or design that prioritize agents safety. so that's your answer, charlie. hold on. hold on. we have a porous border with broken fences, things that can be cut through, places that can literally be driven over. and to replace this with 20 foot high ballard wall will protect our country, something the dhs has designated the most

effective way to do this. so that's what we got out of this bill. >> question about the photos. are those photos offenses or walls? >> that is a ballard wall. that is an levy wall. no, no. there are various types of walls that can be built. under the legislation that was just passed, it allows us to do that. as we've mentioned, that is called an levy wall on the left. that is called a ballard wall. >> that's not a wall. >> that's what it's actually called. that's the name of it. >> it looks like fencing. >> in this current bill, it allows us to do the following. so to be clear, in several areas along our southern border, we have what was in the first slide, which are areas in which someone can literally cut through with a pair of wire cutters or put a barrier over. okay? what we've done is taken the tools that we have to replace --

if you look at that one in particular you have a chain link fence is what is currently at our southern border. that is literally down there now. we are able to go in there and instead of having a chain link fence, replace it with that ballard wall. that's what it is. >> that's not the wall the president promised though. >> hold on, jim. we're gonna take turns. just to be clear, because charlie asked the same thing. i'll give you help on this one. this is the 2017 budget. this is a downpayment on what the president is going to prioritize in the 2018 budget that starts october 1st. as i mentioned to john robert, the idea that we even got a shot at this is something that should have been done last term under president obama. we have an opportunity to use the last five months of the fy '17 budget to get the president's priorities jump started. so he is using the current bill to get his priorities moving and put it down. to answer the question, it is currently being built in arizona, sun land park, new

mexico, and we are going to be starting to do this in san diego, el paso and rio grande valley. >> basically just telling supporters, the president's supporters, he is satisfied with this existing tough guy fencing until he's ready to build the wall? >> no. what i'm telling anybody is that the president said he's going to build a wall and he is doing it. he is using the best technology and what the -- to keep people out, to stop drug, to stop human trafficking and to prevent illegal immigration. that's what i'm telling you. >> mahmoud abbas said he wants to see east jerusalem as a capital of future palestinian state. yesterday vice president pence said you're still looking at moving a u.s. embassy into israel to jerusalem. what is the white house view on though remarks? we didn't hear anything from president trump in response to that? >> i think the vice president commented yesterday that it's still something that's being

discussed and considered by the president. it will continue to be a discussion that he has with the prime minister benjamin netanyahu. they are having a series of private discussions. that is why the president is able to effectively get things done for this country is to not negotiate in public. he's going to continue to have discussions with prime minister benjamin netanyahu, president abbas moving forward. >> it's just not precise. >> it's not a question of precise. i'm not going to talk about what they are negotiating publicly from this podium. i'm just telling you we are not going to negotiate from the podium. >> just a follow-up on president's meeting with abbas. he did say talking about middle east peace and the israeli/palestinian conflict maybe it's not as difficult as people have thought. why does he believe that the toughest, arguably the toughest

foreign policy challenge in our life time may not be as difficult as people thought? >> i think both of thaoe leaders have publicly expressed the confidence they have in the president's negotiating skills and the president's desire to work to get peace. the relationship he's built with them individually and the trust and respect that they have for him. i think he, in discussions with them, private discussions with them, feels very optimistic about the shared goals that everybody has. obviously there's a lot of issues that have to get covered. but the president understands that they respect his ability to want to get this done. his relationships that have been developed. this is something he really wants to have happen. >> why monkey around with pre-existing conditions with the healthcare? that's the most popular thing in obamacare. why are you guys spinning your wheels messing around with pre-exis