that, you know, we traveled, did some overseas travel last year, and i was really surprised because i didn't know the president early on, you know, when the days we'd get these 14, 16-hour days, and the staff is just spent after a while and you're just like, man, when are we going to the hotel, when are we going down? you have all the issues of different time zones and things of that nature, too. i tell you, out of everybody there, the president had more stamina and more energy than anybody there. he was the one who was always like, we're not going to skip this event, we're going to do this, we're going to do that, and stick to the schedule despite the urging of some us to let's just forget the rest of the day. >> can you explain how a guy who eats mcdonald's, all the diet cokes and never exercises is in as good of shape as you say he's in? >> it's called genetics. people have great genes. i told the president if he had a healthier diet over the last 20 years, he might live to be 200 years old.

i don't know. i mean, he has incredible -- he has incredible genes i just aseem. assume. if i didn't watch what i ate, i wouldn't have the cardiac and overall health that he has. so he's very healthy. despite those things. and i don't think that he does that anymore. i mean, you know, he's in the white house now. he's eating what they're -- what the chefs are cooking for him now. they're cooking a much healthier diet for him now. we're going to continue to work on that, make that even healthier. i would say the answer to your question is he has incredibly good genes and it's the way god made him. >> dr. jackson -- >> go ahead. right here. second row. >> me? >> yep. >> oh. thank you. you mentioned you gave the president a cog nn nnitive test. was that the mini mental state examination. if not, can you tell us what specific cognitive test -- >> it was the, the montreal cognitive assessment, sometimes referred to as the mocha. you can find it online. >> do you have a life expectancy range for him based on his results?

number two, what exactly does the exercise and eating plan look like? is it you're going to put an elliptical machine next to the bedroom, he's going to use it? what does that look like? also, number three, did you see evidence of bone spurs which the president said he suffered from? >> none of that stuff's been bothering him recently. he didn't examine him for bone spurs right now. he's not come to me complaining of that. there was to reason in this particular assessment. we were crunched for time with everything we had done so we didn't look at issues like that. i didn't assess that, no. as far as life expectancy, you know, i'll say he probably won't live to be 200, but i don't know, i think his life expe expectancy is, you know, i would have to say it's the same as every other american male right now, but it's certainly no less. >> then the specifics of the dietary and exercise plan? what's in store? >> we're working that out right now. what i'm doing, one of the things i'm getting a nutrition specialist to come up here and meet with the chefs we have here. they're going to go over the preparation of the president's

food just to make sure we're, you know, cutting the calories and the fats and the carbohydrates as much as we possibly can and still making good meals for him. with regards to the exercise, that's something that myself and, you know, potentially mrs. trump, will work with him upstairs, you know, there's a gym upstairs. we'll get that set up to his specifications and we'll see how that goes. >> is he limited to one scoop of ice cream now? >> i don't -- i don't limit his diet at all. i just make recommendations. >> one follow-up question, there isn't anything that's a part of the president's health records or his overall physical fitness or any medications that he's taking that you're not permitted to tell us, is there anything you're keeping from us for privacy reasons? >> i can promise you there's absolutely nothing that i'm withholding from this. i can tell you that, you know, i've done the last four, five of these. i've been involved in probably the last six or seven of these. and this is hands-down more information that's been put forth by any other -- any other

assessment to date. i was -- friday was a good day for me. friday made today exceptionally easy for me. so when we left friday, i was like, you know, it was good for me. it made this much, much easier for me today. so, no, i'm not withholding anything, and i have reviewed the president's past medical records to the extent that they were made available to me. there's nothing at all that's concerning to me. >> doctor, can you say, given the president's age, he's somewhat of where president reagan was at this time in his presidency. can you say given that there's scrutiny of what was overlooked at the time with president reagan in terms of alzheimer's and things he was then known to suffer from at a later date. can you say that whether the tests you ran would exclude any of those things? and what the possibility of overlooking something like that would be. you know, how can you tell the american people that this time you're certain? >> i can say that that test, you know, and i don't know president reagan's actual medical condition and i don't know what

his condition was like toward the end of his presidency. i've read things and seen the documentaries and stuff just like everybody here. but let's just assume that he did have some, you know, evidence of cognitive impairment toward the end of his presidency. i think that i can reliably say, and i think that the folks in the mental health community out there would back me up on the fact that if he had some type of mental cognitive issue that this test is sensitive enough it would pick up on it. he would not have got 30 out of 30 on the test. so i'm very confident at this particular stage that he has nothing like that going on. like i said, my personal experience has been that he is -- that he has absolutely no, you know, cognitive or mental issues whatsoever. that he is very sharp. >> can i ask you a quick question about psa? are you confident of his prostate health? you recited a very low psa.

>> you know, that probably is why his psa is as low as it is because it's very low, but, you know, we have no indication whatsoever on prostate exam. based on his previous psas that he has any prostate issue going on. i mean, we'll, you know -- a lot of people would recommend you don't even do a psa anymore. i did one because we had a long history of psas an previous exams when i reviewed his past medical record so i thought it made sense to go ahead and do one and, you know, had i seen a large bump in his psa or something, it would have been concerning but i didn't, so we're not doing dogoing down th >> did you take the waist measurement for the president? his weight is at 239. that seems -- just shy of obesity, right? >> it is, yeah. >> you're confident of that number. did you do any measurements? >> we don't do measurements. we do height and weight. you know, fit him in the bmi calculator. we've never done measurements. you know, just there's not a lot -- you know, there's not a lot of point at this point. the president's acknowledged he'd be healthier if he lost a

few pounds. that's what we're going to try to do. doing measurements, you know, getting some other, you know, some other form of calculation wouldn't have really changed anything clinically for us. >> his age, will you continue cognitive testing in the future? >> excuse me? >> because of his age, continuing his physicals in the future, will you also continue the cognitive testing? >> that's going to be totally up to the president because like i said before, you know, i didn't feel it was clinically indicated on this round, so i will continue to monitor the president over the next year. i'll talk to him on a regular basis. i'll visit with him every opportunity. i'll spend lots and lots of time over the next year. if i have indication we need do it or come up with anything on his exams that clinically indicates we should do that, i'll recommend that. if the president wants to get one done next year, we'll do another one next year. >> it's recommended most baby boomers get screened for hepatitis "c." did you do a hep "c" test? >> he has a hep "c" test

remotely. i found that in his past medical record. i did not can do one this time. >> dr. jackson, you talked a little bit about his diet here at the white house. can you flesh that out a little bit, what specifically he's eating? lots of chicken and fishes and white meat? and also does he take any sleep aids? >> so the president, you know, first off, i have to admit to you, you know, that i see what he eats on the plane some and he eats the same food we eat on the plane which is usually fairly healthy meals minus the desserts that we get. i have not been as actively involved in his diet as i will be in the year to come. so i don't have a lot of information on that right now, but he's asked me to get the nutritionist involved which basically has given me permission to become involved in that and i will. so i'll have more information on that. you know, next year. and then what was the other question? oh, sleep aids. the president does take some ambien on occasion like we all do on overseas travel. so when we travel from one, you know, time zone to another time zone on the other side of the

planet, you know, i recommend that everyone on the plane take a sleep aid at certain times so we can try our best to get on the schedule of our destination. so he has on those occasions done that. >> what about here at the white house? >> here at the white house. no. only during travel. >> how much sleep does he get on average? >> he doesn't sleep much. i mean, i would say that, you know, this is just my guess based on being around him. i didn't ask him this question. so i could be wrong on this. but i would say he sleeps four to five hours a night and, you know, i think -- he's probably been that way his whole life. that's probably one of the reasons he's been successful. me, personally, i need a lot more sleep than that. he's one of those people, i think, that does not require a lot of sleep. >> can you say whether your prediction of good health and no serious events for years to come still holds if the president does not make changes to his diet and start to exercise? is that still your professional medical opinion? then also can you tell us how

long the examination was sort of start to finish, how many people were involved? >> yeah. so i don't know, i mean, i guess it's going to depend. this time next year we'll do a lot of the same tests, cardiac assessments, everything else. the objective data next year, we'll look at it and recalibrate. if he's made a lot of changes, i assume he'll be even better shape than he is right now. you know, with the -- if he's -- if he's eating better, you know, and lost a few pounds. but, you know, even if he hasn't, i won't make that assessment without doing a lot of the objective testing we just did this time. so the other question was? >> how long was the entire -- >> yeah, so the exam -- right. >> how many people were involved? >> the exam lasted about four-plus hours so i think we were there, well, about four hours i think. and i had a total of i believe 12 consultants involved in it. you know, i don't -- i don't execute these physicals in a vacuum. have a lot of specialists available to me. and just like on a day-to-day

basis, i'm somewhat of a quarterback with regards to his care. so i spent weeks speakingtapts, out how to plan his exam appropriately. what was appropriate for his exam. it was a team effort with a lot of physicians at walter reed who did a great job helping me take care of him. >> thank you, dr. jackson. was there anything that the president or anyone else specifically said for you not to mention today? >> absolutely not. as a party matter of fact, a lo things i was like, are you okay with me mentioning this? he was like, absolutely, i don't care. yeah, go ahead. >> to follow up on that. some of president's friends have told reporters in the past they think he's a germophobe, he washes his hands obsivelobsessi. have you seen that behavior being around the president? >> he washes his hands frequently. he uses purell. as many hands as he shakes in a day, he'd be a fool not to. the more he can wash hispurr pu

that. i'd like him to continue to a bit of a germophobe and make my life easier along the way. >> any other ocd behaviors? is. >> how do you characterize the president's health to an average 71-year-old american male? >> based on his cardiac assessment, hands-down, there's no question he is in the excellent range from a cardiac standpoint. that's not me speaking. that's objective data. you know, you can look at the data that was collected and he will definitely fall into that category. >> dr. gupta -- >> is that cardiac or everything? >> it's cardiac. look at his vision. i mean, he's 71 years old. his bilateral uncorrected vision is 20/30. he can drive if he wants to without glasses. you know, a lot of people his age can't do that. so i think, you know, if you look at, you know, a lot of things across the board, he's very healthy. so that's why, you know, i put out in the statement, you know, that the president's health is excellent. his overall health is excellent.

are there a few things he could do to make himself a little healthier with the diet and exercise? absolutely. he's tracking that. i'm tracking that. we're working on that. overall, he has very, very good health. excellent health. dr. gupta? >> just to be clear, dr. jackson, he is taking a cholesterol-lowering medication, he has evidence of heart disease and he's borderline obese. can you characterize that as excellent health? >> i mean, i think based on his current cardiac, you know, study, i mean, his heart is very healthy. those are all things that we're looking at with regards -- you know, you're a neurosurgeon, you know, there's stroke issues there, too, but, you know, we're focusing on his cardiac, you know, health, and, you know, as an indicator of what the rest of his, you know, vascular health might be like. he has very -- he has no evidence of vascular disease. his heart exam, like i said, i think was in the excellent category, you know, we have a

lot of -- most cardiologists would put a patient on a larger dose of cholesterol medicine than that to start with. we're going to up that. i suspect we'his cholesterol, l will fall even more. like i said if we do the diet and exercise, i don't think that, you know, that he's got much room to do anything else. >> his vascular, you know, health overall looks very good right now. >> what about potential diabetic changes as a result of his weight? >> he has no -- yeah, right. >> what about potential -- because of the weight as he gets older? >> sure. you know, that's always a possibility. we'll monitor that. right now his hemogloben a1c was

normal. continue to be a routine thing we do every year. if that becomes a problem, we'll address. >> did you test his hearing? >> i did not test his hearing. i will test his hearing. the only reason i didn't test his hearing is i didn't have enough time to do it if this particular exam. we had the exam pretty packed and had to make some conscious decisions about what we didn't and did want to do. hearing seemed low on the priority list right now. it's something i can do at any given point. we will do that. i'll get a baseline hearing test on him just because i generally do that. >> thank you. does the president -- when the president has his colonoscopy at the next physical, is he going to be sedated? >> i will recommend he is. you can do virtual colonoscopies where you're not sedated. i'm a big fan of the optical colonoscopy. i will recommend if we does it next year that he be sedated and need an optical colonoscopy.

>> are you far of the decisionmaking process on handing over power to the vice president or whoever while he's sedated? >> i'll be make bing recommendations on that with the chief of staff and national security council and everybody else. i won't make that decision. i will be a part of that discussion. >> dr. jackson, thank you. you say that the president was the one who requested the cognitive test that it wasn't necessarily needed for someone of his age. did you -- did he tell you why he wanted it done? there's been a lot of speculation out there about his cognitive state. did -- was he upset with some of that talk? what were the discussions that you had from when he told you this is why i want to do it, why did he say he wanted to do it? >> he wasn't upset with it but did drive part of the process. this has been the narrative for a while. i think he saw doing the physical as an opportunity to put some of that to rest. and i think that, you know, he wasn't, you know, obviously the least bit concerned that he had

anything to hide so he sought -- he actively asked me to include that in it so we did. so that, you know, i think -- >> was there any one incident that kind of made him, you know, say, hey, this is something i want to do, or just a collection of voices, you know, of criticisms or -- >> not that i'm aware of. he didn't mention any one particular incident to me. the reason it came up is i was going over his physical exam with him discussing all the thing oa other things we were going to do and giving him a rundown of what we were going to do on that day and asked me at that point could i include this in the assessment? wasn't driven by anything that just happened. >> i mean, how about criticisms? >> i have no idea. he didn't discuss any of that stuff with me. f he asked me, said, hey, can we do this? so we did. >> on the president's stress levels, your conversations and examinations, did he express any change in how stressful this job or lack of stress that he's experienced as a result of becoming president? >> no, no. i talked to him sometimes about stress, you know, just because i think it's my job as his physician to bring that up on

occasi occasion. as i do with many many other members of the administration. i've never seen the president, you know, stressed out too much. i think the one thing i've noticed about him that i think is unique and i think this is just my personal opinion, this has nothing to do with my medical assessment, i think one of the things he has that's unique that i think is probably, i assume led to some of his sick suss over the years, he has a unique ability to get up in the morning and reset. i've seen it before, things are going. on you know, i think a lot of people around him and, you know, myself, if i were in that situation, i would get up the next morning and mplthe next da would build on the day before. i would start getting more and more stress. he has unique ability to press the reset button and gets up and starts a new day. i think that overall that has helped him, you know, with his stress level and with his, you know, made him healthier from a stress standpoint. >> follow up on the questions of

a few of my colleagues regarding an exercise reteen for toutine president. can you take us through specific exercises you and the president are considering as you look at this routine? >> new york i meo, i mean, thery of ways to do this, do stationary bike, do an elliptic elliptical, do treadmill. you know, i mean, i want to do something that's low impact. i don't want to do something that's going to cause the president to have, you know, joint issues and things of that nature, so what i'll do is look at, you know, how we can do something aerobically, how we can do it with minimum impact on his joints and that's what i'll approach him with. >> does he watch too much tv? >> i don't -- >> sedentary lifestyle sort of perspective. >> i'm not going to comment on that. i mean, i might comment on that if that were my 5-year-old. i might tell you they watch too much tv. the president, you know, he can watch as much tv as he wants. i don't know how much tv he watches. i'm not going to -- that's something i can't comment on. >> do you get what i'm asking? the seated sort of aspect of television watching versus the

active lifestyle part of it? >> i don't know what he's doing when he's watching tv most of the time. he might be, you know, in the office, he might be seated. i just don't know. i mean, i think he spends probably as much time seated in a sedentary role as a lot of us do that have office jobs and things of that nature. i don't think that the tv -- watching tv really contributes to that that much, in my opinion. >> performed a cognitive assessment. >> right. >> what is your take of all the doctors and clinicians all across the country who have said in this president they see symptoms of this, that and the other? >> symptoms? what way? >> symptoms of dementia, symptoms of -- >> i would say, you know, the american psychiatric association has said so, too. i think, you know, people shouldn't be making those kinds of assessments about the president unless they had the opportunity to get to know him and examine him. in my opinion, that's tabloid -- i'm not going to address it or fall into responding to those kinds of questions or accusations.

>> how would you describe his diet before he became president? a lot's been said about too much mcdonald's, too many burgers. do you think it was problematic? >> to be honest with you, i have no idea. i didn't know the president before january 20th so i never saw him eat a meal before january 20th. i have no information on that. >> thank you. you said you're not sure how much sleep he gets a night, but you assume it's between four to five hours. does that concern you? would you recommend him to try to get more sleep? >> i mean, sure, i think more sleep for all of us would be helpful but it doesn't really concern me because i think it's his nature. i think he's always been that way. i just think it works for him. it wouldn't work for me but it works for him. sure, if he could get more sleep, that would be great. i just don't think that, you know, that that's likely to happen. that's just the way he's wired. in the back? >> dr. jackson, did you tell the current president about his predecessors' exercise routine and does this president ask you

about how he could follow his predecessor's example to be as fit as barack obama was? and the second question, do you keep a tally of how much golf the u.s. president plays? that is something the press office repeatedly does not tell us. do you keep a tally and do you consider that exercise? >> no, i've not had that conversation. no, i don't keep a tally. and, yes, like everything else, being on the golf course, there is a certain amount of exercise involved in that. next question? >> dr. jackson, does the president take any medications that you haven't disclosed here today? >> he does not. he doesn't take any medications at all that i've not disclosed here. >> doctor, can you give us an idea of exactly what the cognitive exam involved over that half hour? and does that conclusively rule out any further psychological exam? >> yeah, like i said, it does. it -- you can look online and see what it's all about. it's, you know, you can -- it's easy to pill up, pull it up online. montreal cognitive assessment. you'll see it right there and

see what tall it entaall it ent. it does rule out the need to do any other cognitive testing. that's the reason you do it. it's a screening tool. if you do well on it, i think anything above 26 is normal. if you do certain -- if you get a 30 out of 30, i think you can, you know, you can confidently assume that you're done on the cognitive workup for now. >> do you have any concerns about the president's use of twitter? >> no. i don't -- you know, twitter doesn't involve me as a doctor. i don't have any concern on that. >> thank you, dr. jackson. the president is the first lifelong tetotaler and nonsmoke s er to sit in the office since president jimmy carter. can you say that's extended his life in any way and makes him unusually healthier for his age? >> i would say that my opinion, it's had a big impact, especially the smoking part of it. so, you know, like i said, you know, he has incredible cardiac fitness at this point in his

life. i think a large part of that is probably due to the fact that he has had a life of abstinence from tobacco and alcohol, in particular, tobacco. >> dr. jackson -- >> thank you. you mentioned a whole bunch of doctors that participated in friday's exam and there are other questions about the president's emotional health. is there anyone on the president's medical team such as a psychiatrist or psychologist whose job it is to monitor the president's emotional state or watch for potential psychiatric problems or indicators of those? >> no, that's not anyone's official duty. i have all specialists at my disposal. both civilian and military, including psychiatry should i need them, but that's really my job as his primary care doctor and i'm pretty suited for it in the sense that i see him on a regular basis every day. so i think that that falls upon me to do that. >> thank you.

did you make any recommendations to the president against burnout, mental burnout, first and foremost, like meditation, or mindfulness? where do you stand on that? >> the question is would i recommend any type of alternative medicine? >> no, no, no. recommendation against burnout, like meditation or mindfulness. where do you stand on that? >> sure, i mean, i think those are all, you know, relaxation methods, i think that, you know, in general, any of us that can get involved in that that can find the time for that, i think those are helpful and that they make you healthier. so, yeah, i mean, i'm not opposed to, you know, him being involved in those kinds of things in the future.

>> what do you think you're going to get him to do as far as exercise? be his exercise buddy if he needs one. >> i'm going to get him to do some stuff. we're going to make sol progress. i'm not worried about it. >> like what? >> we'll see. it's going be some aerobic exercise. you know, like i said, it's going to be something that spares his joints and is healthy for him. we're going to work on that. >> yes, thanks, doctor. would your office be working with the white house chef at all in terms of formulating what kind of diet it's going to be? >> am i working with him? >> right. is there sort of some lockstep -- >> like i said, to this point, i haven't been as involved in that as i want to be. i'm getting -- i will become much more involved in that relationship from this point forward. since the president has given me direction to do so. >> you made a statement saying that you expect the president to be in good health for the

next -- for the duration of his term or even a second term if he gets it. was there a specific request from the president to make that statement or from anyone in the administration or anyone in the white house? >> no, absolutely not. i think -- someone asked the question regarding fitness for dut a duty. it's a natural extension of the fitness for duty assessment. you know, now and for the rem d remainder of this presidency. i just followed that up with, you know, one term or two terms, you know, so no one had prompted me or prepped me to answer in any such way. >> answering questions here for more than 50 minutes, but my take, which i think is really extraordinary, is that an indication of the president's desire to put all these rumors and questions to rest once and for all? >> absolutely. i think the president encouraged me to come out and he specifically told me, he said i want you to get out there and i want you to talk to them and i want you to answer every single question they have. he asked me -- he called sarah

and told sarah, i do not want you pulling him off that stage. you leave him up there until he's ready to come off. so, yeah, i think that two reasons, one is because the president wants me up here. and two, because as of friday i was pretty excited about gettin health. friday was a good day. he gave me a lot of -- it made me enthusiastic about being up here today. so it's really where we're going. >> will you do this next year? >> absolutely. yeah. >> dr. jackson, one more question about the montreal exam. now there are many mental status exams. they're pretty good but not really sensitive if someone's already high functioning. they're not good at finding early stages of dementia. if the president's worried about it, would you recommend more sophisticated exams? >> yeah, if he's worried about it which he's not, i think, right, i think they are actually pretty specific at finding, you know, subtle cognitive changes, at least everything i've read about him, you know, you know, they tell you the psychiatrist

and psychologist that utilize these things will tell you that they will pick up stuff, you know, that even the patient sometimes is not aware of. so i think that they're great screening tools and i think short of having any type of issue with that -- with a cognitive screening tool, i would recommend doing anything beyond that. >> are you saying -- this is my -- are we saying that because of reagan, all right, we had issues with reagan, and the issues about this president's cognitive testing, mental acuity testing is not commonly part of an annual physical with the president of the united states? . >> i'm saying i'm totally unaware of this ever being done before. as far as i know, no president has ever had a cognitive assessment as president of the united states. this is the very first time it's ever happened. if anybody is aware of it happening before. -- >> in my opinion as his physician, no. you know, if the american public somehow thinks that's part of an assessment for a president, i

suppose they can, you know, they can incorporate that into, you know, your ability to run for president or serve in office. that's really not my call. i approach the president like i would any other patient and he has gone above and beyond what i would consider a requirement to demonstrate his cognitive abilities. >> so with the questions that have been asked -- >> next question. >> dr. jackson, a president playing golf a lot, almost every weekend, does that help for his health? >> is it healthy for him? >> yes. >> i think so. be outside and, you know, it's, you know, it's a good way to, you know, to relieve all the stress. i think if that's what he enjoys doing, i think it's healthy for him to do it. >> dr. jackson, thank you. you said he doesn't drink and he doesn't smoke. and other than the diet issue, did you address drug addiction? >> drug addiction? >> any other drugs? >> no, no, he has no drug addiction. absolutely not. >> thank you for your time, dr.

jackson. >> simple question. >> okay. sarah is going to wrap it up. >> with the questions that you've asked -- >> i'm going to take one for question from somebody else. one more question. >> here. >> back there. >> okay. thanks. so could you give us a sense of how involved the first family is? the first lady, his daughter, others, encouraging him to be, step up on the exercise. >> sure. yeah, they're involved in it. you know, his daughter, ivanka, and mrs. trump, are both p proponents of eating healthier and exercising so they'll be partners of mine in, you know, in working this out. so, yeah, they're involved in it. absolutely. sor sorry, i wasn't trying to be disrespectful. i was trying to spread the wealth. >> my question is with all the questions that have been asked, going back to that issue, everyone asked about mental acuity. those questions have been in the public. he told sarah to tell you to stay up there until those

questions are answered. going forward, would you recommend that presidents undergo that type of testing? >> no, i don't think so because like i said, i think that, you know, i'm comfortable with the algorithms that are out there. most of the algorithms out there start with personal observation and, you know, observation, you know, of the physician, you know, and the patient and, you know, the family and the patient, and then they go to screening questions after that. and then after screening questions, they go to a screening assessment tool. like the one we used. and then if that's -- if that's, you know, abnormal in some way, then they go on to other types of more detailed cognitive testing. so i think there's a healthy algorithm in place and i think that, you know, that in the future that should be a decision between, you know, the president and their physician and i would have no problem in the future if, you know, someone comes in and takes my place and there's another president here, them following that particular algorithm. i'm comfortable with that algorithm. i think we followed that algorithm. had i followed the algorithm to a "t," we would not have done

the test. we did this test because the president added to his physical exam. that's it, guys. that's all the questions i'm taking. thank you for your time. i appreciate it. >> see you next year. thank you very much. >> well, that was informative. think we covered just about everything that we could possibly think of when it comes to the president's health. because it's late in the afternoon and we've been in the room for an hour and i know you all have probably stories to write and things to file, we're going to keep this last little bit pretty short. i'll take a few questions, but we're going to keep today pretty short but we'll go ahead and dive right in. >> sarah, the president, is he still scheduled to release the fake news report tomorrow? >> we'll keep you posted on any details around that potential event and what that would look like. john? >> thank you, sarah. it's widely reported yesterday that in contrast to his past three predecessors, the president did not take any part

in any memorials of dr. martin luther king jr. or appeared at any public functions on that. any reason why? >> the president participated in an event on friday to honor the life of service of martin luther king jr. and we would like to continue to do projects and events throughout the year and not just have one day, but certainly wanted to recognize that here at the white house through the event on friday and weal continue to be involved in efforts and opportunities moving forward. over the course of the year and over the course of the president's term. hallie? >> immigration discussions that he thought that the president was on track to come to a deal with him and senator durbin up to two hours before last week's immigration oval office meeting on thursday. he says something happened between 10:00 and 12:00. he says the president got bad advice from staff members, potentially including stephen miller, potentially including john kelly. what happened in those two hours? what changed? is stephen miller running the show now? what's going on?

is. >> hardly. so to be very clear, the president's running the show. here at the white house. and, look, i was part of this process and part of the conversations that went on. the president simply, as he looked at the deal, he wants a good deal. he wants the right deal. he laid out what his priorities were, what needed to be included in tany piece of legislation an simply failed to address the things that were laid out. specifically one of the areas that really, really fell short was the funding for border security. they only put in about one-tept tenth of what the department of homeland security said they needed. not what they said they wanted. what they said they needed. this was simply a complete failure in terms of a good deal based on what the president had laid out and based on what he wanted to see in a piece of legislation. hopefully we get there. we're still going to continue working with members of both republicans and democrats, house and senate members, to try to

make a deal on daca and make sure that we include those components that the president very clearly has laid out. >> merit-based -- >> sorry, i'm going to pop around today since we're on a short timeframe. >> picking up on what you left off on, does a good deal include then preferring white immigrants from norway than -- >> not at all. in fact, it's actually the opposite. by definition a merit-based system is colorblind. it's not basing it on any of that criteria. it's not based on race, not based on religion, not based on country of origin. it's actually fwas babased on t merits of whether or not this person is going to be contributing to society. actually it erases all those things and makes it a much more fair system instead of picking and choosing trying to meet different quotas of different things. it's a merit-based system and, frankly, a system that most democrats supported and voted for just years ago. now that this president is championing it, they are, i think, showing just absolute signs and definitions of what hypocrisy looks like.

look, the bottom line is, we want a deal on daca. they want a deal on daca. we want a deal on border security. they want a deal on border security. they said they support these things. they also said in the past they support merit-based immigration. i don't see what is complicated here. we all want the same things. democrats need to quit playing politics and start doing what they were elected to do and that is governing and they need to come to the table with the real deal based on the parameters that were discussed in the meeting that most of you saw and let's try to get something done for the american people. >> the president did mention country of origin. the fact of the matter is the countries that he mentioned, one is very white and the others are very not white. so that is about race. is it not? >> no, it's not. again, the president has laid out what he wants to see in an immigration process and that is a merit-based system. you cannot argue with the priority that he has laid out, what that looks like and how it actually levels the playing field and is the opposite of what you're suggesting. blake? >> sarah, thanks, to pick up on

what hallie asked, something clearly changed twine tuesday when the president said bring me any deal you agreed to and -- >> to be clear, he didn't say bring any me deal two people agree to. he said the people at this table, i'm confident you will come together and address the situation and the concerns that we have laid out. and that you will answer the call that has been made and that simply didn't happen in this deal. >> is it simply if you say that they came here with one-tenth of the border wall funding that if more money comes to the wall, you've got a daca deal? >> we also want to see an end to chain migration, see an end to the visa lottery system and see merit-based immigration. so those are the components that we've laid out. the president's viewpoint on this has been consistent. it thant chanhasn't changed. what was reflected in the deal is not what the president laid out. >> is the president concerned about steve bannon might tell the mueller grand jury? is. >> not that i'm aware of. no. trey? >> two questions. did the white house tell steve bannon not to answer certain questions before the house intelligence committee today? >> there's a statement i'll

read. as with all congressional inquiries touching upon the white house, congress must consult with the white house prior to obtaining confidential material. this is part of a judicially recognized process that goes back decades. we've been cooperating fully with these ongoing investigations and encourage the committees to work with us to find an appropriate accommodation in order to ensure congress obtains information necessary to its legitimate interests." >> sarah, in the oval office today the president said he wants immigrants to come in from everywhere and does everywhere include those six countries that were on the travel ban list? >> look, like the president said, he wants immigrants to come in from everywhere, but he wants to do that through a merit-based system. shannon? >> does that merit-based system -- >> hello, all ten of you that hung in with us through an hour-long report that amounted to the president of the united states is fit as a fiddle and ten minutes of sarah huckabee sanders trying to explain away the president's moves and comments in immigration meetings. let me give you the headlines on the president's health. he apparently according to his

doctor, dr. ronny jackson, has gone above and beyond to prove his cognitive ability. proving that he also consumes a whole lot of news. he weighs 239 pounds. it's been suggested that he start dieting and exercising. we've got other breaking news today, though, in the russia investigation. for the first time since special counsel bob mueller took over the investigation into possible ties between donald trump's campaign and russia, he's using his broad subpoena power. "the new york times" breaking the news today that steve bannon, the president's former chief strategist, who now famously describes the president's son as treasonous for hosting russians at trump tower during the campaign has now been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury. this story comes as steve bannon is on the hill today testifying before the house intel committee. we are joined now by the reporter who broke that story, michael schmidt, plus jeremy bash, former chief of staff for the cia and pentagon. and steve schmidt, republican

strategist and msnbc contributor. michael, let me read a little bit from your piece. you write "some legal experts say the subpoena could be a sign that the investigation was intensifying, while others said it may simply have been a negotiating tactic to persuade mr. bannon to cooperate with the investigation. the experts also said it could be a signal to mr. bannon who's tried to publicly patch up his falling out with the president that despite mr. trump's legal threats, mr. bannon must be completely forthcoming with investigators. prosecutors generally prefer to interview witnesses before a grand jury when they believe they have information that the witnesses do not know or when they think they might catch the witnesses in a lie." tell us about the piece and the new reporting. >> well, we don't have a lot of insight into mueller's motivations here, but what mueller did was treated bannon differently than he's treated everyone else. in the last few months of last year, mueller had a bunch of white house officials come in and sit for informal interviews in a less formal setting of his

office here in washington. but in the case of bannon, he went to him and gave him a subpoena. this came after the book came out. and it just sort of raised the question of why was it that mueller was going to such lengths to do this with bannon? was it just sort of an opening offer to try and him to come in for an interview? we're not sure. we think mueller will allow bannon to sit for an interview, but at the same time, just sort of injects something different into this story that we haven't seen before. >> a lawyer said to me, he underscored your point there that i read, that sometimes a witness is subpoenaed if they want to compel testimony that they believe might prove someone else has lied. so who are the last, you know, i don't know, five or six people who have been before -- i mean, we now know that a whole bunch of white house aides have sat with bob mueller's investigators and i guess, i don't want to put people on the spot because that would be speculation, but the events that bannon can speak to and speaks to is very forthcoming about in the wolff

book are the comey firing and the cover story written aboard air force one. do you have any sense that those are incidents that mueller is particularly keen to understand better? >> yeah, i mean, those are two snebtlooking very much so at. he's tried to understand what the the president's true motivations were. why was it he really wanted to fire comey? was it because comey had been too harsh to hillary clinton or have something to do with the russia investigation? what were the president's intents? on the plane, the flight, he's trying to understand was the president trying to throw off the investigation by putting information out there that wasn't accurate? i don't have any evidence that bannon was being brought in to try and prove that someone else didn't tell the truth, but it just didn't make sense to us at the end of last year that all these officials, pretty much everyone, every senior, current, former white house official, had gone in to see mueller but bannon hadn't. and if mueller is going to complete this investigation in a way that the public believes his

findings, believes he's exhausted everything, he would certainly have to take to someone that was so close to the president. >> and jeremy bash, i know that men like bob mueller are too serious to dive into juicy political tell-alls, but i wonder if there are some scenes that were painted that may be the kind of scenes he's trying to assemble from people who are testifying under oath, at risk of perjuring themselves and perhaps going to jail. i wonder if from your vantage point if those scenes are the two i mentioned or if there are others or if he wants to know what bannon may have overheard about what i think amounts to 19 or 20 contacts with russians during the campaign and many of those predate bannon, but he was certainly there over the summer and through that final stretch of the general election. >> prosecutors and investigators do read public accounts, and if the president's blood pressure is 122 over 74, it's probably going up, nicolle, because when

bannon goes before the grand jury, he's not going to have a lawyer. he's going to have to testify under oath and there's going to be a transcript. and i don't think that the reason that he's going before the grand jury is because he wants to show loyalty to the president. that doesn't add up to me. i don't think that's the advice his excellent counsel would give him. it's too risky, frankly, it's too risky to the client, to bannon. i think, clearly, bob mueller believes that he needs bannon a little bit more of a hostile setting because bannon has some information. either about the trump tower meeting or about what transpired during the transition or more likely in my view, what happened in the west wing around the time that jim comey was fired that bob mueller needs for his investigation. >> when you say his excellent counselor, are you talking about bill burke? >> i am. >> my understanding is that from sources close to bannon and burke is that bill burke at this moment is representing him in front of house intel and that his representation at this hour does not include in front of bob mueller. can we talk about that house

intel appearance today for a second, jeremy? it's our understanding and sarah huckabee sanders got hit with a question about this just before we pulled out of that briefing that there was terrain that the house intelligence committee wanted to cover with bannon today that they couldn't. is there a process by which the committee needs to get permission from the white house and sarah huckabee sanders seems to suggest there? >> well, yeah, i think there's two things. number one is, it seems like the house intelligence committee's investigation is not looking at the comey firing. believe it or not. but that's the direction the republican majority has gone. they say they're only looking at the campaign. obviously, mueller's investigation goes beyond that. and second is it is possible that bannon tried to invoke executive privilege to protect any conversations he had with the president when bannon served in the white house. of course, bob mueller can use the grand jury to overcome those executive privilege conversations. i think it's another reason mueller will favor using the

grand jury in the bannon interview. >> steve, let me get you back to where michael schmidt had taken us and read you a quote about what we're talking about. "it's not clear why mr. mueller treated bannon differently than the dozen administration officials interviewed in the final months of last year. the subpoena is a sign that mr. bannon is not personally the focus of the investigation. the justice department rule allow prosecutors to subpoena targets only in rare circumstances." so tell me where you think steve bannon fits in if he's not the target as a witness? to what do you believe bob mueller would like to understand? what do you think bannon's either public comments or the testimony that mueller has heard since the end of the year, what makes bannon so compelling as a witness, not a target, a witness, that he would subpoena h h him? take this extraordinary step at least in terms of the mueller investigation so far. >> well, n h steve bannon saw everything that went on in the campaign.

he knows everything. he was an integral player in it and also has deep connections to the mercers and cambridge analytica, the spine of the campaign's data operations. when you look a the michael wolff book, i think the thing that the special counsel would be most interested in is the representation by steve bannon when he said there's just zero chance that these russians who were meeting in trump tower with don junior, jared kushner, paul manafort would have been brought up to see donald trump. and that was big news in the book that i don't think got enough attention. and what's always been true about this investigation, we know what we know. we know a lot more than we did a year ago. but we certainly don't know as much as robert mueller does about his investigation and so once again, steve bannon, who has nothing left to lose but to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, imagine this creates a great deal of anxiety around this

white house and particularly for jared kushner and donald trump junior. >> michael schmidt, you also write the significant grand jury activity may undermine the case that white house officials have made for months that they belief the inquiry is coming to an end and are convinced that the president will be cleared. we keep hearing that the president's lawyers are trying to soothe him into thinking that this is almost over but your reporting certainly suggests that that is not the case. not even close. >> i mean, that's the real question of sort of where we stand with the investigation right now. is it coming to an end? h is it going to wrap up in the next few months? are they going to interview the president? mueller said he's going to be done here. or are we simply maybe just a third, halfway through? the thing is is that the white house was saying last year that they thought this would be done by thanksgiving. then they said it would be done by the end of the year. it's obviously still continuing to go. something that would show that it was coming to an end would be an interview with the president. we don't know that that's scheduled. so, you know, despite the fact

that the white house has tried to put off this image that they've cooperated fully and it's coming to an end, it still looks like there's a lot more runway here. >> jeremy bash, someone reminded me today that while me today that while steve bannon was the architect of economic nationalism that embodiyed the trump campaign, mike flynn was the other half of the coin of trumpism in the campaign and he populated all of the president's thoughts on what that looked like on a national security side and that steve bannon may have more to say than people think about mike flynn. and they cooperated for an unknown period with the probe, and he may have told anecdotes that suggest that steve bannon could be useful and painting a picture of what the president knew and when he knew it when it concerned mike flynn.

>> it is possible that he may have knowledge about the conversations between the trump campaign and the representatives of the russian government. it is also important that he commented about the money laundering issue. that if you followed the money, you would turn up criminaltivitcriminaltivit activity. >> i think bob muler will be asking him about that. particularly as he tries this this spring on a list of final crimes, it could support that prosecuti prosecution. >> when we come back, as an enabler gets grilled on capitol hill, we'll go in the great

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they fester. they become poison. they give license to bigotry and hate in our country. >> today's explosive capitol hill hearing about donald trump's immigration hearing where he called african countries bleep holes may have been inspired be this morning's interview with "the washington post." they write trump's ping-ponging from deal making to feuding from elation to fury has come to defy the talked between the white house and congress perplexing members of both parties as they navigate his vulgarities, combativeness, and willingness to change his decision. he is increasing the possibility of a government shut down. ashley parker, joining us from the white house, also with us at

the table, and elena max we'll, a former clinton campaign advisor, and columnist for real clear politics. ashley, let me start with your reporting. he said that the people involved in the meetinger with stuffed which i just heard her describe as not a reversal at all. take us in that meeting. >> sure, it was a reveral on who levels fwrb that remarkable open press meeting where the president said basically bring me a deal, you know better than i do and i'll sign it, and it was a reversal from phone conversations they had with the president that morning when they were invited to come meet with him. they were startled and surprised to find a number of immigration hardliners, republican senators, republican house members were there and the president's mood and demeanor in tone were very

different than when they were talking to him that morning and he seemed open to a parent deal. >> and questions about his cognitive abilities, but let me ask you about corey booker. courage for coming out and telling the truth about what went down in that meeting. he called out homeland security secretary neilson. >> i think it was ri kick rouse she said today that she could not remember. i remember what happened seven days ago. >> yeah, she needs something to work on her memory, but the passion he showed i think illustrated what a lot of americans are feeling, particularly mens of color. . what does that feel like as a citizen of this country? it is painful, the passion that you heard in his voice

represents what a lot of americans feel, which is pain, particularly after similar le charlottesville. calling them liars and saying the white house under cut them. >> senator lindsey graham under cut them. he was perfectly clear in statements to the press that his memory has not changes. that senator cannoten must have convinced him to retreat to his openness on a deal. he said i don't know where that guy is but i want him to come back. if you read between the lines, he is accusing senator purdue and cotton of making up a story and accusing senator durbin of creating a story and that is really extraordinary behavior. >> steve, we only have ten seconds, i'm sorry, my friend. >> the secretary of homeland

security is a liar, she never should have been confirmed we talked about tom cannoten being render rendered unfit. >> stethank you very much. "mtp daily" starts now. >> steve schmidt is always on the fence about things. he is so wishy washy on the one hand on the other hand. >> yeah, maybe if we had more time we could pin him down, right? >> have a good show. >> if it's tuesday there is no trust and we verify that. how broken trust in the president risks a break down of