>> hello, good day. brian williams here with you as we come on the air for live coverage of president biden's first formal news conference, 65 days into his administration. we're scheduled to get under way in about 15 minutes in the east room of the white house. our chief white house correspondent peter alexander is standing by to start off our live coverage. peter, a casual list i put together of potential topics today, pandemic and vaccines, economy, filibuster, gun control, southern border, russia, china, north korea, voting rights, oh, and there's a vote blocking the suez canal. other than that, nothing going on. >> brian, you're exactly right, that's what happens when you're president 65 days. the issues on your plate begin to pile up. one when you're president and what this white house will focus

on and we're told that's what the president will say trying to make news setting the table, as a matter of fact, beginning this news conference saying his new vaccination goal will be 200 million shots in american arms in his first 100 days. they hit the 100 million mark last friday. that was day 59. it would seem like an ambitious goal but the fact is we're on pace to hit that 200 million mark at this time. that's the message they want to focus on. but consider what's happened in the last nine days since the white house announced today's news conference. you have pair of mass shootings, new missile test by north korea and number of illegal border crossings along the u.s./mexico border has grown dramatically. all of those issues the president will be forced to address over the course of this news conference today. i'm told he has prepared for it. no sort of formal prep sessions that he's done, tabletop sessions with his teams here recognizing the significance of this moment. one in the east wing, one in the west wing, with some of his

advisers trying to get him to boil down and synthesize the case he wants to make. they want to hear a firm and passionate defense of his agenda. obviously, this is the first time in quite an extended time, that we've seen him for this length of time without a script. dates back, frankly, in some ways to the debates during the course of the campaign. how will he handle himself? white house officials tell me they hope he doesn't spar with reporters. they doubt he would do that. though he's bristled at tough dwes before. they say he needs to be reminded and will recognize the real audience are americans back at home, brian. >> peter alexander on the white house north lawn to start off our coverage. let's go to the pacific northwest, dr. ben gupta to talk about the topic of the pandemic and these vaccines. dr. gupta is a pulmonologist, pandemic consultants and for good reason among our medical

contributors. doctor, this goal of 200 million vaccines in the first 100 days is certainly ambitious, but as peter said, we're on track. >> good afternoon, brian. good to see you, we are on track. frankly, for all of your viewers out there, we need to hit that number. it's appropriate that the administration is talking with these types of numbers, this magnitude vaccination because speed is critical. we're in a tenuous reality right now, brian, where, for example, the toronto region just north of us, they have high test positivity rates, 12% to 15% in parts of this reason. very much locked down. paris icus are filled to capacity. italy just locked down again. we're seeing unfortunately sad numbers in terms of high death tolls out of latin america still. so we're surrounded by chaos, which is why you're seeing the president's message on the importance of speed here. it's about speed for us to reach

normalcy by july 4th. but make no mistake, the rest of the world here is on a very much different timeline. >> jacob soboroff standing by to take us to the other topic of the day, and that is the southern border. jacob, last night we had julia ainsley on the broadcast. she reported, we obviously have seen the video that was allowed by the government yesterday to our crew on the condition we share it with other networks, but we heard the first kind of transparency with numbers. numbers of young people in u.s. hands. it sounds like we're getting there, like it's been a long, long process. >> the goal, brian, you know as you said is to reduce capacity, to reduce overcrowding and those numbers are fluctuating. at times getting better but then verting back to a crisis

capacity. when i think crisis, it's not a national security crisis, it's a humanitarian crisis of too many children held in border patrol stations, whether it's in the rio grande valley or that donna, texas facility, over 1,000% capacity. or this sector here in uma, where it's the second-most-crowded border, over 49% capacity available bed space in these border patrol stations where alejandro mayorkas, the secretary of homeland security, says they're no place for children. they're very straightforward about that. the challenge is, how will they get them out? president biden will have to answer for that. short-term situation here at the border but also longer-term plan. what does it mean to have a safe, humane and orderly immigration process as they promised? secretary mayorkas been clear about that as well but we haven't heard it spelled out yet by the biden administration. what does it look like to depart from the trump administration and democratic and republican deterrence based, punitive based

policies before that. hopefully we'll get some answers from the president of the united states. >> jacob soboroff, covering the border front and dr. gupta before that on the medical front. gentlemen, thank you very much. we have other guests with us waiting to take our questions, former senator claire mccaskill of the great state of missouri and former chairman of the rnc, michael steele, both among our political analysts. senator, i will start with you, what do you think j.b. will have to say as president? >> i they he has to speak candidly and have some discipline to make sure he is not pulled off message. i think you want to stay on covid and relief package that is moving people back into schools, moving shots into people's arms

and obviously delivering economic recovery but there's no question this immigration issue is going to be one i hope he's prepared for, because the messaging has been muddled here. i think they want to make sure they send a signal we're going to try to take good care of the children that show up without adults. on the other hand i think the message has been muddled about people who are children that are showing up. are they denying them entry? do we have any video of them being asked to go back to where they came from? because they have to come through legal processes rather than just showing up at the border. that's his challenge, to show he can be humane as relates to not separating families and children but also recognizing there has to be some kind of control at the border. >> michael steele, as has been pointed out, it is true that the trump administration kind of pulled apart the known processes

at the border. it is true that the biden administration did not have the benefit of the usual and full transition period. to the senators' point, how much of this is communications? how much of this is telling their story, delivering their message loudlythe american peop seeing these pictures every day and night? >> it's all communication at this point, this moment. look, this -- this press conference is having a lot more drama attended to it than it ordinarily should and that's because we're 65 days into the administration. there is some legitimacy to the point that republicans and others have made that waiting this long sort of sets up the game. and sometimes that game can be set up against you. imagine if you had this first press conference two weeks or even a week after the

inauguration. it's a very different dynamic. a lot of issues we're dealing with now, the administration is dealing with, wouldn't have been on the table then. so you can begin to set your narrative. and then roll into that narrative these issues as they occur. you know find yourself 65 days in, going a little bit up a communication hill here in trying to make it very clear where the administration is heading on a number of issues, not just a singular issue like covid-19. so this is all about communications today. i would say the message on the border has not just been muddled, it has been largely absent in some respects and has allowed others to define what's happening at the border in the absence of any clear sounding direction from the administration at this point. so that puts a lot of pressure on how the president now comes to the country before this white house press corps and lays out

exactly what has happened and what he's doing and what he will do going forward, not just on covid, but on the border situation. and then, of course, you've got later on, the two mass shootings that have occurred within the last week. so there's a lot to this president to communicate on. >> nbc news capitol hill correspondent kasie hunt also joining our conversation at this hour. k.c., let's take one of michael steele's points. 65 days in to the administration having what we now call the first formal news conference. of course, in this day and age, presidents talk on their way to and from the helicopter, presidents talk at photos ops, presidents have twitter accounts, at least current presidents and i want to read you something from the journalist dave weigel. this was back on march 16th. he was in on the joke the day it was announced that president

biden would be doing this. did biden agree to do a press conference? i was in a blue collar diner and all of a sudden working class voters got on the tables and started dancing. you see what he's driving at, there's a certain what aboutism, a certain false equivalence in our coverage that campaigned to get joe biden to hold a formal news conference in many ways started as part of fox news primetime programming because they needed to foment and raise a question. >> so, look, brian, one of the earliest things i learned about being a journalist at ap is we're never the story. the press is not the story. that said, why is it important for a president to hold a press conference even when they have all of these other tools of communication? because the reason the press is important because is because every american can't be in that room and the idea is that reporters are able to get a chance to press the president in

a setting that's not scripted, where they don't get a chance to set the agenda themselves to have the conversation on their own terms in a way that does a better job of showing the american people what's really going on, what the president really thinks. in an age when social media on the one hand has been democratizing in terms of allowing more voices to have access to bigger audiences, it used to be just the news wires or our tv broadcasts have the ability to reach that many people, that's obviously not true anymore, but it's also had the effect of making it so that politicians can avoid filters and go straight to those audiences, which removes, frankly, a layer of accountability. you and i are charged with seeing the information that politicians provide and then trying to help our audiences understand that making sure we fill in context, that we point out untruths, lies, mistruths.

obviously, we spent a lot of time doing that during the trump administration. this is a normal ritual of a white house, something president biden campaigned on bringing back. i would be very surprised if this turns into basically the circus we saw former president trump's first press conference turn into. i'm sure you were watching that day. i remember going down into the basement tunnels of the capitol and trying to find a member of the congress who stopped to watch the president's press conference. it was very difficult to do because it was so controversial. i don't think that's going to be the case this time. i think there are democrats who are going to be very proud of what they see from president biden and, of course, republicans who are going to feel as though he said things that they disagree with and there are policies that they oppose. but we're in a much different environment now than we ever have been. and i do think it's important to

underscore that we're dealing with complicated, difficult issues. we've been in a pandemic for a year. people are really struggling. there are kids who are not in school, people who lost loved ones. we lost over a half a million people. when you stack those challenges up against whether or not the president is having a press conference, obviously it's clear what the most important issue here is. it doesn't mean this isn't something important for presidents who want to adhere to the norms of the office do. and president biden has said he wants to be somebody who does that. >> also, k.c., just as a viewer's guide, the east room will look quite different because of the pandemic. the folks at bloomberg news tweeted out one still picture of the early layout of the ee lectern, lights and seats because we have to keep that in mind. but my casual lips of potential

topics if you don't count the ships stuck in the suez canal, pandemic, vaccines, economy, filibuster, gun control, southern border, russia, china, north korea in no particular order, and voting rights. so this could be -- this could be a long one. you mentioned your experience with the associated press. that will also be interesting to see if the traditional first reporter is called upon and the traditional last reporter is called upon to say thank you mr. president. >> it will be, brian. that's the tradition jen psaki brought back to the briefing room. that tradition it used to be based on how quickly the wires needed to get their copy out the door so newspapers could print it out across the country. that's how the tradition originally started, the associated press asked the first and last question. it will be interesting to see how they decide to handle it today for sure. but you're right, it's an incredibly long list much issues just a couple of months into the

administration. already all of these problems, many of which festered or altered by the trump administration when they were office exploded as problems for president biden. they announced this press conference i believe nine days before now it's taking place. honestly, it's a very different conversation today than it would have been had they done the press conference the day they announced they were going to plan it. there are quite a few tough questions. and, of course, many of the issues you listed, immigration, gun reform, voting rights, are all winding their way through congress, which, of course, i cover every day and they will have to make a big decision about the filibuster as well, brian. >> absolutely, which brings us back to claire mccaskill. claire, yesterday it was bracing to hear mitch mcconnell with a straight face, which he always employs, claim that there were not efforts across our country

with voter suppression, all numbers and reports to the contrary. >> he's well at that, he's good at the straight-face number when he knows better. i think you will see the president generally deflect on the specifics of how these measures are going to work their way through the senate. one of the things that have been missing in sort of our coverage of the filibuster issue is there is an assumption out there this is being held up just by john manchin or maybe krysten sinema. there's more than a here handful of senators that would like to see rule changes that make the senate work better and make the filibuster more painful that aren't ready to completely blow up a mex nix to try to get bipartisan support. i think joe biden knows that. so what he's got to do is keep his answers -- to answer the questions but keep them short and keep his eye on the very

important number. that's his 60% approval. he's flying with high approval now in this kind of polarized environment. i think his team wants more than anything for him to leave that podium with the 60% approval intact. >> michael steele to claire's exact point, there are so many politicians who would love to take a 60% approval rating out for a spin. >> yeah, yeah. and all of them are on capitol hill. they haven't seen those numbers in like forever. so it's -- it's a very special moment for them and that's to the president's advantage. he can create a little bit of drag for some of them or he can create a little bit of wind or coattail around various initiatives. i think that's going to be a really good opportunity on a number of the issues that k.c. laid out that the president can take advantage of.

i think it starts for him today. again, would have been a little easier ride had some of the issues had the administration's moderate voice in play in terms of the various news cycles that have come before but that's not his situation now. maybe the thinking is because there's so much, some of it will kind of fall to the side. to that point about keeping that 60% approval intact, while he will zero in on the things the american people are most focused on and that still remains covid in many respects and certainly what's happening at the border. >> just to our viewers, while michael was talking, we got our first access to the live picture in the east room. again, this is not quite going to seem like the east room press conferences of our youth or of years past. you see the lone podium.

you see the line to get remote photography shots and the few journalists within the room keeping with cdc guidelines are vastly spaced out. we'll see the president come in for the side door on the right and will let you know when we are right under two minutes. joining our conversation is our political contributor and importantly former national security adviser ben rhodes from the obama administration. ben, it is quite a menu for overseas challenges, leaving aside north korea tossing up a handful of missiles on a handful of days recently, the reset of the china relationship, reset of the russia relationship into something that american adults would call normal for this era, all of it in your bailiwick and all of it now front and center for joe biden. >> that's right, brian.

these press conferences aren't just closely watched here in the united states. they're watched around the world. we've seen in success russia withdraw an ambassador, chinese diplomat kind of trying to dress down our secretary of state, north korea firing these missiles. it's common adversaries early in the administration test new administrations. i think what you will see from joe biden today though is he's not going to take the bait and be deterred from his approach either home or abroad by what's happening overseas. he's going to stay i restored america's alliances. we're going to deal with the threats and challenges working shoulder to shoulder with our allies. i'm once again standing up for our values. that's why i called out vladimir putin and delivered a tough message to the chinese and we can handle our business. frankly, it's a contrast to his predecessor, who when north korea fired off its missiles, we had a year of ratcheting up a threat to nuclear war, followed

by a summit with nothing more than for donald trump. and joe biden said i handle my business, i have allies on my side and i stand up for things america expects us to stand up for, including democracy and the security of ourselves and our allies. >> ben, because of the security of north korea, because as recently as last night they sent up their most recent missiles, let's talk briefly about that. we're awaiting an official two-minute warning before we see the president. what started to your point as the fire-and-fury exchange ended up with north korea quickly realizing the way into our president was through flattery and the largest possible stationary letterhead hand delivered what the president referred to as quasi love letters between the two leaders. what was gained from any of that? what was gained having the u.s.

president cross over the dmz? what did we get from that that, for example, might have stilted north korean military or nuclear development during all of those years? >> really didn't get much of anything, brian. the reality is, north korea continued to advance nuclear weapons and build new nuclear weapons, continued to advance its ballistic missile program. for a period of time, you saw a reduction in these kinds of tests but that didn't mean north korea wasn't still doing the work. and at the same time what happened is the united states with our allies, south korea and japan, were right there in that neighborhood, right there on the frontlines of those issues, those suffered greatly. you had donald trump basically badgering the south koreans to pay us more, frosted relationships with japan. what joe biden is trying to do is reset the dynamics so the united states is once again friends with south korea and

japan, our democratic allies and not the murderous dictators threatening them and us. that's why you saw secretary of defense and secretary of state go to japan, resume the normal military exercises we do with them that president trump had suspended and, frankly, they're hosting at the white house defending south korea in the coming days, where i'm sure they will talk about the response to the provocations. but i'm sure you know we saw a big show and spectacle in singapore sitting the same size as donald trump's self-regard but we got nothing for it. this problem didn't get solved, in fact, it got worse and now joe biden is dealing with it, like, candidly, every other american president from the post cold war years had to deal with it. >> ben rhodes will be watching for the issues important to him. and joining us someone else who will be watching what the president has to say and that's former hud secretary and former 2020 democratic presidential candidate julian castro. mr. secretary, tell us what's on

your list? what do you want to hear addressed? >> well, it's clear that the president has a lot of things going for him right now. millions of americans are getting the stimulus checks. a lot of folks are getting vaccines. one of the issues on the front burner the last ten days has been immigration. i think on this issue people are looking for solutions on the left and right. i think people want to know as senator mccaskill was pointing out that especially on children, they're being treated humanely, compassionately, moved out of the overcrowded facilities and in the home of loving hosts here. and then a longer-term plan. it's important that the president put vice president harris in charge of the effort to get that longer-term solution in place so that we can make sure that ultimately people can find safety, security and opportunity at home in these northern triangle countries instead of having to make that

journey to the southern border of the united states. >> where do you come down on the filibuster debate? >> you know, i think that it's becoming clearer and clearer that if we're going to get big things done, consequential things done that improve the quality of life and economic opportunity of people in this country, that we're going to have to either eliminate the filibuster or significantly reform it. and as many people have pointed out, the fact that almost 90% of americans -- that means republicans, democrats and independents, support universal background checks and yet a few years ago, after the tragedy in newtown, the senate could not get past the 60-vote threshold for the filibuster, that tells you that something is fundamentally broken, the pressure to do something here is only going to get i think stronger and stronger on

democrats who are still holding out, already vice president biden has said he's amenable to reforms, like bringing back the talking filibuster. john manchin and others i know are still thinking about that. i think the pressure is going to get stronger here and i expect the president is going to address how he sees it. because after what happened in atlanta and what happened in boulder, people are really focused on what kind of common sense gun safety legislation is going to be able to get through the senate. >> mr. secretary, thank you. the president making his way to the podium. good afternoon. before i take questions, i want to give you a progress report to the nation on where we stand 65 days into office here, on vaccinations and a few other top priorities for the american people. first, on vaccinations. on december 8th, i indicated

that i hoped to get 100 million shots in people's arms in my first 100 days. we met that goal last week by day 58. 42 days ahead of schedule. now today i'm setting a second goal, and that is we will by my 100th day in office have administered 200 million shots into those arms. that's right, 200 million shots in 100 days. i know it's ambitious, twice our original goal, but no other country in the world has even come close, not even close, to what we're doing. i believe we can do it. and today we made an historic investment in reaching the hardest hit and most vulnerable communities, highest-risk communities as a consequence of the virus by investing initial $10 billion in being able to reach them. i also set a goal before i took

office of getting the majority of schools in k through 8 fully opened in the first 100 days. now thanks to the enormous amount of work done by our administration, educators, parents, local state education officials and leaders, recent department of education surveys shows that nearly half of the k through 8 schools are open now full time five days a week for in-person learning. not yet a majority but we're really close and i believe in the 35 days left to go, we'll meet that goal as well. as of yesterday, more than 100 million payments of $1,400 have gone into people's bank accounts. that's real money in people's pockets bringing relief instantly almost. and millions more will be getting their money very soon.

one final note, since we passed the american rescue plan, we're starting to see new signs of hope in our economy. since it was passed, a majority -- a majority of economic forecasters have significantly increased their projections on the economic growth that's going to take place this year. they're now projecting it will exceed 6%, a 6% growth in gdp. and just this morning we learned the number of people filing for weekly unemployment insurance fell by nearly 100,000 persons. that's the first time in a year the numbers have fallen below the pre-pandemic high. there are still too many americans out of work, too many families hurting and still have a lot of work to do. buttke say to you, the american

people, help is here and hope is on the way. now, i will be happy to take your questions. zeke, associated press. >> thank you, mr. president. you mentioned the progress on covid-19. i would like to ask you about some of the other issues facing your presidency. one of the many challenges you face in the coming months is how to deliver your promise to american on issues like immigration reform, gun control, voting rights, clielt change. all of those right now are facing stiff, united opposition from republicans on capitol hill. how far are you willing to go to achieve those promises that you made to the american people? >> well, look, when i took office, i decided that it was a fairly, basic, simple

proposition, and that is i got elected to solve problems. and the most urgent problem for the american people i stated from the outset was covid-19 and the economic dislocation for millions and millions of americans. so that's why i put all of my focus in the beginning, a lot of problems but all of my focus on dealing with those particular problems. and the other problems we're talking about from immigration to guns and other things you mentioned are long-term problems. they've been around a long time. and what we're going to be able to do god willing is now begin one at a time to focus on those as well. and whether it's immigration or guns or a number of other problems that face the country, but the fundamental problem is getting people some peace of

mind so they can go to bed at night and not stare at the ceiling wondering whether they lost their health insurance, whether they're going to lose a family member, whether they're going to be in a position where they're going to lose their home because they can't pay their mortgage, or the millions of people who are going to get thrown out of their homes because of the inability to pay the rent. so we're going move on these one at a time, try to do as many simultaneously as we can, but that's the reason why i focused as i have. here's the deal, i think my republican colleagues are going to have to determine whether or not we want to work together or they decide the way in which they want to proceed is to -- is toe just decide -- divide the country, continue the politics of division. but i'm not going to do that. i'm just going to move forward and take these things as they

come. >> followup, mr. president. can your presidency be a success if you can't make progress on those four challenges, climate change, immigration reform, gun control, voting rights? >> well, i plan on making progress on all of them but that's going to be for the american people to decide. i think, i know, maybe you did, maybe others did, but i thought many of you thought there was no possibility of my getting the plan i got passed passed without republican votes. pretty big deal. got passed. growing the economy. people's lives were changing. so let's see what happens. all i know, i have been hired to solve problems, to solve problems, not create division. okay, how about jamif? >> thank you so much, mr. president. you said over and over again that immigrants shouldn't come

to this country right now, this isn't the time to come. that message is not being perceived. instead the perception of you that got you elected as a moral, decent man is the reason why a lot of immigrants are coming to the country and entrusting you with unaccompanied minors. how do you resolve that tension? and how are you choosing which families can stay and which can go, given the fact even though with title 42, there are families staying? and there a timeline when we won't be seeing these overcrowded facilities run by cpb when it comes to unaccompanied minors? >> look, i guess i should be flattered people are coming because i'm the nice guy. that's the reason why it's happening, that i'm a decent man or however it's phrased, that's why they're coming because, you know, biden is a good guy. truth of the matter is, nothing has changed. as many people came, 28% increase in children to the border in my administration, 31% in the last year in 2019 before the pandemic in the trump

administration. it happens every single solitary year. there is a significant increase in the number of people coming to the border in the winter months of january, february, march. it happens every year. in addition to that, there is -- and by the way, does anybody suggest that there was a 31% increase under trump because he was a nice guy and he was doing good things at the border? that's not the reason they're coming. the reason they're coming is that it's the time they can travel with the least likelihood of dyeing on the way because of the heat in the desert, number one. number two, they're coming because the circumstances in country, in country. the way to deal with this problem -- and i started to deal with it back when i was united states senator -- i mean vice president for putting together a

bipartisan plan for over $700 million to do root causes of why people are leaving. what did trump do? he eliminated that funding. he didn't use it. he didn't do it. and in addition to that, what he did, he dismantled all of the elements that exist to deal with what had been a problem and has been continuing to be a problem for a long time. he, in fact, shut down the number of beds available. he did not fund hhs to get people to get the chirp out of those border patrol facilities where they should not be. they're not supposed more than a few days, a little while. but he dismantled all of that. what we're doing now is attempting to rebuild, rebuild the system that can accommodate what is happening today and i would like to think it's because i'm a nice guy but it's not. it's because of what's happening every year. let me say one other thing on this, if you take a look at the

number of people coming, the vast majority -- the overwhelming majority of people coming to the border across it are being sent back. are being sent back. thousands, tens of thousands of people who are over 18 years of age and single people, one at a time coming, had been sent back, sent home. we're sending back the vast majority to families who are coming. we're trying to work out now with mexico their willingness to take more of those families back. but that's what's happening. they're not getting across the border and those who are coming across the border are unaccompanied children were moving rapidly to try to put in place what was dismantled, as i said. for example, of all of the children coming across the border, over 70% are either 16 or 17 years old. we're not talking about people

ripping babies from mothers' arms or little 3-year-olds standing on the border. less than i think it's 1 1/2% fall in the category of the very young. so what we're doing is we're providing for the space, again, to be able to get these kids out. border patrol facilitisies which no child, no one should be in longer than 72 hours. and today, for example, i used all of the resources available to me, went to the defense department, and the secretary of defense has just made available 5,000 beds being immediately available. 5,000 beds at the texas border. so we're building back up the capacity that should have been maintained and built upon that trump dismantled. it's going to take time. and the other thing we're doing, i might add -- am i giving too long an answer, because if you don't want the details -- i

don't know how much detail you want about immigration. maybe i will stop there and let you finish. >> my followup question, if you can talk about what the families are being allowed to say, why they're being allowed to stay. in addition to that, when it comes to the filibuster, which is what zeke was asking about, immigration is the big issue when it related to the filibuster but there's also republicans who are passing bill after bill trying to restrict voting rights. chuck schumer is calling it an existential threat to democracy. why not back a filibuster rule that at least gets around issues including voting rights or immigration, jim clyburn, someone, of course, you know very well, has backed the idea of a filibuster rule when it comes to civil rights and voting rights. >> well, look, i'm going to deal with all of those problems. the question is, the priorities as they come and land on my

plate. let's go to the first question you asked, the first or second question you asked, and that is what about dealing with families? why are some not going back? because mexico is refusing to take them back. they're saying they won't take them back, not all of them. we're in negotiations with the president of mexico. i think we're going to see that change. they should all be going back. all be going back. the only people we're not going to let sitting there on the other side of the rio grande by themselves with no helper children. and what we're doing there, and it's important point to understand -- i know you understand it, i don't mean to say it that way, it's an important point to focus on, the vast majority of people under the age of 18 coming to the united states come with a telephone number on a wristband or come with a telephone number in their pocket in the united states. a mother, father, close

relative, grandmom or grandpop. what was happening before it would take weeks and months for anybody to pick up the phone and call and see if there was somebody there. we set up a system now that within 24 hours there was a phone call made, as that child crosses the border. and then a verification system being put in place as of today to determine quickly whether or not that is a trafficker being called or that is actually a mom, dad and/or close relative. they're establishing that right off the bat. if it in fact is mom or dad, dad says to take the extreme case, i got a birth certificate, guess what, we're getting that kid directly to that parent immediately. and so that's going to reduce significantly -- there's two ways to reduce child populations in circumstances that are not acceptable, like being held at a

border patrol station. one is to get them to the place where they have a relative and set a date as to when the hear be can be held. the second way to do it is put them in a health and human services facility that we're occupying now, both licensed beds around the country that exist as well as, for example, federal resources like ft. bliss to get them safely in a place where they can be taken care of while their fate is determined. >> and the filibuster -- >> the filibuster, with regard to the filibuster, i believe we should go back to the position of the filibuster that existed just when i came to the united states senate 120 years ago. and that is that it used to be required for the filibuster and i -- i had a card on this. i was going to give you the

statistics but you probably know them, it used to be that between 1917 and 1971 the filibuster existed, there were a total of 58 motions to break a filibuster. this whole time. last year alone, there were five times that many. so it's being abused in a gigantic way. for example, it used to be you had to stand there and talk and talk and talk and talk until you collapsed. and guess what? people got tired of talking and tired of collapsing. filibusters broke down and we're able to break the filibuster and get a core vote. i strongly support moving in that direction. in addition to having an open mind about dealing with certain things that are just elemental to the functioning of our democracy, like the right to vote, like the basic right to vote. we've amended the filibuster in

the past but here's the deal, as you observed, i'm a fairly practical guy. i want to get things done. i want to get them done consistent with what we promised the american people and in order to do that in a 50/50 senate, we've got to get to the place where i get 50 votes so that the vice president of the united states can break the tie, or i can 51 votes without her. and so i'm going to say something outrageous. i have never been particularly poor at calculating how to get things done in the united states senate. so the best way to get something done if you -- if it holds near and dear to you, that you like to be able to -- anyway, we're going to get a lot done. if we have to, if there's complete lockdown and chaos as a consequence of the filibuster, then we'll have to go beyond

what i'm talking about. okay. hang on. miss kim? >> thank you, mr. president. to follow up on the filibuster, do you believe it should take 60 votes to end a filibuster on legislation or 51? >> if we could end it in 51, we'd have no problem. you would have to, with the existing rule, it's going to be hard to get a parliamentary ruling that allows 50 votes to end the filibuster. the existence of a filibuster. but it's not my expertise on what the parliamentary rules to get there are but our preoccupation with the filibuster is totally legitimate

but in the meantime we've got a lot of what we can do talking about what we will do about the filibuster. let me get here. cecilia vega. >> i would like to circle back to immigration, please. you just listed the reasons that people are coming, talking about in-country problems saying it happens every year. you blamed the last administration. sir, i just got back last night from a reporting trip to the border, where i met 9-year-old yosef, who walked here from honduras by himself, along with another little boy. >> astounding. >> he had that phone number on him and we were able to call his family. her mother said she sent her son to his country because she believes you are not deporting unaccompanied minors like her son. that's why she sent him alone from honduras. sir, you blame the last administration but is your messaging in saying that these

children are and will be allowed to stay in this country and work in this process encouraging families like yosef to come? >> look, the idea i'm going to say -- which i would never do -- if an unaccompanied child ends up at the border we're just going to let them starve to death and stay on the other side, no previous administration did that either, except trump. i'm not going to do it. i'm not going to do it. that's why i asked the vice president of the united states yesterday to be the lead person on dealing with focusing on the fundamental reasons why people leave hone duress, guatemala and el salvador in the first place. it's because of earthquakes, floods. it's because of lack of food. it's because of gang violence. it's because of a whole range of

things that when i was vice president had the same obligation to deal with unaccompanied children, i was able to get it slowed up significantly by working with the heads of state of those communities to do things like in one of the major cities, the reason people were leaving, they couldn't walk the street because they were getting -- their kids were getting beat up or shot or gang violence. well, what i was able to do is not give money to the head of state because so many are corrupt, but i was able to say, you need lighting in the streets to say things, i'll put the lighting in. we've got a contractor. we've got the type of lighting. we pay directly to the contractor, did not go through the government. and violent crime significantly reduced in that city. fewer people sought to leave. when this hurricane occurred -- two hurricanes, instead of us going down and helping in a major way so that people would not have reason to want to leave in the first place because they didn't have housing or water or

sustenance, we did nothing. we're going to do a lot in our administration. we're going to be spending that $700-plus million year to change the life and circumstances of why people leave in the first place. that mother did not sit on the kitchen table and say, you know, i got a great idea, the way i'm going to make sure my son gets taken care of -- how old was he or she? >> he's nine. i also have a ten knife -- ten-year-old. >> a nine-year-old, and i'm going to send him to the united states because i know joe biden is a nice guy and he'll take care of him. what a desperate act to have to take. the circumstances must be terrible. so we can do something about it. that's what i did when president obama asked me to come and deal. i was in turkey at the time. he said, you got to come home

and take care of this. so we put together a plan, and it had an impact. so the question here is how we go ahead and do this, what we do. there is no easy answer. >> reporter: quick follow-up, if i may. do you want to see these unaccompanied minors staying in this country, or should they be deported eventually? >> well, the judgment has to be made whether or not -- in this young man's case, he has a mom at home. there is an overwhelming reason he would be put in a plane and flown back to his mom. >> reporter: i don't follow, sir. you mentioned circumstances that must be horrific. the customs in border protection facility in donna, texas, i was there, is at 566% capacity mostly with unaccompanied minors. there are kids sleeping on floors, they are packed into

these pods. i have spoken to lawyers who say some of these children have not seen the sun in days. what is your reaction to these images that have come out from that particular facility? is what's happening inside acceptable to you, and when is this going to be fixed? >> that's a serious question, right? is it acceptable to me? come on. that's why we're going to be moving a thousand of those kids out quickly. that's why i got fort bliss opened up. that's why i've been working from the moment this started happening to find additional access for children to be able to safely -- not just children, but particularly children -- to safely be housed while we follow through on the rest of what's happening. that is totally unacceptable. ken. >> reporter: thank you, mr. president. i wanted to ask you about

afghanistan. you face a may 1st deadline for withdrawal of u.s. troops from that country. as a candidate in foreign affairs, you wrote, it is past time to end these forever wars. can you commit to the american people that by may 2nd the u.s. will no longer have forces in afghanistan? >> the answer is that it's going to be hard to meet the may 1 deadline just in terms of tactical reasons, it's hard to get those troops out. so what we've been doing, what i've been doing, and what secretary blinken has been doing has been -- we've been meeting with our allies, those other nations who have nato allies who have troops in afghanistan as well, and if we leave, we're going to do so in a safe and orderly way. we're in consultation, as i said, with our allies and

partners on how to proceed, and secretary blinken is meeting in brussels this week with our nato allies, particularly those who have forces there. and general austin just met with kiani, and i'm waiting for a briefing on that. he's the leader of afghanistan in kabul. there is a process that's beginning shortly on how to end this war. but it is not my intention to stay there for a long time. but the question is how and under what circumstances do we meet that agreement that was made by president trump to leave under a deal that looks like it's not being able to be worked out to begin with, how is that done? but we are not staying a long time. >> reporter: you just said we

will leave. do you think it's possible -- >> we will leave. the question is when we leave. >> reporter: do you think it's possible we could have troops there next year? >> i can't picture that being the case. okay, kristen. >> thank you very much, mr. president. given the conditions that were just laid out at the migrant facilities at the u.s. border, will you commit to allowing journalists to have access to the facilities that are overcrowded moving forward? >> i will commit when my plan very shortly is underway to let you have access to not just them but to other facilities as well. >> reporter: how soon will journalists be able to have access to the facilities? we've obviously been allowed to be inside one, but we haven't seen the facilities in which children are packed together to

really give the american people a chance to see that. will you commit to transparency on this issue? >> i will commit to transparency, and as soon as i am in a position to be able to implement what we're doing right now. one of the reasons i haven't gone down, all my chief folks have gone down, i don't want to become the issue. i don't want to be bringing all the secret service and everybody with me to get in the way. so this is being set up, and you'll have full access to everything once we get this thing moving. >> reporter: just to be clear, how soon will that be, mr. president? >> i don't know. to be clear. >> reporter: do you bear responsibility for everything that's happening at the border now? i hear you talking about the past administration. you decided to roll back some of those policies. did you move too quickly -- >> to roll back what, i'm sorry? >> reporter: did you move too quickly to roll back some of the

executive orders of your predecessor? >> first of all, all the policies that were underway were not helping at all. it did not slow up the amount of immigration and there was many people coming. rolling back the policies of separating children from their mothers, i make no apology for that. rolling back the policies of remaining in mexico sitting on the edge of the rio grande in a muddy circumstance with not enough to eat, i make no apologies for that. i make no apologies for ending programs that did not exist before trump became president that have an incredibly negative impact on the law, in our national law, as well as on human dignity. and so i make no apologies for that. >> reporter: can i just ask you about foreign policy, mr. president? overnight we learned that north korea tested two ballistic missiles. what, if any, actions will you take and what is your red line

on north korea? >> let me say that, number one, u.n. resolution 1718 was violated by those particular missiles that were tested. number one. we're consulting with our allies and partners, and there will be responses if they choose to escalate. we will respond accordingly. but i'm also prepared for some form of diplomacy, but it has to be conditioned upon the end result of denuclearization. so that's what we're doing right now, consulting with our allies. you only have another hour now, okay? >> reporter: diplomacy, can you define what you mean, and former president obama warned the

incoming president trump that north korea was the top foreign policy issue that he was watching. is that how you assess the crisis in north korea? >> yes. okay, hang on a second here. kristen -- nancy, cbs. >> reporter: thank you very much, mr. president. i want to go back to voting rights. as you mentioned, republican legislators across the country are working to pass bills that would restrict voting, particularly democrats' fear impacting minority voters and young voters, the very people who helped you get elected in november. are you worried that if you don't manage to pass voting rights legislation that your party is going to lose seats and possibly lose control of the house and the senate in 2022? >> what i'm worried about is how unamerican this whole initiative

is. it's sick. it's sick. deciding in some states that you cannot bring water to people standing in line waiting to vote, deciding that you're going to end voting at 5:00 when working people are just getting off work. deciding that there will be no absentee ballots under the most rigid circumstances? it's all designed -- and i'm going to spend my time doing three things. one, trying to figure out how to pass the legislation passed by the house, number one. number two, educating the american public. the republican voters i know find this despicable. republican voters. the folks outside this white house. i'm not talking about the elected officials. i'm talking about