Press Briefing by Press Secretary Sarah Sanders
Q But he was beside him on Monday, though. Why wasn't he critical of Vladimir Putin's actions?
SANDERS: Look, they had a number of conversations. The President discussed some of these things directly, face-to-face, with Vladimir Putin. He addressed them again yesterday. The President also sees this as an opportunity, as he said many times, to be able to work with Russia. He recognizes the fact that 90 percent of the world's nuclear weapons are under the direction of the United States and Russia. He thinks it's a good thing to get along with the other person that controls that much of the nuclear arsenal across the globe. He wants to create a more stable world, a more peaceful world, and we can't do that if we can't get along with Russia in some capacity.
And so certainly, we've called him out, we've been tough; we've approached this in a totally different fashion than has been previously done, because what's been done in the past hasn't worked. So we're trying a new approach.
But to act like he hasn't been tough on Russia, that he hasn't called them out, is simply not true, and it simply completely changes everything that this administration has done in regards to that country.
Josh, I'm going to keep going. Justin.
Q Sarah, a minute ago, you described the negative impacts of the trade conflict with China, the short term. But that's only true if we're able to strike a better deal. And from the outside, since the tariffs went on more than two weeks ago, it seems like those negotiations have broken down. So I'm wondering if you could tell us what the status of them are, why the Treasury Secretary isn't meeting one-on-one with China when he's in Argentina for the G20, and what it would take from the Chinese or from the U.S. to restart those talks?
SANDERS: Look, I'm not going to negotiate with you guys. I'm going to leave that to Secretary Mnuchin and Ambassador Lighthizer. We're continuing to have conversations with China. We're continuing to look for ways that we can have a better trade deal with them.
Steven.
Q I want to follow up on Maggie's question, because she asked about the idea that Putin offered of essentially allowing Robert Mueller and his investigators to go to Russia to oversee or witness the interrogations of the Russian military intelligence officers if the U.S. would reciprocate and have Russian investigators come here to watch American citizens face questions about the crimes that they allegedly committed in Russia.
The President called it an interesting idea. He said it was an incredible offer. Why we would he say that?
SANDERS: He said it was an interesting idea. He didn't commit to anything. He wants to work with his team and determine if there's any validity that would be helpful to the process. But again, we've committed to nothing. And it was an idea that they threw out.
Go ahead.
Q Sarah, some Democrats on Capitol Hill now are saying that they want to drag the translator, who was in the room with the President and Vladimir Putin, before congressional committees to find out exactly what was said in their private meeting. Is that something that the White House would ever support?
SANDERS: That's something that would go through the State Department.
Mike.
Q The list of subjects you went through as far as the - for that one-on-one meeting - unless I missed it, were sanctions discussed at all? Did the President bring it up, or did President Putin bring it up to President Trump?
SANDERS: I'm not aware. I'd have to ask to be sure.
Q Sarah, I just wanted to ask you, just one quick one. Yesterday, the President's revision - it was kind of seen widely that he was leaving himself a little bit of room when he said there could have been others too who have meddled. Was he referring to any specific intelligence on that? Or was that his instinct?
SANDERS: Certainly the President receives a number of briefings and has talked about this subject pretty extensively. We're aware of others that have made attempts, but I can't get into any of that here at this point.
Hallie.
Q Sarah, I have two questions for you. And I want to just clarify something you talked about at the beginning of the briefing. So despite the video that shows the President looking at Cecilia and answering "no" to this question about whether Russia is still targeting the U.S., and despite multiple people in the room understanding that the President was responding to that question, and despite the President having never before said the word "no, no" repeatedly to usher reporters out of the room, you're saying it's the reverse? You're saying the President -
SANDERS: He actually said no to (inaudible).
Q This is the second time -
SANDERS: The first thing that the President said after the question was asked was "Thank you very much."
Q And he looked and said, "No."
SANDERS: And then he said, "No," I'm not answering any more questions. And even further, I think even Cecilia didn't realize what the answer was because she asked for clarification and he didn't answer the follow-up.
Q She asked for a follow-up.
SANDERS: Again, I -
Q She asked for a follow-up.
Q (Inaudible.)
SANDERS: Right. Because she wasn't sure. I talked to the President. He wasn't answering that question. He was saying, no, he's not taking questions. And I've stated what our position is.
Q So let me get to my question, Sarah, because I haven't actually asked it yet, which is the President, now - this is second time in three days that the President or the White House has come out and reversed what the President has said to the opposite of what it was perceived.
SANDERS: Actually, I'm interpreting what the President said; I'm not reversing it.
Q But it was perceived in the opposite way. Why wasn't the President -
SANDERS: I was in the room as well, and I didn't take it the way you did.
Q But why should this President have any credibility to Americans in what he says if, in fact, 24 hours later - or, in this case, three hours later - the White House comes out and says "just kidding"?
SANDERS: First of all, that's not what I said. I was interpreting what the President - his intention was, and stating the administration's policy. It's not exactly what you just explained. We never said "just kidding."
Q I'm paraphrasing. (Inaudible) direct quote. You understand.
SANDERS: And I think that you can take the fact that the President has credibility, because he saw that he had misspoken and he wanted to clarify that yesterday, which he did. So when he sees that he has misspoken, he comes out and he says that.
Q And a second question, to follow up on Josh's second question -
SANDERS: Sorry, I'm going to keep moving. Jordan, go ahead.
Q You told Josh - well, just to follow up on my second question, Sarah. You told Josh -
SANDERS: Sorry, I'm going to - you've asked two. I'm going to move on to Jordan.
Q I have two. You told Josh the President has been publicly critical of Vladimir -
SANDERS: Once again, Hallie, I'm moving on to Jordan. Jordan, go ahead.
Q You said -
Q Sorry, Hallie, go ahead if you want to.
Q Thanks, Jordan. You said to Josh -
SANDERS: Actually, I'm going to take a question from Jordan.
Q - that the President has been publicly critical of Vladimir Putin. I just want to know when. Because I don't think any of us remember - at least I don't remember a time when the President has publicly called out Vladimir Putin.
SANDERS: I think by stating the fact that the President said that Russia interfered with our election, that's a pretty bold call-out of another world leader.
Jordan, go ahead.
Q Senators Rubio and Van Hollen have introduced legislation that would impose new sanctions on Russia if the intelligence agencies find that they meddle in the 2018 midterms or in the future. Would President Trump support a proposal like that?
SANDERS: I'm not going to get into a hypothetical situation until we see, you know, a final piece of legislation and also a determination if there is election meddling. Again, our goal is to stop that from happening, which is why we've spent such a significant amount of time in the first year and a half of our administration focusing on protecting the election integrity system.
Jon.
Q Included with that, Sarah - is voter suppression -
SANDERS: Jon, go ahead.
Q Sarah, is voter suppression included with that, please?
SANDERS: Sorry, guys, if we could go on to the people that I have called on.
Q I'm just asking you a question because you choose not to call on me. Is voter suppression part of that election process that the President is trying to look for?
SANDERS: Jon, go ahead.
Q Are you not going to answer that?
SANDERS: If I call on you, I'll be happy to answer your question.
Q Voter suppression is a huge issue that a community in America has asked about.
SANDERS: Jon, go ahead.
Q You're not going to answer me?
SANDERS: Jon, go ahead.
Q That's all right. Fine.
Q Thank you, Sarah. I wanted to ask you about the immediate reaction to the President's comments that he made at that joint press conference in Helsinki. It was immediate. Every cable channel - Fox, NBC, CNN - reacted immediately to the suggestion the President made that he did not believe that Russia interfered in the U.S. presidential election.
I got my inbox inundated with emails from Republican members of Congress with their reaction immediately. And 24 hours - it took 24 hours for the President to correct the record. Why did it take so long for the President to clarify the comments that he made at that press conference?
SANDERS: Look, the President put out an initial tweet after boarding Air Force One that clarified his comments on the intelligence community. He wanted to make sure that was clear. And at the very first chance he had, in a public setting the following day, he clarified his comments. And I don't think that it was that long for that to be the very first public appearance that he had following arriving back to the United States.
Q (Inaudible) 24 hours actually. It's a pretty long time. And it was out there for quite a bit.
SANDERS: It wasn't actually 24 hours before he responded at all. Again, he put out an initial tweet from Air Force One.
Q Twenty-four hours (inaudible) comment on this to clarify his remarks, to change the "would" to "wouldn't" - or the "wouldn't" to "would." And I think that a lot of people would argue that there was ample time for the President - he tweets all the time from Air Force One - for him to -
SANDERS: And he tweeted that night.
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