Q Sarah, given what the President said this morning that Robert Mueller is "ruining" people's lives, is he considering a pardon for Paul Manafort, or for others who were prosecuted and have been prosecuted?
MS. SANDERS: I'm not aware of any conversations for anyone's pardon involving this process at all.
Q And if I can follow up - he also said this morning Mueller is "doing TREMENDOUS damage" to the criminal justice system. If that's true, is he considering picking up the phone, calling his acting Attorney General, and saying, "Fire Robert Mueller?"
MS. SANDERS: Look, I think that the President has had Robert Mueller doing his job for the last two years, and he could've taken action at any point, and he hasn't. So we'll let that speak for itself.
THE PRESIDENT: So is he (inaudible) it out now?
MS. SANDERS: He has no intent to do anything.
Zeke.
Q Thanks, Sarah. Over the weekend, we saw some powerful images of children, as well as adults, who were affected by tear gas fired by U.S. officers along the U.S.-Mexico border. We heard the President talk about that at length yesterday. But one thing we did not hear from him was any expression, really, of regret that there were children caught up in this. I was wondering, does the White House regret the fact that children were affected by tear gas, and that this situation took place? And are they - is there an investigation underway to prevent this from happening again?
MS. SANDERS: Certainly the White House would never want children to be in harm's way in any capacity whatsoever.
However, that is why we are continuing to encourage people to follow the law and go to ports of entry. Law enforcement officials have used appropriate, non-lethal force to protect themselves, and prevent an illegal rush across the border.
And let's also not forget that this isn't the first time that non-lethal force like this has been used. In fact, tear gas was used on average once a month during the Obama administration for very similar circumstances. In fact, they were actually for far less circumstances, because they didn't have the same numbers in the mass rush that we're seeing in this caravan take place.
Certainly no one wants women or children or any individuals to have this happen, which is why we've encouraged them to actually follow the law and go to ports of entry.
Q And, Sarah, if I may, can I just follow up real quick on something that Ambassador Bolton actually - when he ruled out a bilat that the President and MBS - is the White House ruling out any interaction between the President and the Saudi Crown Prince, and is he sort of in the equivalent of a diplomatic time-out?
MS. SANDERS: I wouldn't say that we've ruled out any interaction. I know that the President's schedule is pretty packed and has a number of sessions that he'll be involved in with the G20, as well as a number of bilats. I don't think there is any time for us to add anything additional. Whether or not there is some interaction, I'm not going to rule that out and we'll keep you guys posted as to what happens tomorrow.
Q Thanks, Sarah. Yesterday in Mississippi at his rally, the President said - he asked a question about Mike Espy. He said, "How does he fit in with Mississippi? I mean, how does he fit in?" I guess suggesting that he doesn't fit in. I mean, Mike Espy's great-grandparents were slaves in Mississippi. What did the President mean by that?
MS. SANDERS: Due to the fact that is an election that is taking place today, I'm not going to comment on anything that could affect anything taking place in Mississippi. And I'm certainly happy to comment on that after today.
Jon.
Q Thanks a lot Sarah.
Q But the President was talking (inaudible) -
MS. SANDERS: The President is not guided by the Hatch Act.
Jon, go ahead.
Q Thanks a lot, Sarah. Does the administration have a position on the President of Ecuador continuing to provide asylum to Julian Assange at its embassy in London?
MS. SANDERS: I'm not aware of anything official. I'd have to get back to you.
Q Just one more on that, if I may, Sarah. Will you, from the podium, call on the Ecuadorian government to confirm whether or not some sort of meeting may have taken place between Paul Manafort and Julian Assange at its embassy?
MS. SANDERS: Certainly we encourage the process to continue to play out, but I'm not going to get engaged in specifics of that case.
Weijia.
Q Sarah, President Trump has implied that a potential new deal with Mexico is a done deal, tweeting that migrants will stay in Mexico as they wait for their cases of asylum to be processed. How far along are talks with the new Mexican administration about the so-called "Remain in Mexico" policy?
MS. SANDERS: Those conversations continue. We won't have a final decision until the new government actually takes over, which will happen on Saturday. And on Monday, we expect the Foreign - the new Foreign Minister for Mexico to meet and sit down with White House administration officials and the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and continue and try to finalize those conversations.
Q A second question on Khashoggi because, tomorrow, Secretaries Pompeo and Mattis will brief the full Senate on the murder. Why is a leader of a U.S. intelligence agency not joining them - specifically Gina Haspel, who many senators expect to hear from?
MS. SANDERS: Ambassador Bolton addressed this. I'm not going to comment on behalf of the CIA Director in that capacity. That's something that I would direct you to them to answer.
Q Sarah, I want to ask you about the climate assessment that your administration released last week. The President, yesterday, when asked about the economic forecast, essentially said he didn't believe it.
The takeaway for many people is that the President doesn't feel necessarily a responsibility to lead, either in this country or in the world, on climate change and preventing the calamity that your administration forecasts. Do you agree with that view? And if not, why not?
MS. SANDERS: The President is certainly lean- - leading on what matters most in this process. And that's on having clean air, clean water. In fact, the United States continues to be a leader on that front. Even Obama's undersecretary for science didn't believe the radical conclusions of the report that was released.
And you have to look at the fact that this report is based on the most extreme modeled scenario, which contradicts long-established trends. Modeling the climate is an extremely complicated science that is never exact.
The biggest thing that we can do is focus on how to make sure we have the cleanest air, the cleanest water. And the President is certainly doing that and certainly leading on that front.
Q Sarah, how is he doing that? I mean, the President is about to go to Buenos Aires and meet with all the leaders of the world's industrialized nations - and developing nations, as well. Isn't this a great opportunity for him to sit at the table and say, "Folks, this is what my administration just reported. This is the time that we all have to act in concert to prevent what my administration is forecasting"?
MS. SANDERS: Once again, we think that this is the most extreme version and it's not based on facts. It's based on - it's not data-driven. We'd like to see something that is more data-driven. It's based on modeling, which is extremely hard to do when you're talking about the climate.
Again, our focus is on making sure we have the safest, cleanest air and water. And the President is going to do exactly that.
April.
Q Sarah, I want to go back to GM. President Trump early on in January 2017 met with the big three automakers, and he said he wanted to make the U.S. a more attractive place for companies to manufacture products by lowering taxes and business regulations. What does this move, this action by GM say?
MS. SANDERS: Certainly, it's disappointing to see that GM decided to lay off these workers. The President has been extremely committed to bringing manufacturing jobs back to the United States, which is why, since he took office, we've seen 400,000 new manufacturing jobs created in the United States. It's because of his policies that we've seen that grow.
This is not about the President; it's about the fact that they're making a car, frankly, that people don't want to buy. And hopefully they will make adjustments and make changes and bring those workers back.
Jim.
Q Sarah, getting back to Paul Manafort and the Special Counsel's office saying that he's violating the terms of his plea agreement by lying to investigators. Would the President recommend that Mr. Manafort begin to cooperate, offer full cooperation to the Special Counsel's office?
MS. SANDERS: We can only speak to what our role is in that process. And not only has the President, but the entire administration has been fully cooperative with the Special Counsel's office, providing hours and hours of sit-downs, as well as over 4 million pages in documents.
We continue to be cooperative, but we also know that there was no collusion and we're ready for this to wrap up.
Q And if I could ask a follow-up? The President doesn't believe the warnings in the climate report. The President doesn't believe the CIA when it comes to Jamal Khashoggi. The President doesn't believe the -
MS. SANDERS: That's not accurate.
Q - intelligence community when it comes to Russia meddling. Why doesn't he have faith in his advisors?
MS. SANDERS: That's not true. The President has a great deal of faith in the intelligence community and certainly in the team that he has assembled around him.
However, I've addressed the climate report. There's really nothing else to add on that front.
