State of Washington, et al., v. Trump., et al

Filing 113

RESPONSE by Plaintiff State of Washington re 108 Notice-Other Notice of Filing of Executive Order (Attachments: # 1 Declaration of N. Purcell, # 2 Exhibit A, # 3 Exhibit B, # 4 Exhibit C, # 5 Exhibit D, # 6 Exhibit E, # 7 Exhibit F, # 8 Exhibit G, # 9 Exhibit H, # 10 Exhibit I, # 11 Exhibit J)(Melody, Colleen)

Purcell
Declaration
Exhibit E

Press Gaggle by Press Secretary Sean Spicer | whitehouse.gov

the WHITE HOUSE

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PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP

From the Press Office
Speeches & Remarks
Press Briefings
Statements & Releases
Presidential Actions
Legislation
Nominations & Appointments
Disclosures

The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release

March 06, 2017

Press Gaggle by Press Secretary
Sean Spicer
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room 
1:47 P.M. EST
MR. SPICER:  Good afternoon, everybody.  Another quiet weekend.  (Laughter.)  
Q    You sure you don’t want to do this on camera?  (Laughter.)  
MR. SPICER:  The President signed a new executive order this morning that
continues to protect the nation from terrorists entering into the United States, and

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a related presidential memorandum.  As we've always maintained, the executive
order was fully lawful in the first place, and we would have won the related legal
cases on the merits.  But rather than leave America’s security in limbo while the
litigation dragged on, some estimates having that go up to potentially a year, the
President acted to protect the national security by issuing a new executive order
that addresses the court’s concerns, some of which merely involve clarifying the
intent of the original executive order.
After reviewing the facts and in thorough consultation with the Cabinet, the
President had concluded these actions are necessary to protect the United States
from those who, unfortunately, wish to do us harm.
Two areas that I want to highlight in the executive order.  There will be a 90-day
suspension of travel to the United States by nationals from Iran, Libya, Somalia,
Sudan, Syria and Yemen, during which time the Department of State and Homeland
Security will conduct a review to determine how we can improve the screening
process for foreign nationals seeking to enter the United States.  
These six countries have been previously identified by Congress and the Obama
administration as presenting heightened concerns about terrorism.  Specifically,
Iran, Sudan and Syria have been designated as state sponsors of terrorism.  Libya is
an active combat zone where violent extremist groups thrive in ungoverned
territory.  Portions of Somalia have been a safe haven for terrorist groups.  Most
countries don't even recognize the Somali documents.  
Yemen is the site of an ongoing conflict between the government and Iran-backed
armed opposition.  Both ISIS and al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula have exploited
this conflict to expand their presence in Yemen and carry out hundreds of attacks.  
These governments simply cannot or not adequately supply satisfactory
information about their own nationals.  In the absence of adequate information
from these governments, the President has had to act to protect the security of the
American people.
After the original executive order, Iraq’s government took steps to increase their
cooperation with our immigration authorities and improve their vetting process,
leading them to be removed from the list of countries covered by the temporary
travel suspension.  We hope other countries will also take proactive action to
ensure the security of all of our nations.

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This is proof of both the need for and the effectiveness of the President’s actions.
 There are a number of exceptions to this temporary travel suspension.  The order
explicitly states that the suspension does not apply to, one, green card holders;
two, foreign nationals currently in the U.S.; three, foreign nationals currently
holding valid visas; four, foreign nationals who are dual citizens of a designated
country traveling on a passport issued by a non-designated country; and last,
foreign nationals who have been granted asylum or admitted as refugees
previously.
There will also be a temporary 120-day suspension of the United States refugees’
admissions program.  More than 300 people who have entered the United States as
refugees are currently the subjects of counterterrorism investigations by the FBI.
 We must find a way to better screen refugee applicants to maintain the safety of
our own communities.
This suspension will temporarily reduce the investigative burdens on the agencies
that participate in our refugee program, allowing them to properly review and
revise their standards and practices.
In regard to both of these provisions, the President places his full faith and trust in
the experience and knowledge of his Secretary of State and his Secretary of
Homeland Security.  This order makes it clear that they have broad authority to
grant waivers based on their expert judgments.  This suspension does not apply to
refugees already scheduled for travel by the Department of State, which is explicitly
stated in the text of the executive order.  Additionally, this suspension does not
treat Syrian refugees different than any other refugees.  It does not separately
address the persecution of religious minorities, but does permit waivers in the
cases of undue hardship.
This order was drafted in close consultation with the relevant agencies.  It also
includes a delay-effective date of March 16th, giving those involved in its
enforcement even more time to facilitate an orderly rollout.  
We welcome those who come to our country wishing to contribute and share in our
nation’s prosperity and wellbeing, but we cannot allow our immigration system to
become a vehicle for admitting people who intend to do us harm.  It is the
President’s solemn duty to protect the American people, and President Trump has
taken an important step in securing our borders through this order.

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Moving on to today, the President had a full day of meetings with the Cabinet and
members of his staff.  The President received his intelligence briefing this morning.
 He had a call earlier with the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, where they
discussed regional security challenges.  The Prime Minister thanked the President
for his strong stance on anti-Semitism during his joint address to Congress last
week.  
The President had lunch with the Vice President, and, as I’m speaking to you now,
he is beginning a meeting with the Secretary of State.  Later today, he’ll have
meetings with his National Economic Council and Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Shulkin.  This evening, he’ll have dinner with OMD Director Mulvaney and Secretary
of Health and Human Services Tom Price, where he will talk about the repeal-andreplace efforts regarding Obamacare.
With that, I’ll be glad to take a few questions.  
Q    Follow-up on the executive order?  Have you told -MR. SPICER:  John Roberts.
Q    Thank you.  (Laughter.)  You told us -- I figured since it’s just a gaggle -- you told
us many times that the President was going to continue with the case in Seattle
federal court, yet paragraph 13 in the new EO says he’s going to revoke the original
one.  What changed?
MR. SPICER:  As you know, he met with his team over the weekend down in Mar-aLago -- general counsel, Secretary Sessions, Secretary Kelly, Stephen Miller, other
members of the team -- where they discussed -- continued discussing the current
executive order, as well as the strategy.  And they made a determination that it was
best to pursue this track.
And again, I think, as I mentioned in the opening remarks, we continue to maintain
that the order was fully lawful but there were some legal hurdles that we’d have to
potentially cross in terms of enjoinment and things like that.  
So it was discussed with the President Saturday, and he made a decision that this
was how he wanted to proceed going forward, based on the advice and counsel of
his team.
Q    DOJ has informed the 9th circuit of the existence of the new executive order.
 Will they move to dismiss the 48 cases that are facing that original order?  

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MR. SPICER:  That’s a good question.  I know that there’s the issue of both the 9th
circuit and then the other ones.  And I’ll have to get back to you on that.  I don’t
know what posture they’re going to take, so we’ll go forward.
Margaret.
Q    I was just going to say, would you be able to let all of us -MR. SPICER:  Oh, yeah, I’m sorry.  Yeah, I’d be glad to let everybody know.  
Q    I’ve got a question too but I can wait until he’s finished, it’s fine.
MR. SPICER:  John, are you done?
Q    Oh, I’m done.
MR. SPICER:  Okay.  See how much nicer this is?  Margaret.
Q    Oh, thank you.  Well, actually I’d like to move away from this subject to the
other subject. 
MR. SPICER:  Sure.
Q    Is the President going to clarify what he meant when he accused President
Obama and White House officials of doing wiretaps?  Is that what he meant, or did
he mean that he thinks there were wiretaps that the FBI authorized?  And does he
want to kind of, like, amend his previous statement?
MR. SPICER:  I think the statement that we issued yesterday where -- President
Donald J. Trump is requesting as part of the investigation of Russian activity that
congressional intelligence committees exercise their oversight authority to
determine whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016.
 Neither the White House nor the President will comment further until such
oversight is continued.  
He wants Congress to look into this.  I’ve spoken to the President again today.  He
would ask that they, additionally, look into this issue of leaks of classified and other
information coming from the government.  He believes that it undermines our
national security and that Congress -- the intelligence communities in Congress,
using their oversight authority, look into these pervasive leaks of national security
-- of classified information.  So he would do that.  

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I would note, it’s interesting that when you look at what former DNI Clapper said on
“Meet the Press,” when he was asked if there was any evidence that the Trump
campaign was colluding with the Russian government while the Kremlin was
working to influence the election, his quote was, “Not to my knowledge.”  
I think we’ve continued to see people who have been briefed and are aware of
these stories that have existed -- Congressman Chairman Nunes of the Intelligence
Committee, Tom Cotton of the -- he’s on the Senate Intelligence Committee,
Richard Burr, Marco Rubio -- you name it, on and on and on, have said that the
information that they’ve been provided -- and this is -- I get it, there’s two separate
issues here.  But I think on the first one, you saw over and over again the continued
comments by people who are in the know or have been in the know on that
situation saying that there was no knowledge.  Conversely, you saw former
Attorney General Mukasey come out and talk about -- that it’s pretty clear that
there was some sort of surveillance or wiretaps that had to have existed.
All that being said, I think that’s why the President is asking Congress, the
intelligence committees to use their oversight authority to further understand
what’s in this.
I’m sorry.  
Q    And so -MR. SPICER:  I’m not sorry but I knew you -Q    No, no, no -- yeah.  Just before we move on -- okay, so for now, the President is
not amending what he tweeted.
MR. SPICER:  No.
Q    And Jim Comey, in the meantime, I guess wanted Justice to knock it down.  Has
the President talked to Jim Comey?
MR. SPICER:  I’ll be honest with you, I have not seen anything aside from another
report based on anonymous sources that that actually happened.  So aside from
anonymous sources saying that a conversation happened, I’m not aware that that
occurred.  I don’t know that we’re aware that that occurred.  And I, frankly, don’t
see anything on the record that show that that actually occurred.

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So just to be clear, this is one of the problems that I think occurred in the whole first
set of stories.  People start taking things as fact because a series of off-the-record
and anonymous sources say they do.  We have started to become a series of
believing all of these stories, and yet -- I’ve addressed this in the past -- there’s
nothing there to substantiate it.  
In fact, all of the people, from -- I mean, Clapper’s comment, “Not to my
knowledge.”  You saw Nunes, Rubio, all these senators and House members that
have been briefed by the FBI coming out and saying, we have not seen anything,
either.  At some point, I would ask people to take on-the-record sources and quotes
as important as the countless numbers of anonymous off-the-records. 
Zeke.  Oh, I’m sorry -- 
Q    Sean -MR. SPICER:  No, no, no, I just saw the top of a head.  Hallie, I’m going to get to you,
don’t worry.  I’m sorry, that was my bad.  
Q    It’s okay, it’s all right.  So explain this to me, then.  You’re talking about not
using anonymous sources.  What is, then, the sourcing for the President’s tweet on
Saturday morning?
MR. SPICER:  As I said, I think, look -Q    And does he believe it’s a FISA warrant.  Is it some other -- of surveillance?
MR. SPICER:  It could be FISA.  It could be surveillance.  There’s no cameras, slow it
down.
Q    So he doesn’t know?
MR. SPICER:  Look, I think he has made it clear that there are continued reports that
have been out there.  I’m not going to continue to -- I think the President made it
clear yesterday that he wants Congress to go in and look at this.  I think there is
substantial reporting out there from individuals and from sources.
Q    But what sources -MR. SPICER:  Okay.  Sara, you’re not on camera.  You don’t need to jump in.  We’ll
get to your question in turn.  Hold on.  

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The answer is, is that the President has made it clear he wants Congress to look
into this.  And we’re encouraging the House and Senate intelligence committees to
use their oversight capabilities and look into this.
John Gizzi.
Q    Sean, does he not know whether -- what kind of surveillance it was?
MR. SPICER:  Well, I think that there’s no question that something happened.  The
question is, is it surveillance, is it a wiretap, or whatever.  But there’s been enough
reporting that strongly suggests that something occurred.  And I think that that’s
why what he has said yesterday is that he wants Congress to look into this.  And I
think that there is enough out there now that makes one wonder how some of this
happened without the existence of surveillance.
Q    But when he published his tweet -MR. SPICER:  Right.
Q    -- did he know what kind of surveillance?
MR. SPICER:  All I’m telling -- like I said, I’m going to put a pin in this and say, the
statement yesterday made it very clear that he wants House and Senate
Intelligence Committee members to use their oversight authority to look into this
situation.
John Gizzi.
Q    Thank you, Sean.  Has the President ever said there’s hypocrisy and a double
standard in the reporting of things?  For example, about alleged Russian
involvement in U.S. elections, and then on the other hand, relatively little attention
paid to the leaking of conversations with world leaders that are classified?  And
does the leaking of his conversations with world leaders bother him and make him
want to investigate that as well?
MR. SPICER:  Yeah, I mean, I think he is very concerned about that.  There is
obviously information that affects national security that has been leaked out that
concerns him.  I mean, it’s -- and I think when you’ve seen some of the leader calls
being leaked out that are sort of congratulatory or not necessarily dealing with
state secrets or national security, that’s one thing to seem -- but it gives you pause
and concern to realize that, if you’re talking about something of national security,

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of something that affects two of our different economies or countries, that -whether it’s China or North Korea, whether you’re actually talking to them or
talking about them with another leader, that there is obviously concern that those
calls are getting leaked out.  And I think that’s why the President is also now asking
Congress to additionally use its oversight authorities to also look at those leaks and
wonder why that’s happening.  
So I think he is concerned.  I think we’ve said it several times before, and it’s
obviously something that is of major concern.  And, frankly, when you recognize the
potential that that could have on the safety of our country, it should give everyone
pause.
Hallie.
Q    Sean, two topics for you here.  I want to clarify some questions again from my
colleagues.  Has the President spoken with the FBI director about the allegations he
made Saturday morning, and does he have confidence in his FBI?
MR. SPICER:  To the best of my knowledge, I’m almost 100 percent certain that he
has not, but I’ve not specifically asked him.  I’m not aware that that occurred.
 Obviously I’ll give myself -- and I’d be glad to get back, but I have not known that
that existed.  So I’m giving myself the ability to get back to you on this, but I’m not
-Q    And all of us.
MR. SPICER:  And all of you.  We’re making a list.  But I am not aware that that
actually happened.
Q    And the confidence question.  Does he have confidence in his director?
MR. SPICER:  There’s nothing that I have been told by him that would lead me to
believe that anything is different than when it was prior.
Q    And before I get to the second topic, a clarification here.  You’re talking about
the President wanting to go to Congress, specifically on the wiretapping question,
but this is information that is held by the executive branch.  So why would the
President, if it’s information the executive branch has -MR. SPICER:  Because I think that there’s -- like, again, and I’m not going to -- I want
to stay in my wheelhouse here.  But my understanding is, is that the President

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directing the Department of Justice to do something with respect to an
investigation that may or may not occur with evidence may be seen as trying to
interfere.  And I think that we’re trying to do this in the proper way, and that’s -Q    So his tweets about it -- sort of saying that this information exists does not -MR. SPICER:  That doesn’t interfere with an investigation. 
So, Zeke.
Q    Okay, the second topic was actually on the immigration executive order.  The
President back in January tweeted about a one-week delay on the travel ban,
would have let “bad dudes” enter the country.  This particular revised order doesn’t
go into effect for another 10 days.
MR. SPICER:  The 16th.
Q    So what changed?  How does that under -- does that undercut your argument
that the nation was at risk?
MR. SPICER:  Well, I would argue that the court kind of undercut our argument by
not reading the U.S. code the way it’s intended to.  But I think we lost the element
of surprise way back when we said we were going to issue a second executive order.
Q    So that’s what it was about, the element of surprise?
MR. SPICER:  Oh, absolutely.  I think we said at the beginning.  The whole reason
that we did it in the way that we did was because if you -- started to telegraph it.
 But I think that when we started talking about a second executive order a couple of
weeks back, I think that that generally took away -- whether it was done on Friday
or Sunday or Monday, it wouldn’t have mattered.  And people have been able to -we have telegraphed what we’re doing for the last couple weeks.  We took that
away, and the President, as you’ve seen, has been very methodical about making
sure we’ve talked about this for the last week -Q    Since the --  
MR. SPICER:  Right, but talking about implementing it correctly.  And I think
Saturday night, if you saw the group of individuals who were down in Florida sitting
with him, this is part of that implementation process that we’ve been talking about,
that we were continuing to tweak it, to get it ready to speed, overcome a lot of

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issues and concerns that had to get added in or out, and make sure that the
government was properly -- but make no mistake, we lost the element of surprise
back when we said -- when the court enjoined this in the 9th circuit, and then we
had to go back to the drawing board and we talked about doing a second order.
 That was the intent of it the entire time.  You lose that back then.
Zeke.
Q    Going back to the previous topic, the President calling for Congress to
investigate these specific issues.  Does that mean that the President is willing -- or is
committing now to accepting the conclusions of these congressional investigations
no matter what they say on anything?  So because he’s now calling for this
investigation, he is now committing to accept the outcome?
MR. SPICER:  Well, I don’t think you would ever just blanketly say “I’m going to
accept any outcome.”  That doesn’t matter what it is.  You can go to court and -- it
doesn’t mean that you get found guilty or innocent that you’re accepting the
outcome, it means that you’re agreeing that that’s a legitimate -- but I think we’re
going to let Congress work its will.  I think if we have a problem with one of the
conclusions, we’ll let it be known.
But I think that, for right now, the issue is, is that we think that that’s the
appropriate place for this to be looked into.  And they have the resources, and they,
themselves, have admitted that.
Alexis.
Q    Sean, can I ask two topics?
MR. SPICER:  Sure.
Q    On this topic, let me just follow up.  If members of Congress pursue an
investigation that looks into surveillance in the way the President would like them
to, and he believes that that surveillance is potentially against the law, they would
make recommendations to the executive branch to pursue and prosecute anyone
responsible for that.  So their recommendations would come back to the Justice
Department.  So to ask the question again, would the President accept the
recommendations of the legislative branch that potentially laws were broken and
that those accusations should come back to the Justice Department to investigate?

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MR. SPICER:  I think it’s hard to prejudge what they’re doing.  Obviously, the reason
that he’s asking the House and Senate Intelligence Committee to go through this is
because he thinks that they are the appropriate venues.  They have the appropriate
staff to look at them, and I think it’s an appropriate way of having that separation
of powers, if you will, where it’s not asking -- directing the Department of Justice to
do something that they may or may not be the ones conducting.
But again, the reason I don’t want to give a blanket statement, Alexis, isn’t because
I’m trying to prejudge it.  But I think that depending on a lot of things, you don’t
want to say, we’re going to accept every single thing they do.  I think we definitely
will have a lot of respect for what they do and what they look into, but I think to
blanketly accept -- just say, we’re going to accept anything they say or do, might be
a bit premature and not exactly the way to go.
Q    And I had a healthcare question but before I do that, it was reported that the
President was interested in having the White House Counsel pursue information
that would help support the President’s argument that he may have been under
surveillance.  Is it the case that the President has indeed asked Don McGhan to
continue doing that?  Or is he dropping that and -MR. SPICER:  No, Don McGhan was never asked -- all Don Mcghan was ever asked to
do was to review what options, if any, were available.  That’s it.  Just review
internally and tell the President, this is what’s -- but we made very clear to anyone
who asked -- and if you know Don and the team here -- these are unbelievably
talented lawyers.  They’re very skilled in understanding their -- where the bounds
are, and would understand that any type of interference would be -- it was an
internal review of what options, if any, were available.  So it’s full stop.
Q    And that was completed?
MR. SPICER:  That guidance was made available to the President.  
Q    Okay.  Here’s my healthcare question.
MR. SPICER:  It was also reported that the President’s desire for speed with the
administration’s own Affordable Care Act replacement plan has kicked the ball to
the OMB Director rather the HHS Secretary to complete that work and get it out this
week.  Who is in charge of actually completing that?  Is it more now in the ball court
of OMB rather than HHS?  Or are they working together?  How would you describe
it, and is it still coming out this week?

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MR. SPICER:  I believe it is coming out -- I have every intention that it comes out this
week.  But I think it’s a joint effort.  I think Secretary Price is obviously the lead; it’s
HHS.  But Director Mulvaney, his time -- I mean, they’ve both served in the House
and were champions of budget issues.  Obviously, there’s a huge budgetary impact
on that, and his understanding of the budget, his role here, and, obviously, his
understanding of Congress makes Director Mulvaney a great partner.
So it’s not a question of -- and this is the same issue that came up during the
transition on trade.  I think we have an unbelievably talented team -- everybody
from Robert Lighthizer, when he gets confirmed as the U.S. Trade Rep, you’ve got
Wilbur Ross at Commerce, Peter Navarro here -- it’s not an either/or thing.  It’s I
think bringing the best and the brightest together to get something through.
Obamacare and repealing and replacing it with something that’s more accessible,
affordable, more innovative is not something that just has to land in one person’s
hand.  It can be covered -- and I think there are great partners and great
teammates.
Yes.
Q    Yes, please, thank you, Sean.  I’m just wondering when you said that it’s pretty
clear that there was some sort of intelligence or wiretaps and that that’s why we
need to move forward with an investigation, is that based on people speaking on
the record, or anonymous sources?
MR. SPICER:  On the record.  I think General Mukasey was very much on the record
when he came to that conclusion.  I think that when you -- anyway.  I will leave it to
Congress to further follow up on that.
Q    And one more, if I may.  The President has yet to announce the vast majority of
his sub-Cabinet-level nominations, such as Ambassador to Japan.  Does the White
House have a long-term timeline for all the rest of these nominations?
MR. SPICER:  Yeah, I think that you should -- there’s a bunch of sub-Cabinet
individuals and ambassadorships that should be coming out very soon.  One of the
things that I think -- I’m glad you kind of gave me an opportunity to touch on
personnel.  There was a report the other day that of, like, the 1,927 positions that -someone went through, I think one of the things that people have to recognize is -we talked about this a lot during the transition.  We had about 600 members of
these beachhead teams that went in under a special hiring process -- that they’re

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able to be there for 120 days.  For the most part, most of those people transition
into Schedule C positions.  It’s not a given.  It is not a default, meaning -- and I think
we made it clear during the transition -- it’s not just if you showed up for the first
120 days you get to stay.  But sort of -- they were chosen specifically because of
their understanding of the issue, their expertise or their desire to serve in that
particular capacity.
And so we actually -- when you actually look at the numbers, we are well ahead, if
not on par with -- we’re well ahead of almost every modern administration.  I think
we’re right on par with Obama ’08.  But you think about it, of the 1,927 or so
positions, we’ve got over 600 of those individuals, and -- most of whom so far are
looking like they’re fully going to convert to Schedule C.  But they are performing
the duties that would be done by a Schedule C. 
So when you look at the totality of what we’re doing, we were well ahead on the
Cabinet.  And again, one of the other things is, you’ve got Congress still holding up
the Cabinet getting appointed.  And so I think there’s a degree to which Senate
Democrats, before we get a lot of stones thrown at us about where we are on the
rest, they haven’t even finished the job at hand of getting the full Cabinet.
Jon Decker.
Q    Thanks a lot, Sean.  Two questions on the executive order.  With the first
executive order, there was a lot of fanfare when the President signed that executive
order; in the Oval Office today, not so much.  We didn’t see the President, no
cameras, no pool.  Why didn’t he want to show us him signing this new executive
order?
MR. SPICER:  I tweeted a picture out.  
Q    That’s your picture, that’s not independent -Q    Well, I know -- from today.  Yeah, that’s your -MR. SPICER:  I know, I’m -- I think -- (laughter) -- there are three agencies that are
dealing with -- to your point, we went through this.  We talked about the courts
issue, we talked about this ad nauseam; the President got asked about it over and
over again.  I think today was about the implementation of it, was about having the
three Departments that are expressly named to implement this to talk about what
they’re doing to implement it.  And I think they did a phenomenal job about it.

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And that’s what we wanted to highlight today, is the government getting it done.
 And the way that the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security
and the Department of State were implementing the measures that the President
laid forth -- again, if you think about it, the principles of the executive order remain
the same.  We looked at what the court said, we put together a thing -- we
consulted with the relevant agencies and Departments.  We talked to Congress.  We
had an extensive morning of briefings.  The call to the press lasted about an hour, I
guess.
And so we made sure that everybody knew what we were doing.  We sent them out
to make sure that the American people could see what they were doing.  
And so I just want to be clear that I think we did a phenomenal job of rolling it out
and making sure the American people saw the faces of the Departments that were
instrumental in implementing it.  
I’m sorry, Jon, go ahead.
Q    That’s all right.  The second one has to do with this idea of “element of
surprise.”  With the first executive order and also with this one, there’s a 90-day
temporary ban on residents entering this country from six predominantly Muslim
countries.  What’s to stop a so-called “bad dude” from one of these countries from
coming into the country on the 91st day, or the 92nd day?  Why 90 days?  Doesn’t
that get rid of that element of surprise when you say -MR. SPICER:  No, I think that -- no, but -- thank you, that’s actually an interesting
question.  I think part of it is, is that we feel confident that during that 90-day
period, the processes could be put in place.
Now, remember, there’s two key things that are important.  Number one is these six
countries are the ones that we don’t have the information currently that we feel
comfortable -- and as I lifted off why -- I mean, there are some that literally are
state-sponsors of terror.  And I think when you recognize -- I don’t think there’s any
American that wants a country that is a state-sponsor of terror to be sending their
individuals here without us properly vetting them.
You talk about Yemen, the documents that people use in Yemen are not accepted
by a whole host of countries because they lack the integrity to ensure that they are
not compromised.  And I think that there is a big difference in that, but we can -- at
the end of that 90-day period, we can let a country off, we can expand the list of

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countries, we could indefinitely address the countries that are on the list, we could
expand that list to other countries that aren’t on it.
But there’s two things that are happening.  One is, we’re putting a ban on those
countries, the six that are named.  But two is, we’re looking at an entire -- at the
rest of the entire world, and all of the procedures that we use to address all
countries. 
And so at the end of that period, we could add countries.  We could subtract
countries.  We could decide to indefinitely continue with one of the two -- one of the
six, rather.  But if you look at the case of Iraq, after the first order, they stepped up
with four very specific things that they did to ensure that people traveling from
Iraq, we had certain things -- whether it be biometrics and others -- that let us
ensure that people coming into the country, we felt confident in knowing that they
were coming in.
But that’s an important thing.  It’s not just those six.  We’re looking at that time -we’re dealing with those during that 90-day -- but we’re also looking at everybody
else at the same period.
Kaitlan.
Q    So why doesn’t the order prevent people who didn’t have visas by the day of the
first order from coming in the country?  Because wouldn’t that safeguard from the
people who went and got visas during this revision period?  
MR. SPICER:  I would just say I think that there’s appropriate steps that have been
taken during that period to ensure that the homeland has been protected.
Go ahead, I know you have another one.
Q    Just one more question.
MR. SPICER:  Of course.
Q    Does the President think that Barack Obama himself wiretapped him, or
someone in the administration?
MR. SPICER:  I’m just going to say that as the President noted in his statement,
we’re going to let Congress look into that and then we’ll get back to you -- we’ll
discuss it after Congress comes with -- Erin.

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Q    Since the President contends that he and President Obama like each other, has
he picked up the phone and called President Obama since the inauguration, or did
he think about asking him directly before accusing him publicly?
MR. SPICER:  I have not -- I’m not aware of whether or not they’ve talked.  I can ask
and find out and get back to you.
Cecilia.
Q    Does the fact that you’re rescinding this first executive order -- is it at all an
admission that things just didn’t go right the first time around?
MR. SPICER:  No.  I think the first executive order, we’ve made clear time and time
again -- when you look at how the court adjudicated that, their facts were wrong.
 Just in terms of how many people had come into the country, they based it off of
several things that I think were not factually accurate.  I think we recognized that
we could have been in litigation for up to a year on this, and that would have left
the country exposed.  
And I think that that’s -- there is a goal here that we sought to achieve the first time
that we have to maintain.  But by no means -- we 100 percent maintain that the
executive order as initially drafted is completely constitutional and legal, and that
what we’ve done is to do the best of our ability based on what the court -Q    Sean -MR. SPICER:  Hold on, it’s still Cecilia’s turn.
Q    Thank you.  What about this issue of radicalization after people are here, which
is what DHS raised in that report?  One of the examples that’s cited in the EO today
is the Somali man, now, who came as a child and was radicalized here.  So what
does this order do about that population of people?
MR. SPICER:  The people that are here -Q    That are here, which is what -- the concern that DHS raised in this report, that
said people -- the bigger concern is people who are here and are radicalized after
the fact, not those that are here just stopping to -MR. SPICER:  I think that what we need to do -- this isn’t a one-stop shop.  I think
that we have to look at this -- the entire problem.  This is one piece of the problem

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that we’re looking at to make sure that we keep the country safe.  It’s not a
either/or, or only-this-then.  But I think you’re going to see a continuation of steps
that the President takes to make sure that the country is protected.
One small correction that I’ve been made aware of, it’s Somalia, not Yemen, that
the travel docs are not accepted.  So my apologies to Yemen.  
Jeff, did you -- hold on.  Thanks.  Jeff.
Q    Thank you, Sean.  You’ve mentioned a couple times and referred a couple times
today to DNI Clapper -- former DNI Clapper’s comments on -- over the weekend
about Russia and the Trump campaign.  Are you encouraging people to take those
comments seriously but not the comments where he said there was no
wiretapping?
MR. SPICER:  No, I’m just -- well, first of all, he also said that he wasn’t aware -- he
couldn’t speak entirely when it came to wiretapping.  He said that he wasn’t aware
of anything.  I take him at his word that he wasn’t aware, but that doesn’t mean
that it didn’t exist.
But I also think that it’s interesting that the double standard that has existed for so
long when it comes to -- you have these sources over and over again who have been
briefed by the FBI that say, I was briefed, there’s nothing there.  You have Clapper
saying, “Not that I’m aware of.”  And yet, we still have these stories over and over
again citing anonymous sources.
At some point, you have to question how many times are you going to take “didn’t
see anything there” before we start seeing these stories getting rewritten over and
over and over again?  I think that is a valid question.  It’s interesting how everyone
today is asking what sources we have, and yet we’ve been asking the same
question about the sources for these anonymous sources and story after story for
the last six months.  And it’s just, don’t worry, we have these trusted anonymous
sources that may or may not be true.  And at the bottom of every story it has some
kind of caveat that -- however there has been no formal evidence presented.
I think there’s been a malignment for so many months about what may or may not
have happened, and yet not a shred of single truth has actually come that shows
any evidence that existed except for anonymous source after anonymous source
after anonymous source.

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Q    On a different issue?  
MR. SPICER:  Yeah.
Q    What is the White House’s reaction to North Korea firing four ballistic missiles
into the sea off of Japan’s northwest?
MR. SPICER:  The launches are consistent with North Korea’s long history of
provocative behavior.  The United States stands with our allies in the face of this
very serious threat.  The Trump administration is taking steps to enhance our
ability to defend against North Korea’s ballistic missiles, such as through the
deployment of a THAAD battery to South Africa -- South Korea.
Q    I just want to circle back around to a couple things that you said.  You said it
could be FISA, it could be surveillance.  So are you saying that the administration is
conceding that somewhere there was evidence presented before a judge that
shows there could be collusion with the campaign and that it was okay to surveil
them?
MR. SPICER:  No, what I'm suggesting is that, as I said, that our goal is to allow
Congress to do its job, as the statement said yesterday.
Olivier.
Q    And then the follow-up on the new order.  You had said that there are a hundred
or so that had been inspected, but how many total that came in that you all have
detained. 
MR. SPICER:  It’s 300.
Q    Of 300 -- 100 refugees?  You said hundreds of -- or 300 refugees.  How many total
came in, and how many did you detain?
MR. SPICER:  I'd ask you to talk to the Department of Justice -- actually, Homeland
Security on that one.  I know the top-line stat on that one.
Olivier.
Q    A couple for you.  One, just scheduling.  The Israeli defense minister is in town
tomorrow.  Will he meet with the President?

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MR. SPICER:  I'll have to get back to you on that.  I'm not aware that that's on the
schedule at this time, but -- I don't know.  I know that he and Prime Minister
Netanyahu spoke earlier.  I'm not aware that that came up.
Q    And can you flesh out this notion of 300 refugees being investigated?  What are
they being investigated for, specifically?  What’s the source for this information -MR. SPICER:  The FBI.
Q    So the FBI is investigating 300 refugees currently on U.S. soil on terrorismrelated charges?
MR. SPICER:  That's what I have been -- yes.  I'll get you the stat for that, but that's -Q    That would be great.  Thank you.
MR. SPICER:  Anita.
Q    Can you talk a little bit about Iraq and how they’re not -- why they’re not in the
executive order anymore?  So is this a signal to the other six and to other countries
that they can also get removed if they -- I think you called it “proactive,” if they
were proactively having their own actions?  
MR. SPICER:  I think what I would say, and I think the way you phrased it is right.  It’s
not just the six countries, it's countries throughout the globe.  I think that we are -it is in every country’s best interest to know who’s coming in and out of its country
and to do things.  And I think there are things that we've asked countries to do.  And
it's not inclusive, it's not “have you hit these four.”  I think each country is a
separate case.  So I don't want to say, “if you do these four you're in.”  
Q    But is it possible, then, to -MR. SPICER:  Absolutely.  I think there is -- now, in some cases, like anything else,
Anita, it may be easier for one country to achieve something than for another.  But
at the end of the day, I think there are certain things that -- there are certain steps
that Iraq went through, including things like biometrics and turning over lists of -updating lists, rather, of people within their country that have -- that pose a threat.  
And so that -- they’ve agreed to do certain things after the first one was ordered
that give us a much greater degree of confidence in knowing who is coming in and
out of the country.

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Q    And then on another topic.  What was the President’s reaction to hearing about
Vice President Pence’s email use, personal email for government business?  I ask,
obviously, because he had so many things to say about Hillary Clinton using
personal email for government business last year?
MR. SPICER:  I was going to insert, like, an AOL joke here.  (Laughter.)  
But I think, look, I don’t -- I think there’s a big difference.  The Vice President
complied with Indiana law, turned over all of his emails and made sure that
everything was done.  I mean, that’s a very big step.  There’s no question that I’ve
been made aware of that he didn’t do everything in compliance with Indiana law.
 There’s a big difference between doing what is common practice within a state
government and what is in compliance with that state’s laws, then setting up a
private server that seeks specifically to go around the government protocols and
the Federal Records Act.
There’s a big difference between that.  But I mean, the governor at the time, and
now the Vice President, did everything in compliance with Indiana law.  And I think
that’s a big difference, is that it’s not a question of -- it’s a question of was there a
law and was there a rule and did you follow it.  In the case of Governor Pence, he
did.  In the case of Secretary Clinton, I would let the record speak for itself on that.
Sara.  Gabby, I’m sorry.
Q    Thanks, Sean.  Part of the justification for the hurried rollout of the initial
executive order on immigration was that if it wasn’t rolled out immediately, that
people would take advantage of that and come into the country.  So why has the
administration decided to delay the implementation of this new executive order
until March 16th?
MR. SPICER:  I’m going to refer you Hallie Jackson.  (Laughter.)  That was what
Hallie asked earlier.
Q    Sorry.
MR. SPICER:  No problem, it’s in the -- but basically the answer that I gave Hallie
that I’ll give to you is, I think the first order -- one of the goals of the first order was
an element of surprise, to implement it in a way that didn’t allow people to get in,
right?

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Since the 9th Circuit acted, we’ve been talking about a second executive order.  I
think we lost the element of surprise back in mid- to early February when the 9th
Circuit acted the way they did.  So that element -- what we’ve tried to do now is to
make sure, with that element gone, that we’ve implemented this in a way that
ensures the greatest degree of confidence that we know what we’re doing.
One quick item -- I’m not done, so don’t -- you can keep your hands -- someone
asked earlier, and I’m trying to remember who, about the source for DOJ.  Was that
you, Olivier?  The Department of Justice, FBI investigation, section one, subsection
H, the text of the EO notes -- you can check on that for the source.
I’m sorry.  Matt.
Q    Thanks.  Sean, doubling back to something we talked about earlier.  President
Trump accused President Obama of criminal conduct.  One, can you tell us what his
source was for that accusation?  Two, can you tell us, unequivocally, that he was
basing that on more than a talk radio report and a Breitbart article about that talk
radio report? 
MR. SPICER:  I’m going to tell that -- I’ve said it over and over again, I think the
President made it very clear in the statement yesterday that he is not going to
comment any further on this until Congress does -Q    So maybe it was just based on the talk radio report?
MR. SPICER:  I’m not going to -- I’m just going to say that the President made it very
clear that, based on numerous things, including -- and I think there’s a New York
Times story on it, there’s several sources that made this clear or brought this to
light -- but I’m not going to go into anything further, as the President noted, until
this is resolved.
Mara.
Q    I have two topics.  One, on the EO that maybe is coming later this week -- an EO
on the Obama administration’s fuel-economy standards.  Are you going to have an
EO reversing those, and will that also negate California’s waiver?
MR. SPICER:  I don’t see anything on -- I’ll have to get back to you, as my standard.
 I’m not so sure on the timing -- I was just looking at my date.  
Q    Oh, okay.  Thank you.  

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MR. SPICER:  But I’d just -- I wouldn’t get -- I don’t have anything to announce at the
time, is generally how I answer that, and I’m going to stick to it.
Q    Okay, but I have just one more question on the other topic.  You said that you
pointed rightly to Clapper’s comments -- nothing that he knows of suggests there
was any collusion between the campaign and Russia.  But he also said that he
didn’t know of any wiretap FISA order.  Why are you willing to accept his -MR. SPICER:  That’s what Jeff asked.
Q    Well, I guess the thing I’m asking is that the President of the United States has
unilateral authority to declassify anything that he wants.  He said in his tweet, I just
learned of this.  So he obviously had some kind of evidence.  Why not declassify it?
MR. SPICER:  I think that’s -- as I have made clear, there’s a reason that we want
Congress, the intelligence committees to do their job in terms of making sure that
there’s a separation of powers.  
Q    He’s afraid it would look like interference?
MR. SPICER:  I think that, again, I’m just going to leave it at that he thinks it’s
appropriate for Congress to do this instead of trying to point to his own Department
of Justice.
Ashley.
Q    Sean -MR. SPICER:  Hold on, you’re going to wait your turn.  It’s Ashley’s turn.
Q    Thank you.  This morning, Kellyanne Conway went on Fox News and she said,
“He’s the President of the United States.  He has information and intelligence that
the rest of us do not.”  So that seemed to be referring not to these news reports
you’re talking about, but to specific, tangible evidence.  So what can you tell us
about what that evidence is, where it came from?  And then secondly, if he has this
evidence, why is he asking Congress to investigate?
MR. SPICER:  Well, I just -- I think the point that Kellyanne was making at the time is
that the President, because he’s President, gets access to NSC and other
intelligence documents.  I don’t know -- I haven’t seen the exact transcript, so I
can’t --

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Q    I can read it to you.
MR. SPICER:  I appreciate that, thank you.  But I also haven’t talked to Kellyanne
about it, so I don’t think you can do that part.  But I don’t -- so I can’t specifically
respond to you in terms of what she was referring to, whether she was referring to
the exact nature of his charge or whether, generally speaking, he is given
information.
But again, on all of this, I’m going to go back to the statement earlier that the
President’s goal right now is to make sure that House and Senate can do this -- yes.
Q    Thank you, Sean.  China is retaliating against the THAAD deployment in South
Korea.  What is the U.S. position?
MR. SPICER:  It’s retaliating against what?
Q    Against the THAAD deployment in South Korea, THAAD battery deployment.
MR. SPICER:  The THAAD battery?
Q    Yes.
MR. SPICER:  Yeah, I think we’re going to work with South Korea.  I mean, obviously,
North Korea’s missile launches present a danger to our friends down south.  And I
think, as I mentioned in our response, we’re going to continue to work with the
government of South Korea to address this thing.
Q    Would the U.S. -- the Chinese government?
MR. SPICER:  I’m not at this point -- huh?
Q    -- the Chinese government?
MR. SPICER:  We have not had any further conversations on this.  I think this is
consistent with U.S. policy.  
Margaret.
Q    Sean, two points of clarification.  Did the President mean in any way to suggest
that the FBI broke the law, or any other intelligence agencies, with this allegation of
wiretapping?
MR. SPICER:  In the tweet?  

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Q    Yes.  
MR. SPICER:  I’m just going to let the tweet speak for itself.  I’m not going to get into
-Q    Well, that’s why I’m asking this question?
MR. SPICER:  I get it, but I think that I’m not going to try to -Q    Because it opens that up.
MR. SPICER:  I understand that, and I think I will seek further clarification on that.
 For right now, I would just suggest to you that I’m going to let it speak until I can
get further clarification.
Q    My second point of clarification here.  You said, you know, you didn’t want to
really get into what the triggering event was for the tweet in the first place, but I
want you to address this part if you would.  The question has been raised -- or the
allegation has been raised that the President was simply trying to change the topic
off of an unfortunate news cycle that week.  Can you address that portion of the
question, that this was deliberately about changing the media narrative and not
anything having to do with the story itself?
MR. SPICER:  No, I don’t -- I mean, that’s -- I have nothing to lead me to believe that
that was the case.  I’m not sure -- and I think he had a great week last week.  He had
a phenomenal joint address.  We had a great visit down in Norfolk, talked about
rebuilding the military.  He was in Orlando, in Florida, talking about how school
choice can help children and parents and create better schools.  
So I just -- I can’t say that I’ve talked to him specifically about this, but I think the
President had a good week.  And so I don’t see any reason that he would be using -I mean, that just -- I think it was an issue of concern to him.
Q    Sean, let’s remind everybody what the President did tweet Saturday morning:
 “Terrible!  Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just
before the victory.”  He later called Obama a stupid guy -- or whatever it was
exactly -- a sick guy.  Yeah, sorry.  Are the American people supposed to pull back
and suddenly think that this is not the President of the United States accusing his
predecessor of committing a crime when he writes it that way?

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MR. SPICER:  Look, I think the President speaks very candidly.  His tweets speak for
themselves, as we’ve said before, and he’s asked the House and Senate committees
to look into this.
Sara.
Q    Considering the scrutiny surrounding President Trump’s then-campaign
advisors and Russia, which has carried over at the White House, is he reconsidering
at all his hope or his timeline for pairing with Russia to fight ISIS?
MR. SPICER:  Is he -- based on -Q    Just based on the amount of scrutiny surrounding his -MR. SPICER:  No, I mean, I think if Russia wants to join with us to fight ISIS, that’s a
great -Q    So nothing has changed on that front?
MR. SPICER:  No.
Q    And secondly, in light of the fact that there were previously undisclosed
communications between the Russian ambassador and Michael Flynn and Jeff
Sessions and Jared Kushner, has White House counsel done anything proactively to
try to go to senior staffers or other Cabinet-level officials and say, hey, if you have
had contact with a Russian official that you have not previously disclosed, then
now is the time to do it?
MR. SPICER:  Not that I’m aware of.  I’m not aware of any of that.  I would say that
there’s -- one of the things that is interesting that, you know -- in the course of
people conducting their business here at the White House or during a transition or
in the House or the Senate, you contact a whole host of people -- diplomats,
government officials, you know, association representatives, corporate
representatives.  I mean, that’s -- those are the kind of folks that talk to people in
government.  
And I think that there’s one thing between talking with somebody -- I mean, I think
-- and again, I’ll get back to you so don’t be prescriptive on this.  I think someone
had told me earlier today that there were something like 20 visits to the Russian
ambassador in the last, you know, 10, maybe, years.  I don’t -- huh?  

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Q    Twenty-two.
MR. SPICER:  Twenty-two.  Thank you for helping fact check me.  (Laughter.) 
Q    -- is not here, so somebody’s got to do it.  (Laughter.) 
MR. SPICER:  Thank you.  Where’s Knoller?  But I think at some point, there’s
nothing wrong with people doing their job, right?  I mean, that’s what I think that
there is a big difference between so-and-so met with someone.  There’s nothing to
disclose with a meeting.  If I have a meeting with a member of the media, no one
says, hey, did you know that you need to report every time you meet with this
individual or this outlet or whatever.  There’s nowhere to report that kind of stuff.
 There’s a big difference between doing something nefarious or illegal and
conducting yourself in a routine course of business.
Q    But there were clearly a number of instances where people in this
administration suggested they did not have any contact or misled you guys about
the amount of contact they had, which has then caused some unflattering news
cycles.
MR. SPICER:  Well, and I think -- so in one case, Michael Flynn was, you know -- the
President said the inconsistencies and him not being straight with the Vice
President -- he asked him to resign.  I think the President dealt with it.
But that was -- again, if you note the President’s comments at the time, he was very
clear that the issue wasn’t that he’s doing his job.  The issue was him misleading
the Vice President.  And that's a very different thing.
So he had no problem with him doing his job and contacting individuals that we
were going to need to be in contact with during the administration.  And that's
where I think there is a big difference between a lot of these stories saying, did you
know that so and so did this?  There’s nothing wrong with people meeting with
ambassadors, or government officials, or corporate representatives, or members of
the media.  That's part of what we do in government.  
And so I think there’s a big difference in the question that you're asking about
whether or not someone is doing something that's wrong and inappropriate or
illegal, and someone doing what they would do in a normal course of business.
Q    Well, I think the other question is just whether there have been more instances
in this that are going to catch you guys by surprise since he --

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MR. SPICER:  And I guess -Q    -- the President himself has denied that there was any kind of this contact
throughout the campaign, and then we found out there were national security -MR. SPICER:  But hold on.  Actually -- 
Q    -- advisors you didn't mention meeting with the Russian ambassador as well as
Jeff Sessions, and then there was this meeting with Michael Flynn, as well as Jared
Kushner, which was not previously disclosed.
MR. SPICER:  Okay, so there’s two things.  You said the President found out about
this.  What’s “this?”  Having a meeting?  Again, I don't think that -- there’s countless
meetings that members of his senior staff and the rest of people throughout
government have on it every day.  That's why he’s asked us to come here and work,
is to facilitate some of these meetings and get some of this stuff done.
There is no one to disclose stuff to.  I don't disclose the -- 
Q    That sounds like you're saying you're not concerned that they're -- 
MR. SPICER:  No, it’s not that I’m not concerned.  I guess there’s -- but what I’m
getting at, Sara, is that there’s a difference between being concerned about
somebody -- I could equally be concerned that if a member of the media said, hey, I
want to take a member of your staff out, and we're going to break some kind of
ethics rule.  I would be concerned about that.  But I wouldn’t be concerned if they
said, hey, we want to go have coffee with a member of the media.  
They don't disclose all that on our staff.  And I think -- but that's essential to your
question is, is a meeting -- there’s nothing wrong with a meeting.  There’s nothing
wrong with meeting with a government official, or a diplomat, or a member of the
media, or a corporate individual, or association, or a constituent, or a citizen that
has an issue.  But on any of those categories, once they cross the line and do
something wrong, and I think to the answer of your question, the issue was
specifically -- or the question surrounded attempts to influence the election.  Those
are very different than people meeting also during a transition period, or people
meeting in their White House capacity.  But those are three separate instances.
All of the stories that I’ve heard so far, previously all detailed just action with
respect to the campaign and Russia’s attempt to influence the campaign, right?  

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Q    Yes, I mean, I think -MR. SPICER:  Yes, I mean that's -- 
Q    That was the backdrop. 
MR. SPICER:  Right.  That's the backdrop.  And then -- and so I think in the one
instance where it happened where there was someone that misled someone, they
were let go.  
So for you to start asking questions about, well, what if these other individuals had
a meeting?  Well, were they ever asked about it?  I mean there’s a big difference
between did someone meet with someone; and did someone mislead somebody
about meeting someone.  And that is a very, very big difference in those questions.
And that's one of the things that I think is important to distinguish.  People can
meet with people.  The question is did they do something wrong.  Did they mislead
somebody?  And those are all very, very different categories.
April.
Q    Okay, Sean, I have a couple of topics.  And back on this following up, so the
question is:  Under what capacity was he in when he met with the ambassador?
 And what did they talk about?
MR. SPICER:  Who is he?
Q    Sessions.
MR. SPICER:  I don't know.  
Q    And then under -- then when he was under oath, he said he didn't do it.  But
then we find out later, so what do you say -- 
MR. SPICER:  No, no.  Well, first of all, I’m not going to -- I’ll refer you back to the
Department of Justice.  I know -- my understanding is he’s amending his testimony
to the Senate Judiciary Committee from what I’ve heard.  So I’ll let his people -- but
I do think that his explanation that he gave was very -- was that he was answering a
question did you have any meetings with anyone with respect to the campaign. 
And I think in his mind, it was very clear that, I never met with anybody with respect
to the campaign.  I met with someone in my Senate office, in my capacity as a

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United States senator, with Senate staff to discuss foreign policy or whatever it was
that he was discussing.  
I think the Senator discussed this in his media conference last week Thursday.  So I
don't -- I guess the issue is with respect to what was talked about, I don't know.
 That's up to him.
But I do think the way he described it was very clear that he believed he was
answering Senator Franken’s question with respect to activity involving the
campaign and attempts to -- as I said to Sara, like this whole idea of influencing the
election.  Meeting with an ambassador about an area of foreign policy in his Senate
office with his Senate staff was clearly not a campaign event.
Q    Okay, so now on the leak issue.  You're talking about Congress doing an
investigation.  But some of these leaks are coming from top officials, people who
know insider information.  What has the President said to his staff as it relates to
the leaks in reference to trying to find out himself, not just from top-level people,
what has he said to people about the leaks, about trying to stop it, or trying to find
out what’s happening? 
MR. SPICER:  Well, I think the President made clear in his comments when he stood
before you all a couple weeks ago that his main concern is national security.  That's
-- when he keeps talking about the leaks, his concern is the leaks that damage and
undermine national security, the leaks that deal with classified and other
information.  That's what his main concern is.  And I don't think -- that's not a White
House issue.  That's sort of -- that is an issue that is beyond the White House.  We're
not -- 
Q    Other leaks don't matter, but the national -MR. SPICER:  No, no, I think -- it’s not that other leaks don't matter.  I think his issue
that he has talked about and his concern is the leaks of national security.  It’s not
that he’s saying, other leaks are okay.  
But I think the ones that threaten our public safety or potentially put our country in
harm are the ones that he really cares about.  
Peter.
Q    I have a question.  I’m sorry.  This President reached out to former President
Obama several times when he was President. 

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MR. SPICER:  That's right. 
Q    They started building something.  There was a bridge.  Now some people in the
Obama camp are considering these conversations about, or these tweets crazy.
 And the question is now:  With this divide between these two, and President Trump
may need to one day reach back to former President Obama, how do you think that
will play out?  Do you think that these two will never come back together again?  Is
this something he could have talked to him about before he went on Twitter?
 There is now a chasm.  There’s a divide that wasn’t there a couple of weeks ago.
MR. SPICER:  Okay, well, there was a divide during the campaign, too.  I don't think
that -- I think that, as you saw, and the President has made it very clear, he said
some things about the President.  And the President said stuff -- about the
campaign.  I think they came together for the good of the country.  And in cases
where they can come together for a common good and to talk about what’s in the
country’s best interests, they will.
But I understand your point.  I just think the President -- 
Q    Did he burn a bridge?
Q    Hold up, hold on.
MR. SPICER:  Thank you.  But I think that they’ll be just fine.  So go ahead.  That's
you. 
Q    Oh, good.
MR. SPICER:  Yes.
Q    Hi, Sean.
MR. SPICER:  Hi, Julie.  You've been very patient.
Q    Yes, I have.  Thanks.
MR. SPICER:  I think it’s your first time.
Q    It is, yes.
MR. SPICER:  Well, welcome.  See how pleasant this is?

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Q    I was feeling like how can I not get called on my first time?  Ten years ago, Bob
Levinson disappeared in Iran.  And I know the President talked about this a little bit
on the campaign trail.  Is there anything you can tell us about how the
administration is approaching this case?  Have they been in communication with
his family or any updates on that?
MR. SPICER:  I think we put out a statement from the NSC on Friday on this -Victoria.  I think we -- so we have been in communication with his family.  I believe
they were here -- or we were in touch with them last week.  And obviously, we
continue to hold out hope.  But the administration has been in touch with his
family. 
Q    Sean, the call to Netanyahu, what prompted that?  
MR. SPICER:  I don't know, Dave.  I’ll find out.  I just know it happened.  And I got a
little bit of a -- 
Q    As you might know, the Prime Minister is meeting later this week with Vladimir
Putin.  Did the President and the Prime Minister talk about Syria at all?
MR. SPICER:  I don't know.  I know that they had a discussion about regional
threats, so I don't want to get ahead of this.
David Jackson.
Q    Comey did tell people this weekend that President Obama did not order these
wiretaps, and he did want the Justice Department to put out that statement.  Does
President Obama believe -- 
MR. SPICER:  Are you -- like I said, I am not -- wait, so -- 
Q    Does President Trump believe Comey when he says that President Obama did
not authorize these wiretaps?
MR. SPICER:  My question is, is that I don't think that we've confirmed that Director
Comey did say that.  I don't -- I’m not aware.  Aside from reading stories that cite
anonymous sources saying that he did, I’m not aware that that actually happened.
 So that's the first issue that I think we need to resolve.
Q    Well, people we trust did tell us that he did.

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MR. SPICER:  Well, with all due respect, not you, but I think that we've had a number
of reports that I’ve seen that -- about things that have occurred in the last 40-someodd days that actually didn't occur, but anonymous sources said they did.
Peter Alexander.
Q    Sean, to be clear, you said earlier as an on-the-record source for the President’s
wiretapping claims, he referred to the former Attorney General Michael Mukasey.  I
just want to ask you to clarify if you could because his public comments were on
Sunday, a day after the President tweeted about this.   And even in his public
comments, he said that he based his information “on news reports.”
MR. SPICER:  Okay.  But I’m just saying that he is -- someone asked whether it was
an on-the-record comment.  And that is on the record.
Q    But I was saying, was there an on -- you were being asked was there an on-therecord comment in advance of the President’s tweets to which he was basing his
information?  Did he have anything better than anonymous sources?
MR. SPICER:  I don't -- I’m not -- as I said before, I’m not going to get into the
elements of that.  I’ll just -- I’m going to wait until the House and Senate.
Q    Really, just on a past comment that the President had made about the
suggestion that there were -- or the claim, in fact, that there were 3 million to 5
million people who voted illegally in this country -- he made this claim more than a
month ago.  I just want to get a sense now on the update on any investigation into
that and where it stands, given the explosive nature of such a claim.
MR. SPICER:  I think we’ve touched on this, but he has asked Vice President Pence
to lead a task force on this.  We have -- I'll get more for you.  I know that there’s
been some discussion with some Secretaries of State and others on some of this.  I
know you had that issue in Texas come -- last week, and I'm trying to remember the
exact nature of it, but there has been now further evidence that people have voted
illegally.  And I think that one of the things the task force is looking to do is to
gather additional information of what -- it's still in the process of getting the task
members named.
Q    Does the task force, I guess, exist yet?  Or is -MR. SPICER:  Yeah, the Vice President has been talking to folks potentially to serve
on it, and I know that several Secretaries of State have expressed --

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Q    It hasn't convened yet, but he’s been talking to folks about it.
MR. SPICER:  That's correct.  That's correct.
Q    Sean, two subjects here, following up on the wiretap question.  Stepping away
from what the President knew or the basis of his tweets, how appropriate is it for a
President to make an explosive charge as fact and then send you folks out to step
away and say this maybe happened and we should investigate it?
MR. SPICER:  Well, again, I think there’s two things.  One is the President’s tweets
speak for themselves.  We're making that very -Q    But -MR. SPICER:  Hold on.  And I think the President has been very clear, as we've
stated, that I think there’s enough there that we want the House and Senate
intelligence to use the resources they do to make sure that they look into this
matter.  I mean, that's -- there is -- anyway, I do not want to get ahead of where
they may go with this or what they may look at, but I'm going to leave it to them.  If
we start down the rabbit hole of discussing some of this stuff I think then we end up
in a very difficult place.
I look forward to seeing you guys tomorrow.  If you can bring your cameras -Q    Sean, housekeeping-wise, you said that we’d get some clarification on a
number of questions -- to all of us.  If you could do that today through the pool -- 
MR. SPICER:  Yeah, I think we can try to do that through the pool.  If not, we'll write
everything -- we generally write down everything and try to get back to the
reporters.  So I will have the team -- and then get it out by the pool.
Q    Will we be hearing from the President this week, since we didn’t today?
MR. SPICER:  I'm sure at some point we'll do either something that we -- a photo
spray or something.  I think that we have a pretty good track record of making the
President available to folks.  
Q    -- kind of unusual.
MR. SPICER:  What’s unusual?  
Q    To not -- 

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MR. SPICER:  It's Monday.
Q    Exactly.
Q    But you see -- everything is closed.  Normally we have a photo spray or
something.
MR. SPICER:  I just -- I think that's -- don't give me this “normally we do.”  I made it
very clear at the beginning of this, April, that we have some things on camera, some
off.  Last week the President traveled two days, he had the joint session.  We briefed
every single day -Q    It’s not about us, it’s about the American public seeing their President.  And we
have to -- 
MR. SPICER:  Wait, hold on.  Seeing their President.  The guy is in meetings all day.
 I'm trying -- how many times did you complain about the President -Q    He signed executive orders.  You had us -- last week you said -- 
MR. SPICER:  Hold on, hold on.  He signed an executive order.  I mean, this is a
President, when it comes to accessibility and allowing the press access, I think I've
heard from several of you -- we have gone above and beyond allowing the press
into events, into sprays.  We've had greater access.  
So, with all due respect, I mean that's not been the case.  One day out of the last 41
or 40, whatever it's been -- but I think this President has been extremely accessible,
extremely transparent, as far as -- he signed an executive order this morning that
we then put all three Cabinet Secretaries that were relevant to implement this out.
I'll be out tomorrow.  I think we have an opportunity -- look, I made it very clear
from the beginning of this that we’d have a briefing every day.  We've gaggled every
day, we've made ourselves available to you.  So, with all due respect, that's not a
very accurate assessment of how we've been acting.
Thanks.  I'll see you guys tomorrow.
END  
2:50 P.M. EST

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