down reports between the trump administration and russia. we have the heated pushback from the white house. kristen welker at the white house, kasie hunt at cpac in maryland and our political panel who showed up a little earlier and we're going to take to you the president's speech as soon as it happens, we think within the next 15, 20 minutes here. the fbi, russia, kristen welker has been following all of this. i know a senior administration official very fiercely, very heatedly pushed back against some of this reporting. walk us through what we know and how the white house is responding. >> reporter: you're right, hallie. it was fierce, strong, robust pushback at times, senior administration officials becoming straight agitated. here's the story and here's the pushback. this relates to a cnn report that the white house tried to pressure the fbi to knock down a "new york times" report that came out back in february that

said that trump campaign officials had frequent contact with russian intelligence officials. worth noting our reporting at the time dialed that story, that initial "new york times" story back a little bit. here's the white house's version of events. they say when that "new york times" story broke, chief of staff reince priebus had a separate meeting with top officials at the fbi on a separate matter here at the white house and then deputy director andrew mccabe asked for a pull-aside with mr. priebus after that meeting. during that pull-aside, according to the white house deputy director mccabe said that "new york times" story is, quote unquote, garbage. and then according to the white house, priebus said what do we do about it and let it be known the reporting is not accurate. ultimately the fbi told the white house they're not going to do anything about it, they're not in the business of calling balls and strikes. the question becomes was it inappropriate for the white

house and fbi to have any sort of conversation about the "new york times" report? senior administration official when i asked about that called that notion insane, saying that, look, t bottom line is they never discussed an actual investigatio instead they just discussed the "new york times" report. they say that conversation was perfectly acceptable, legal and within bounds. there's no doubt, though, that, hallie, this is sparking a lot of debate just as the president prepares to speak before cpac in just a few moments from now. >> and kristen, the comparison between -- you've heard some people talk about, listen, when loretta lynch and bill clinton for example, met on that tarmac, republicans were furious about it and it's your report that the white house called that comparison absurd. >> reporter: again, their argument is there was never a discussion about an actual investigation, it was about the reporting. the pushback on that is that,

wait a minute, that "new york times" report was about an investigation. so it gets very murky and very complicated. the tone here very significant. the pushback, as you pointed out at the top was vigorous. senior administration officials became very agitated in discussing this. sean spicer expected to discuss this with the press. i anticipate he's going to get a lot more questions about all of this. >> kristen welker up and caffeinated since 5:00 this morning. i want to go over to kasie hunt in the room at cpac. a lot of people are looking ahead to the president's speech. he wasn't there last year. cpac in 2011 was when he sort of delivered his diatribe, his agenda, years before he ran for president. can you walk us through what you think he's going to say today and then the mood in the room. >> reporter: it's funny, i actually was at that trump cpac

speech in 2011. at the time it was a much different universe, mitt romney was sort of the presumed republican nominee and he wasn't conservative enough and donald trump seed like an oddity. it doesn't work out well for romney, he didn't have an excited base of support for this group, went on to lose the general election. trump, on the other hand, has been able to flip that script around. he was not supported by this group in the primary, even more so than romney was four years earlier than that, and the activists here, i was sitting down in the front yesterday as steve bannon and rnce priebus were having their conversation, you could see about half of the crowd was just watching and listening, not necessarily very excited about what was going on. you can tell from the way reince priebus in particular handled himself, they know they have some work to do with some the conservative ideologues, if you will, who typically show up here

to cpac. that's going to be donald trump's challenge. he's the first republican since ronald reagan to come to cpac in his first term as president. if what steve bannon said as his strategist, i think we're going to hear fighting word from now president trump. one thing to watch for is how much influence do people like priebus have over this speech, the more moderate, establishment wing of the party. how much does president trump talk about his supreme court nominee, for example, or is he spending time focused on these big ideas, this new world view laid out by stephen bannon yesterday, economic nationalism was a key buzz word, he talked about deconstructing the straigadministrative state and that's part of his priority. that's what we're watching for to give us clue as to who president trump is listening to right now. >> kasie hunt there or cpac for

day two. with me is michael steele, lucky to have a couple of the best in the bis. thanks for being here. >> hi. >> does donald trump walk into that room like a rock star or is he coming in like a new artist who has to prove himself to these conservative activists a year after he didn't show up. >> he's president so he's automatically going to be the rock star. i think you'll see that response generally. what i'm curious to see is this the beginning of the transformation of the republican party? does it begin here in the setting of young, libertarian-leaning conservative republicans. what you heard from bannon yesterday was a call to economic nationalism. >> deconstruct the status quo. >> that has not been the republican party.

we're not about tear iarifftari about controlling the means of production to get a particular outcome. you ask the question who's going to have the ear, who is he listening to, what is reince's influence? i think the influence here is all bannon. it is not traditional republicanism. >> let me get your take, jason. i want to play you a little what senator ted cruz said to me about his speech. >> reporter: is this the president's party now? is this the president's cpac? >> this is conservative cpac and these are conservative activists. there's an excitement here because we have the opportunity to accomplish what we've been talking about for years. >> reporter: donald trump wasn't here last year. how does he win over the conservatives in room? is there a fight happening right now for the republican party? >> listen, the first month of the trump presidency i think on

substance and policy has been very strong. >> so do you agree with the senator there, jason? and then, michael, i'll get your take because you were shaking your head. >> first off, i'd like to dispute this notion that he has to win over conservatives. the man won the election. he's now our president. what he's doing in the office and what we've seen so far is exactly what he said he would do on the campaign trail. >> even in the conservative party, not everyone was behind him. there was still a never trump movement. >> that was always the folks, the more establishment-type folks, the folks that didn't want to disrupt the system. when you have the president and steve bannon dismantling government as we know it, i think that's a good thing. if we get too far finto the wees saying what does that mean for this policy or this policy, i think we'll lose sight of what dismaning the government

means. >> i think thasexactly where we need to be, though. because at the end of the day, from those weeds hopefully grass will grow. and that means the party is going to stand for something and about something. you have an administration that's talking about spending a trillion dollars in money that republicans in the freedom caucus and elsewhere throughout the house are going where do we get that from? these are guys i helped elect in 2010 now going to spend a trillion dollars unaccounted for? i'm saying philosophically and politically it is inconsistent with where the party has been. i'm not saying they can't go there or that they won't go there. it's just that there's got to be a reconciliation over all the rhetoric and all the noise that was made between 2010 and now and how you go forward from here when you've been saying one thing and now you're going to do something else because you have a republican president who, by the way, has not adhered to those very core principles you've advocated. >> we know that the president is in that room.

we're looking at it on the split screen. he's waiting to deliver his speech to this conservative conference. matt schlapp we are told, the organizer behind cpac is going to be introducing the president. i want to ask about the news of the day, what we led this show with, which is this news that reince priebus asking the fbi or the fbi bringing up it reince priebus some of this reporting on tru staffs and their connection to russia. the white house very intense pushback this morning on this story. saying, listen, we didn't ask about an investigation, we asked about reporting. is this troubling to you that this happened at all? >> i guess i'm not too bothered by that. i'll take at face value, reince will tell you what he asked about. he said i didn't ask about a report, i -- i didn't ask about

an investigation, i asked about a report. >> it was a report about an investigation, as kristen welker said. >> and i'd go a step further and say it is absurd, this idea that if somebody comes to reince priebus, president trump, anybody in the white house and says what you read today is complete b.s. or whatever language they used, the natural response in any setting is to be like, okay, i agree with you, what can we do about this? >> that's the point that sean spicer made this morning. >> i completely agree with it. you're right in pointing out the republicans were upset about the loretta lynch and bill clinton meeting. >> if the argument is priebus and deputy director of the fbi didn't talk about an investigation, they talked about a report, on the flip side you

might see democrats arguing that the loretta lynch/bill clinton conversation wasn't about an active investigation either. >> but everybody knew there was an investigation between -- into bill clinton's wife and her dealings. in this case you have, from what i've seen, you've had an fbi official telling the white house chief of staff, by the way, what you just read yesterday is complete b.s. and the white house appropriately saying, well, we need help in this. and in your role, what can i say, what can you say? >> pull back for a second. john conyers, the house judiciary committee ranking member is out with a statement. given the conversation we jt had, he's saying there should be th inspector general, department of justice, making sure whistle blowers should be protected from retaliation. should congress look into this conversation? should be there an investigation

here? speechless, both of you. >> because -- >> there's not a there there yet. and if there is, then we'll have the investigation. if it's just about a "new york times" story, i mean, the bill clinton situation was different. it was an ongoing -- we all knew ongoing investigation. and that is just an inappropriate contact period. >> nobody's alleging that reince said tamper down the investigation. all he's saying is relaying information from the department who is saying the story is false. and all these saying can you say that because everybody time somebody from the white house says this is ridiculous, nobody believes it. >> let me get the take from republican the arkansas, asa hut

hutchinson. i want to get your reaction to the headline of the morning, the white house pushback around the reporting of the conversation between reince priebus and the deputy director of the fbi. what's your take. >> first of all, there's too many important issues to deal with. we don't need to get sidetracked into an investigation about that. i've been head of the dnc.a., a u.s. attorney and there's always a strong independence in the department of justice to manage investigations. there has to be a separation from the white house and guardrails to not discuss things inappropriately. i think they're trying to determine where those guardrails are. obviously the department of justice needs to have entire independence on any questions about wrong doing or investigations. so hopefully we just turn the page from that. i agree with michael, we don't

need to simply respond to a "new york times" story on this. >> governor, we're watching here and waiting for the president to make remarks at cpac, as you know, conservative conference here that happens just outside washington. what is the message that you think the president needs to send to help either unify the party or energize the party today? >> well, he won't have any trouble energizing the cpac audience. these are activists, they're going to be enthused. they're excited about the opportunity and the message of disruption of government appeals to this audience. so it going to be a very -- >> that bannonesque message. >> he's got a lot to talk about what he's done. but let me emphasize what's important. he does need to shape and begin shaping his views of trade policy. that's where it's contrary to traditional republican philosophy. i'm opposed to the border adjustment tax, it hurts us in arkansas, we're global traders. we have to be careful about

that. i would expect him to try to shape that today. >> that speaks to something that former rnc chairman michael steele was speaking of earlier, the idea of economic nationalism that steve bannon pushed yesterday. are you concerned that the chief strategist of the white house used that language and pushed that message? >> i'mot concerned about that specific rhetoric as i am about th specific policy. he's talked about congress, a border adjustment tax, high are te -- higher tariffs and talking about protecting u.s. businesses. there's a balance there. it would hurt consumers if we had a border adjustment tax that guarded against the imports. we're doing trade with china, we have walmart in china, we have tyson's food in china. so we don't need to get into a

trade war. we are global trading partners and leaders. we need to compete with that environment. and i listened very carefully to his words. whenever he says we need to have a tough trade policy, we say amen. to me that is looking out after our interests. but don't put us in a position to be penalized by our foreign trading partners by reescalating trade barriers that would only hurt the united states of america. >> governor, i have to say we've been talking a lot about arkansas these last 24 hours or so after a pretty feisty town hall that senator tom cotton was at with folks in your state. there's been some discussion that these protests were manufactured, that's what you heard from republicans, despite evidence there are no paid protesters or without presenting evidence these protesters are actually paid. do you think these people,any of whom are constituents in arkansas, have voices that dese to be heard in these town hall settings? >> ork, absolutely. i commend senator cotton for

having that. over 2,000 people show up. people are energized. the on thing frustrating is it not really a good venue for an open exchange of ideas, which is what town halls are designed for. they need to be very respectful and do as much listening as yelling. but it really reflective of a very organized, grass roots effort that is not happy with a trump presidency, but you got to remind yourself, trump's favorable numbers in arkansas are higher than mine. he's at 60%. even though had you a lot of protests there, anti-trump, look at those poll numbers as to how popular he is in that state and policies. >> there's a couple of other subjects in terms of policy. we're watching matt schlapp walk out on stage. this means at any moment we should be seeing the president, right? >> reporter: yes, we're expecting matt schlapp to

introduce president trump, who has been here on site for a couple of minutes. we're told me helicoptered over here, landed in a nearby parking lot. this is a really sprawling convention center complex down in national harbor, maryland, just about a half an hour from where you are in washington, d.c. this ballroom is at capacity. they're not letting anybody leave, theres an an overflow crowd standing here in the back. there's clearly quite a bit of excitement waiting to see president trump. there a lot of young people that come to this event. they come from all across the country in buses. some have been here for multiple years. for a lot of them, they've never had a chance to see a republican president. that's driving some of the excitement as well. >> kasie, hang out for a minute pip want to bring back in jason osborne, michael steele. we heard the desire to hear about trade policy. >> that was my point. the governor made my point. and that is something that has

to be reconciled within the party. we're talking about a fundental shift away from policy. and philosophy, if you will, where the party has been. i'm not saying that's a bad thing. i was a deconstructing kind of rnc guy which got me in all kind of ish. >> to say the least. >> but the reality is it got to be with a purpose and consistency to where the party is headed. >> it clear that every time president trump speaks, the entire nation and entire world listens. i fully expect him to throw out some red meat but it's entirely appropriate to talk about trade. >> we're watching as we see matt schlapp turn and president trump walk out on stage. he's spoken at cpap before, not last year but in 2015 where he

had feisty word for the audience. recently in 2011 when he hit on the idea of health care, when he hit on the idea that he wanted to see the united states be tougher. different vibe around that moment. i this i he walked out to the "money, money, money" song from "the apprentice." different vibe now. we're going to listen in to hear the president getting, guys, it seems like a decent reception, fully energized reception at cpac. l let's listen in. >> great to be back at cpac. it's a place i have really -- i love this place. i love you people. so thank you very much. first of all, i want to thank

matt schlapp and his very, very incredible wife and boss, mercedes, who have been fantastic friends and supporters and so great when i watch them on television defending me, nobody has a chance. so i want to thank matt and mercedes. [ applause ] when matt called and asked, i said absolutely i'll be there with you. the real reason i said it, i didn't want him to go against me so i said absolutely. and it really is an honor to be here. i wouldn't miss a chance to talk to my friends. these are my friends. and we'll see you again next year and the year after that. and i'll be doing this with cpac

whenever i can and i'll make sure that we're here a lot. if you remember, my first major speech -- sit down, everybody, come on. you know, the dishonest media, they'll say he didn't get a standing ovation. you know why? no, you know why? because everybody stood and nobody sat. so they'll say he never got a standing ovation, right? they are the worst. [ crowd wanting "usa" ] >> so sit down. donald trump did not get a standing ovation.

they leave out the par they never sat down. they leave that out. so i just want to thank you. but you know, my first major speech was at cpac, probably five or six years ago, first major political speech and you were there. and it was -- i loved it. i loved the people, i loved the commotion andn they did these polls where i went through the roof and i wasn't even running, right? but it gave me an idea. and i got a little bit concerned when i saw what was happening in the country and i said let's go to it. so it was very exciting. i walked the stage on cpac, i'll never forget it really. i had very little notes and even less preparation. so when you have practically no note and no preparation and then you leave and everybody was thrilled i said i think i like

this business. i would have come last year but i was worried that i'd be at that team too controversial. we wanted border security, we wanted very, very strong military. we wanted all of the things that we're going to get and people consider that controversial, but you didn't consider it controversial. so i've been with cpac for a long time. all of these years we've been together and now you finally have a president, finally. took you a long time. took you a long time. [ cheers and applause ] and it's patriots like you that made it happen, believe me. you did it because you love your country, because you want a better future for your children and because you want to make america great again. [ cheers and applause ]

the media didn't think we would win. the pundits -- you're right, they had an idea. the pundits can't think we'd win. the consultants that suck up all that money, oh, they suck it up, they're so good. they're not good at politics, but they're really good at sucking up people's money. especially my opponents because i kept them down to a minimum. but the consultants didn't think we would win. but they all underestimated the power of the people, you, and the people proved them totally wrong. this is so true and this is what's been happening. never underestimate the people. never. i don't think it will ever

happen again. and i want you all to know we are fighting the fake news. it's fake. ony. fake. a few days ago i called the fake news the enemy of the people and they are. they are the enemy of the people. because they have no sources, they just make them up when there are none. i saw one story recently where they said nine people have confirmed. there are no nine people. i don't believe there was one or two people. nine people. and i said give me a break because i know the people. i know who they talked to. there were no nine people. but they say nine people. and somebody reads it and they say, oh, nine people, they have nine sources. they make up sources. they're very dishonest people. in fact, in covering my comments, the dishonest media

did not explain that i called the fake news the enemy of the people, the fake news. they dropped off the word fake. and all of a sudden the story became the media is the enemy. they take the word fake out. and now i'm saying, oh, no, this is no good. but that's the way they are. so i'm not against the media, i'm not against the press. i don't mind bad stories if i deserve them, and i tell you, i love good stories but we won't talk -- i don't get too many of them. but i am only against the fake news media or press. fake. fake. they have to leave that word. i'm against the people that make up stories and make up sources. they shouldn't be allowed to use sources unless they use somebody's name.

let their name be put out there. let their name be put out. a source says that donald trump is a horrible, horrible human being. let them say it to my face. let there be no more sources. and remember this and not in all cases. i mean, i had a story yesterday written about me in reuters by a very honorable man that was a very fair story. there are some great reporters around, they are talented and honest as the day is long,er that great. but this are some terrible, dishonest people that do a tremendous disservice to our country, and to our people. they are very dishonest people and they shouldn't use sources. they should put the name of the person. you will see stories dry up like you've never seen before. you have no idea how bad it is

because if you are not part of the story, and i put myself in your position sometimes because many of you, you're not part of the story. and if you're not part of the story, you know, then you sort of know if you are part of the story, you know what they're saying is true or not. so when they make it up and they make up something else and you saw that before the election, polls, polls. they come out with some of these polls -- and some of them got it right. i must say, "los angeles times" shocking, they did a great job. we had a couple of others that were right. generally speaking, i can tell you the network. somebody said "a poll came out." i said what network is it? and they'll say a certain -- let's not even mention names, right? shall we?

well, you have a lot of them. the clinton news network is one. totally. take a look,onestly. take a look at their polls over the last two years. you'd think they'd fire the pollster, right? after years and years of getting battered. i mean, who knows, maybe they're just bad at polling. or maybe they're not legit. but it's one or the other. look at how inaccurate. look at cbs, look at abc also. look at nbc. take a look at some of these polls. that your so bad, so inaccurate. and what that does is it creates a false narrative. it creates this narrative that it's just like we're not going to win. people say i love trump but i'm not feeling great today. he can't win so i won't go and vote. it creates a whole false deal and we have to fight it, folks.

we have to fight it. they're very smart, they're very cunning and they're very dishonest. so just to conclude, it's a very sensitive topic and they get upset when we expose their false stories. they say that we can't criticize their dishonest coverage because of the first amendment. they always bring the "the first amendment." i love the first amendment. nobody loves it better than me. nobody. i maean, who use it is more tha i do? but the first amendment gives all of us, it gives it to me, it gives it to you, it gives it to all americans the right to speak our minds freely. it gives you the right and me the right to criticize fake news and criticize it strongly. and many of these groups are

part of large media corporations that have their on agenda. and it's not your agenda and it's not the country'sagenda, it's their own agenda. they have a professional obligation as members of the press to report honestly, but as you saw throughout the entire campaign and even now, the fake news doesn't tell the truth. doesn't tell the truth. so just in finishing, i say it doesn't represent the people, it never will represent the people and we're going to do something about it because we have to go out and we have to speak our minds and we have to be honest. our victory was a win like nobody has ever seen before. and i'm here fighting for you and i will continue to fight for you. the victory and the win was

something that really was dedicated to a country and people that believe in freedom, security and the rule of law. our victory was a victory and a win for conservative values. and our victory was a win for everyone who believes it's time to stand up for america, to stand up for the american worker and to stand up for the american flag. yeah, there we should stand up. there we should stand up. and, by the way, we love our

flag. by the way, you folks are in here, the place is packed. there are lines that go back six blocks and i tell you that because you won't read about it, okay? but there are lines that go back six blocks. there is such love in this country for everything we stand for. you saw that on election day and you're going to see it more and more. so we're all part of this historic movement, a movement the likes of which the world has never seen before. there's never been anything like this. there's been some movements but there's never been anything like this. there's been some movements that petered out, like bernie. petered out. but it was a little rigged against him. super delegate, super delegate. she had so many delegates before the thing even started. i actually said to my people how does that happen? not thatbernie but

a lot of bernie people voted for trump because you know why? she was right about trade. our country is being absolutely devastated by trade deals so we got a lot of support. so actually i like bernie. i'm here to tell you what this means for the future of the republican party and the future of america. first, we need to define what this great, great unprecedented movement is and what it actually represents. the core conviction of our moment ithat we are a nation that put and will put its own citizens first.

for too long we've traded away our jobs to other countries, so terrible. we've defended other nations' borders while leaving ours wide open, anybody can come in. oh, we're going to build a wall, don't worry about it. we're building the wall. we're building the wall. in fact, it's going to start soon. way ahead of schedule. way ahead of schedule. way, way, way ahead of schedule. general kelly, by the way, has done a fantastic job. fantastic the job he's done.

and remember, we are getting the bad ones out. these are bad dudes. we're getting the bad ones out. okay? we're getting the bad -- if you watch these people, it like oh, gee, that's so sad. we were getting bad people out of this country. people who shouldn't be, whether 'srugs or murder. we're getting bad ones out. they're the ones that go first. i said it from day one. basically all i've done is keep my promise. we've spent trillions overseas while allowing our own infrastructure to fall into total disrepair and decay. in the middle east we've spent as of four weeks ago $6 trillion. think of it.

and, by the way, the middle east is in what -- i mean, it's not even close, it's in much worse shape than it was 15 years ago. if our presidents would have gone to the beach for 15 years, we would be in much better shape than we are right now. that i can tell you. could have been a hell of a lot better. we could have rebuilt our country three times with that money. this is the situation i inherited. i inherited a mess, believe me. we also inherited a failed health care law that threatens our medical system with absolute and total catastrophe. now i've been watching and nobody says it but obamacare doesn't work, folks. i could say, i could talk. and now people are starting to

develop a little -- but the people that you're watching, they're not you. they're largely, many of them are the side that lost. they lost the election. it's like how many elections do we have to have? they lost the election. but i always say obamacare doesn't work and these same people two years ago and a year ago were complaining about obamacare. and the bottom line, we're changing it. we're going to make it much better, we're going to make it less expensive, we're going to make it much better. obamacare covers very few people. and remember, deduct from the number all of the people that had great health care that they loved that was taken away from them. was taken away from them. millions of people were very happy with the health care.

they had their doctor, they had their plan. remember the lie? 28 times. you can keep your doctor. you can keep your plan. over and over and over again you heard it. so we'reoing to repeal and replace obamacare. and i tell paul ryan and all of the folks that we're working with very hard, dr. tom price, very talented guy, but i tell them from a purely political stand point the single best thing we can do is nothing. let it implode completely. it's already imploding. you see the carriers are all leaving. it's a disaster. but two years, don't do anything. the democrats will come to us and beg for help. they'll beg.

and it's their problem. but it's not the right thing to do for the american people. it's not the right thing to do. we inherited a national debt that has doubled in eight years. think of it, $20 trillion. it's doubled. and we inherited a foreign policy marked by one disaster after another. we don't win anymore. when was the last time we won? did we win a war? did we win anything? do we win anything? do we win anything? we're going to win. we're going to win big, folks. we're going to start winning again. believe me. [ crowd chanting "usa" ] >> but we're taking a firm, bold and decisive measure, we have to, to turn things around.

the era of empty talk is over. it's over. now is the time for action. so let me tell you about the actions that we're taking right now to deliver on our promise to the american people and on my promise to make america great again. we've taken swift and strong action to secure the southern border of the united states and begin the construction of a great, great border wall. by doing this and with the help of our great bored are police, with the help of i.c.e., with the help of general kelly and all of the people that are so

passionate about this, our border patrol, what they do, they came and endorsed me, i.c.e. came and endorsed me, they never endorsed a presidential can't before. they might not be allowed to but they were disgusted what they saw. we'll stop it, we'll stop the drugs from pouring into our nation and poisoning our youth. pouring in. pouring in. we get the drugs, they get the money. we get the problems. they get the cash. no good. no good. going to stop. by stopping the flow of illegal immigration, we will save countless tax dollars. that's so important because the dollars that we're losing are beyond anything that you can imagine. and the tax dollars that can be used to rebuild struggling american communities, including

our inner cities. we are also going to save countless american lives. as we speak today, immigration officers are finding the gang members, the drug dealers and the criminal aliens and throwing them the hell out of our country. [ cheers and applause ] and we will not let them back in. they're not coming back in, folks. they do, they're going to have bigger problems than they ever dreamt of. i'm also working with the department of justice to begin reducing violent crime. i mean, can you believe what's happening in chicago as an example? two days ago seven people were shot. and i believe killed. seven people. seven people.

chicago. a great american city. seven people shot and killed. we will support the incredible men and women of law enforcement. [ cheers and applause ] thank you. and thank them. i've also followed through on my campaign promise and withdrawn america from the transpacific partnership so that we can protect our economic freedom. and we're going to make trade deals, but we're going to do

one-on-one, one-onne and if they misbehave, we terminate the deal and then they come back and we'll make a better deal. none of these big quagmire deals that are disaster. just take a look at nafta, one of the worst deals ever made by any country having to do with economic development. it's economic undevelopment as far as our country is concerned. we're preparing to repeal and replace the disaster known as obamacare, we're going to save americans from this crisis and give them the access to the quality health care they need and deserve. we have authorized the construction one day of the keystone and dakota access pipeline. and issued a new rule, this took place while i was getting ready to sign. i said who makes the pipes from the pipeline? well, sir, comes from all over

the world, isn't that wonderful? i said, nope, comes from the united states or we're not building it. american steel. if they want a pipeline in the united states, they're going to use pipe that's made in the united states. do we agree? but can you imagine -- i told this story the other day. can you imagine the gentleman, never met hi d'tven know the name of his country -i sort of know it but i want to get it exactly correct. big, big company. they spend hundreds of millions on the pipeline. they got their approvals everything in the case of dakota, then all of a sudden they couldn't connect it because they had people protesting that never showed up before. before with the keystone -- so they spend hundreds of millions

of dollars with blood sucker consultants, sucking the blood out of the company, don't worry, i used them all my life, okay? don't worry, i'm going to get it approved, i'm connected, i'm a lobbyist, don't worry. bottom line, obama didn't sign it. could be 42,000 jobs, somewhere around there. didn't sign it. but can you imagine? he gave up. a year ago -- it was dead. now he's doing nothing, calling his wife, hello, darling, i'm a little bored, you know that pipeline project, that has killed us that has killed our company. knock, knock. mr. so and so. the keystone pipeline, sir, out of nowhere has just been approved. can you imagine the expression? you know the sad part? the same blood sucking consultants that hit him for all the money and failed, they're now going to go back to him and say didn't we do a great job? we want more money. that's the way the system works,

a little bit off, but that's the way the system works. we're preparing bold action to lift the restrictions on american energy, including shale oil, natural gas and beautiful, clean coal and we're going to put our miners back to work. miners are going back to work. miners are going back to work, folks. sorry to tell you that but they're going back to work. we have begun an historic program to reduce the regulations that are crushing our economy. crushing. and not only our economy, crushing our jobs because companies can't hire. we're going to put the regulation industry out of work and out of business.

and, by the way, i want regulation. i want to protect our environment, i want regulations for safety, i want all of the regulations that we need and i want them to be so strong and so tough, but we don't need 75% of the repetitive, hoshlg regulations that hurt companies, hurt jobs, make us noncompetitive overseas with other companies from other countries, that we don't need. but we're going to have regulation. it's going to be really strong and really good and we're going to protect our environment and we're going to protect the safety of our people and our workers, okay. another major promise is tax reform. we are going to massively lower taxes on the middle class, reduce taxes on american business and make our tax code more simple and much more fair

for everyone, including the people and the business. in anticipation of these and other changes, jobs are already starting to pour back into our country. you see that. in fact, i think i did more than any other prepresident. they say president-elect. president-elect is meeting with ford, he's meeting with chrysler, he's meeting with general motors. i just wanted to save a little time because ford and fiat chrysler, general motors, sprint, intel and so many others are now because of the election

result making major investments in the united states, expanding production and hiring more workers. and they're going back to michigan and they're going back to ohio and they're going back to pennsylvania and they're going back to north carolina and to florida. it's time for all americans to get off of welfare and get back to work. you're going to love it. you're going to love it. you are going to love it. we're also putting in a massive budget request for our beloved military!

and we will be substantially upgrading all of our military, all of our military, offensive, defensive, everything. bigger and better and stronger than ever before and hopefully we'll never have to use it but nobody's going to mess with us, folks. nobody. it will be one of the greatest military buildups in american history. no one will dare question, as they have been because we're very depleted, very, very deplet depleted sequestier. nobody will did question our military mite aga-- might again.

we believe in peace through strength and that's what we will have. as part of my pledge to restore safety for the american people, i have also directed the defense community to develop a plan to totally obliterate isis. working with our allies, we will eradicate this evil from the face of the earth. at the same time, we fully understand that national security begins with border security. foreign terrorists will not be able to strike america if they cannot get into our country. and, by the way, take a look at what's happening in europe, folks. take a look at what's happening in europe. i took a lot of heat on sweden.

and then a day later i said has anybody reported what's going on? and it turned out that they didn't -- not too many of them did. take a look at what happened in sweden. i love sweden. great country, great people, i love sweden. they understand i'm right. the people there understand i'm right. take a look at what's happening in sweden. take a look at what's happened in germany. take a look at what's happened in france. take a look at nice and paris. i have a friend, he's a very, very substantial guy, he loves the city of lights. he loves paris. for years every year during the summer he would go to paris. it was automatic. with his wife and his family. hadn't seen him in a while. and i said, jim, let me ask you a question, how's paris doing? paris? i don't go there anymore. paris is no longer paris.

that was four years, four, five years hasn't gone there. he wouldn't miss it for anything. no he doesn't even think in terms of going there. take a look at what's happening to our world, folks. and we have to be smart. we have to be smart. we can't let it happen to us. so let meech state this as clearly as i can, we are going to keep radical islamic terrorists the hell out of our country. we will not be deterred from this course, and in a matter of days we will be taking brand new action to protect our people and

keep america safe. you will see the action. i will never, ever apologize for protecting the safety and security of the american people. i won't do it. if it means i get bad press, if it means people speak badly of me, it okay, it doesn't bother me. the security of our people is number one, is number one. our administration is running with great efficiency, even though i sti don't have my cabinet approved. nobody mentions that. do you know i still have people out there waiting to be approved. and everyone knows they're going to be approved. it's just a delay, delay, delay. it's really sad. it's really sad. and these are great people. these are some great people. we still doesn't have our cabinet. i assume we're setting records for that.

that's the only thing good about it, we're setting records. i love set being records. but i hate having a cabinet meeting and i see all these empty seats. i say democrats, please, approve our cabinet and get smart on health care, too, if you know me. but we're taking meetings every day with top leaders in business, in science and industry. yesterday i had 29 of the biggest business leaders in the world in my office. caterpillar, tractor, campbell soup, we had everybody. we had everybody. i like campbell soup. we had everybody. and we came to a lot of very good conclusions and a lot of those folks that are in that room are going to be building big, big massive new plants and lots of jobs. you know what?

they're going to be building them in this country and not in some other countries. we're meeting with unions, meeting with law enforcement and leaders from all around the world. where the white house doors used to be totally closed, they were closed, folks, you don't realize that, they were closed. they're now wide open and they're open for people doing business for our country and putting people to work. and when they come into the white house, we're translating these meetings into action. one by one we're checking off the promises we made to the people of the united states. one by one. a lot of promises. and we will not stop until the job is done. we will reduce your taxes, w