Press Secretary Sanders insists that the President is “in the process of finalizing a decision ”, in response to multiple repeated questions at the Press Briefing on the status of the DACA and DREAMERs program.
The White House says that President Trump will be making an announcement on whether or not the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program will be terminated or not this coming Tuesday. Press Secretary Sanders, in response to several questions on DACA, said the President is “in the process of finalizing that decision”. Questions on DACA from the press corps were recurrent and persistent, to the point that Sanders herself acknowledged that the discourse was beginning to sound “like a broken record.” She also said that this is “a pretty complicated process”, and it, ““takes diligent time and effort and attention that this very important issue deserves”.
Updates on Hurricane Harvey included a mention of Vice President Mike Pence, and his wife’s recent visit to Texas. As well, the President and First Lady will be visiting Texas again tomorrow, this time to locations they were unable to visit on their trip earlier this week. Sanders confirmed that the first stop will be Houston. The President will have a chance to meet with survivors of the storm and those affected, as well as an opportunity to “talk with some of the volunteers”, who have played a key role in providing support where needed in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. The President will also be stopping in Louisiana. Sanders also emphasized, twice, that they are still taking suggestions on organizations the President can direct his $1 million donation (of his own personal money) to, in contributing to efforts of disaster relief in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.
In terms of foreign relations, POTUS spoke today with President of South Korea (read out coming out shortly), Kazakhstan, and Colombia. As well, the President will be hosting the Amir of Kuwait at the White House on September 7th, and the President of Spain on September 12th. When asked about the President’s recent comments on the situation in North Korea, Sanders said “we take North Korea extremely seriously and all options are on the table”. Further, Sanders reiterated that the “president is still very much committed to building the wall”, and NAFTA, “negotiations are still ongoing”.
Press Secretary Sanders also quickly shut down questions about approval ratings and a recent poll that stated that 56% of Americans think Trump is tearing America apart. She said a lot of these polls were the ones that had predicted President Trump would not have won office in the first place, so she said, “I don’t have a lot of faith in a lot of these polls”.
She then took this opportunity to leeway into the tax reform conversation, an issue that she said, “has very wide bipartisan support.” She quoted some statistics on tax-related problems facing Americans, and said the administration is focusing on “actual problems that Americans are facing,” and, “not silly polls that frankly weren’t much use to us during the election”. She again shared her hopes that Democrats and Republicans would band together in Congress to address tax reform, and to “do what Americans are demanding”.