THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT FOR 'THIS WEEK' on February 12, 2017 and it will be updated.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC HOST: For the White House response now from senior policy advisor Stephen Miller. You may remember seeing him on the campaign trail as a warm up act to Trump. Now he’s (INAUDIBLE), he’s right at the heart of White House policymaking. Greeted (ph) this morning by dueling profiles in "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post".
Mr. Miller, thank you for joining us this morning, the first time on THIS WEEK. And let’s begin with that breaking news. You hear Jon Karl’s report right there. Do you agree that this North Korea missile test does not yet cross President Trump’s red line?
STEPHEN MILLER, TRUMP ADVISOR: Well, I did not hear Jon Karl’s report, and it’s good to be here this morning, George. But what you saw last night with (ph) the President of the United States was an important show of solidarity between the United States and Japan, a powerful (INAUDIBLE). As the Prime Minister and the President of America stood side-by-side and shoulder-to-shoulder and expressed the strength and enduring nature of vital alliance, and that is a message that will be lost on no one.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you -- do you think the North Korea missile test crossed Mr. Trump’s red line?
MILLER: George, the president’s comments on this are clear. The message we’re sending to the world right now is a message of strength and solidarity; we stand with Japan and we stand with our allies in the region to address the North Korea (INAUDIBLE). An important point is that we’re inheriting a situation around the world that is as challenging as any we’ve ever seen in our lives. The situation in North Korea, the situation in Syria, the situation in Yemen, these are complex and difficult challenges, and that’s why President Trump is displaying the strength of America to the world and it’s why we’re going to begin a process of rebuilding our (INAUDIBLE) capabilities on a scale we have not seen in generations.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Let’s talk about the travel ban. He (INAUDIBLE) out to (INAUDIBLE) late this week. Is the administration going to appeal that decision to the Supreme Court?
MILLER: Well, as you know, we have multiple options and we are considering all of them. We can appeal the emergency stay to the Supreme Court. We can take our take on (INAUDIBLE) to the Ninth Circuit. We can continue the appeal of the panel. Or we can return to the District Court and have a trial on the merits.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Which are you going to do?
MILLER: Usually, we can pursue further executive action -- all options are on the table. The point I want to make to you, George, and the point I want to make to your listeners, is that we have equal branches of government in this country. The judiciary is not supreme. A district judge in Seattle cannot force the President of the United States to change their laws and our constitution because of their own personal views. The president has the power under the INA, Section 212 F8 USC 82 F (ph) to suspend the entry of aliens when it’s in the national interest. He has that same power under an Article 2 power to conduct to the foreign affairs of our country. And we will do whatever we need to do, consistent with the law, to keep this country safe.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I know you hope to prevail, but you haven’t yet. And a lot of your allies think the best move is to either replace the current executive order with a new one that exempts legal permanent residents and visa holders who’ve already been admitted to the country. You thinking along these lines?
MILLER: Well, the existing order does exempt legal permanent residents, and legal permanent residents were not subject to the travel restriction.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, that was a guidance put out by the White House counsel. That wasn’t -- it wasn’t formally in the executive order --
(CROSSTALK)
MILLER: Well, it was the guidance put out by the White House counsel because that was the meaning of the executive order, and that was the same fact that caused the Boston judge to issue the positive ruling they issued.
The reality is, is that this is not a disagreement about the law and the constitution. There is no constitutional right for a citizen in a foreign country who has no status in America to demand entry into our country. Such a right cannot exist; such a right will never exist. This is an ideological disagreement between those who believe we should have borders and should have controls, and those who believe there should be no borders and no controls. That’s the essence of this debate, and the bottom line is the president’s power in this area of represent the apex of executive authority. And we have multiple tools across multiple fronts to ensure that we are preventing terrorists’ infiltration of our country, and to ensure that those who enter our country share our values and support our people, something that is supported overwhelmingly by the vast majority of the American public.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Ideological disagreements, personal opinion of the judge -- those are your words right there. It sounds like you’re calling into question the legitimacy of the judge.
MILLER: I’m calling into the question the accuracy of the ruling. For instance, the district judge in Seattle said there was no indication of terrorism from these seven countries in our country. That is a factually false statement. We know there’s at least several dozen, perhaps many more than that, cases of terrorism from these countries that have happened in the United States in terms of terroristic plots, terroristic activity, material support for terrorism, supporting terrorism overseas -- all different kinds of terroristic activity that’s been interdicted in the United States tracing back to these seven countries.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I would point out that you’re just (INAUDIBLE) provide that evidence, because I’m going to move on right now. We’re seeing resistance and demonstrations across the country right now to these new deportation actions from the ICE. And President Trump put out a tweet this morning saying the crackdown on illegal criminals is really the keeping of my campaign compromise. Gang members, drug dealers, and others are being removed.
You’ve got several cases where those who are not gang members, drug dealers are being removed, and a lot of the protesters right now believe that the new executive order from the president says that any undocumented immigrant is now subject to deportation. Isn’t that true?
MILLER: Well, first of all, I think we should keep in mind that the president does not make the law. Congress makes the law of the United States. And if you, George, or anyone else wishes to change those laws, there’s a mechanism for doing so.
Secondly, the executive order gives ICE officers the power to prevent crime before it happens by removing people who pose a threat to public safety and a threat to national security. I was on the phone last night with someone from DHS. They removed a gang member and a wifebeater. At 4:00 in the morning, they arrested them. That person had been on their radar screen for a while, but they were not deemed a priority by the previous administration because they didn’t have the right kinds of convictions. That action will probably end up saving American lives, or saving the wellbeing and physical safety of American residents.
All over the country right now we are engaging in action to prevent the unthinkable from happening. During the campaign, President Trump stood side-by-side with mothers who’ve lost their children, mothers like Michelle Root. An individual, an unaccompanied minor, showed up on the border. To authorities, they didn’t seem like a priority for removal. That personal subsequently killed a young girl named Sarah Root. We don’t want to be cleaning up this mess on the back end --
STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you think everyone --
MILLER: -- after the irreversible has happened.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you think everyone being removed right now is a threat to national security?
MILLER: I think first of all that it would be improper, unethical, and wrong for me and the White House to pick up the phone and call an ICE officer and say, well, we know you encountered somebody who’s here illegally, and we know they have a final order of removal, and we also know that they’re a convicted felon, but we would like you to ignore all of those laws? What would you say, George, if I pick up the phone and called an FBI agent and said I know you’re investigating a tax evasion case, I know the person you’re investigating is a convicted felon, and I know they’ve absconded from justice, but I want you to pretend none of that happened. Burn the files, go back to your desk, don’t do anything.
Would you think that would be an ethical and appropriate action for me to take?
We are going to follow the laws of the United States, and in following those laws, we will prioritize the removal of people who have criminal records in this country. And if we remove ten criminal aliens and we end up saving, as a result of that, one or two or three or four American lives, then that is something that is magnificent. Because somewhere across this country today, there is some young child facing some unknown danger, and that danger will be eliminated because of some enforcement action that we are going to take in the coming days. And that’s something we should celebrate, not criticize.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But the executive order, just to be clear, specifically -- it goes beyond those who’ve committed crimes. It basically says that anyone subject to a deportation order now can be removed.
I do want to move on, though, as well, because we’ve got this report in the DHS right now saying that the cost of the wall is likely to be above $20 million. That’s almost three times what the president said on the campaign trail.
One, how much is the wall going to cost? The president says he’s going to bring the cost down. And can you guarantee that Mexico will pay?
MILLER: Well, he can bring the cost of the wall down and he will. And there are many, many ways that we can obtain payment for the wall from our friends to the south. But the important point about what you’re asking -- and I’m so glad you brought this up. The media has done story after story after story about the cost of building a security wall on the southern border. I can’t remember a time, George, and correct me if I’m wrong, that anyone in the media has ever done a story about the cost of amnesty. About the cost of not enforcing our laws or the cost of illegal immigration.
This is really quite remarkable. It’s estimated that illegal immigration cost our country, state, local, and federal benefits, about $100 billion a year. Stopping new illegal immigration, preventing of the effects that will have on our schools, on our hospitals, on our welfare system, on our wage-earners, will save taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars. This wall will pay for itself many, many, many times over. And it’s just astonishing to me that the media’s so interested in how much it costs to secure our border, and has no interest in the cost of refusing to secure our border.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I meant $21 billion, not $21 million. And of course those stories have been done as well, but this is a very simple thing. How are you going to guarantee that Mexico is going to pay for this wall? They have said absolutely not, they will not pay for it.
MILLER: There’s all kinds of things we can do; I’m not going to make news today by announcing what our strategy’s going to be. That’s one thing that’s different between this president and past presidents, is we don’t lay out all of cards for everybody to see.
I also do want to address briefly the point you made about final orders of removal. This is such a great point. We’ve been lectured all week long about respecting the rulings of the judiciary, and yet in the last 24 hours we’re being asked about whether or not we should respect the rulings of judiciary after final orders of removal have been issued. After all the immigration appeals force (ph) have had their say. After the immigration lawyers and immigration judges have had their say. Then say, well, there’s a million people in our country who have final orders of removal, and we, as the White House, should ignore that judicial proceeding.
You can’t have it both ways. You either respect the rulings of the court or you don’t.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Let’s move on to troubles facing National Security Adviser Flynn right now. "The Washington Post" reported of course this week that he did have contacts with the Russians where he discussed sanctions, which is contrary to what Vice President Mike Pence said back in January. Let’s look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATESTEPHANOPOULOS: I talked to General Flynn yesterday, and the conversations that took place at that time, were not in any way related to new U.S. sanctions against Russia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHANOPOULOS: Of course "The Washington Post" reports, after talking to nine intelligence officials, said that he did discuss the sanctions. And General Flynn has changed his response. Before, he denied it; now he’s saying he doesn’t remember.
Number one, did he mislead the vice president? And how do respond to Democrats like Nancy Pelosi who say that General Flynn’s security clearance should be revoked until the FBI investigates his contacts?
MILLER: Well, I don’t have any news to make to you today on this point. It’s a great question for our chief of staff, it’s a great question for the office of vice president. I think that --
STEPHANOPOULOS: (INAUDIBLE) if you can’t answer the questions being posed to the White House?
MILLER: I don’t have -- I don’t have any information, George, to change anything that has previously already been said by the White House on this matter. General Flynn has served this country admirably and with distinction. He’s a three star general. He served in the Defense Intelligence Agency. There’s no information that I have, as the policy director for this White House, to contribute any new information to this story this morning. And I’m sorry to disappoint you, but that’s just where things stand.
STEPHANOPOULOS: How do you think he can continue to serve as National Security Adviser after misleading the vice president?
MILLER: I don’t -- I don’t accept what your question is saying is accurate. I don’t have any information one way or another to add anything to this conversation. I understand it’s an important matter; I understand it’s a sensitive matter, and I’m sure you’ll have an opportunity in the new future to interview someone from the vice president’s office or interview the chief of staff, who can elucidate further on this very sensitive issue.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I should actually say that we did invite the chief of staff to join us this morning, and the White House refused to put him out, perhaps because you guys don’t want to answer that question.
A separate question on Kellyanne Conway --
MILLER: I don’t know -- I don’t know if that’s true, George, but I think that they wanted to put me out here so we could discuss the very important issue facing our national security and the problem of open borders and the threat of terrorism.
STEPHANOPOULOS: It is true that we asked for the White House chief of staff also. On Kellyanne Conway, Congressman Chaffetz, Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee, and his Democratic counterpart, Elijah Cummings, have asked the head of the Office of Government Ethics to recommend disciplinary action against Conway for her comments promoting Ivanka Trump’s products.
Will the president accept that recommendation?
MILLER: I think people are blowing this thing way out of proportion, if I’m being honest with you, George. I think that what you have a is a situation where you had the President of the United States sticking up for a member of his family. And you had a counselor to the president who was making a lighthearted comment in defense of someone who’d been treated very unfairly. I think that the media has taken this to a level it does not merit, and I think anyone watching that interview would understand that it was a lighthearted comment made in defense of somebody who had been treated unfairly. And there really I think has been an undue amount of attention give to this issue, especially in light of everything that’s happening in the world right now.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, it was the Republican, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, Jason Chaffetz, who said she crossed the line in that statement. It wasn’t just the media; that is the Republican chair of House Oversight Committee.
And on that point, if it gets to a deeper issue, Sean Spicer from the podium said that the decision from Nordstrom to pull those -- those products of Ivanka Trump was a direct attack on the president’s policies. Sears and K-Mart this week have decided to pull Mr. Trump’s home furnishing lines from their websites. Is that a direct attack on the president’s policies as well?
MILLER: I’m not going to make a comment on that; I don’t have any information on it. I do want to say that Sean Spicer has always -- is 100 percent correct. And that what he said is true and important and I agree with it.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So then you are making a comment on it.
MILLER: I’m not going to make any new comment; I’m going to stand by the White House press secretary and his comments. And I’m also going to call for sanity in discussing this issue. You had a case where somebody was treated unfairly, the president stuck up for a member of his family, and the White House counselor made a lighthearted, flippant comment that nobody would interpret as being what it’s been cast as right now by you in the media and others. And I think that everybody has taken this to a degree and to a level it does not merit, and I really hope, George, we can move on to discussing things that the American people care about, like their jobs, like their wages, like their security. Like the fact that we have a president who has done more in three weeks than most presidents have done in an entire administration.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You say that no one questioned -- it was questioned by the Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee, Jason Chaffetz. That is hard -- hardly no one.
Let me move on, though, to the question of voter fraud as well. President Trump again this week suggested in a meeting with senators that thousands of illegal voters were bused from Massachusetts to New Hampshire and that’s what caused his defeat in the state of New Hampshire, also the defeat of Senator Kelly Ayotte.
That has provoked a response from a member of the Federal Election Commission, Ellen Weintraub, who says I call upon the president to immediately share New Hampshire voter fraud evidence so that his allegations may be investigated promptly.
Do you have that evidence?
MILLER: I’ve actually, having worked before on a campaign in New Hampshire, I can tell you that this issue of busing voters in to New Hampshire is widely known by anyone who’s worked in New Hampshire politics. It’s very real, it’s very serious. This morning on this show is not the venue for me lay out all the evidence, but I can tell you this. Voter fraud is a serious problem in this country. You have millions of people who are registered in two states, who are dead who are registered to vote, and you have 14 percent of non-citizens, according to academic research, at a minimum, are registered to vote. Which is an astonishing statistic.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You can’t -- hold on a second. You just claimed again that there was illegal voting in New Hampshire, people bused in from the state of Massachusetts. Do you have evidence of that?
MILLER: I’m saying anybody -- George, go to New Hampshire. Talk to anybody who’s worked in politics there for a long time. Everybody’s aware of the problem in New Hampshire with respect to --
STEPHANOPOULOS: I’m asking you, the White House Senior --
(CROSSTALK)
STEPHANOPOULOS: Hold a second. I’m asking you as the White House senior policy adviser, the president made a statement saying he was the victim of voter fraud.
MILLER: And the president --
(CROSSTALK)
MILLER: And the president was!
STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you have any evidence?
MILLER: If this is an issue that interests you, then we can talk about it more in the future and we now have our government beginning to get stood up, but we have a Department of Justice and we have more officials. An issue of voter fraud, someone is going to be looking at very seriously and very hard. But the reality is, is that we know for a fact -- you have maps of numbers of non-citizens registered to vote in this country. Nobody disputes that. And many, many highly qualified people like Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state, have looked deeply into this issue and have confirmed it to be true. And have put together evidence. And I suggest you invite Kris Kobach onto your show and he can walk you through some of the evidence of voter fraud --
STEPHANOPOULOS: You --
MILLER: -- in greater detail.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Just for the record, you have provided absolutely no evidence. The president’s made a statement --
MILLER: The White House has provided enormous evidence with respect to voter fraud, with respect to people being registered in more than one state. Dead people voting, non-citizens being registered to vote. George, it is a fact and you will not deny it that are massive numbers of non-citizens in this country who are registered to vote. That is a scandal! We should stop the presses and as a country we should be aghast about the fact that you have people who have no right to vote in this country registered to vote, canceling out the franchise of lawful citizens of this country. That’s the story we should be talking about! And I’m prepared to go on any show, anywhere, any time, and repeat it and say the President of the United States is correct, 100 percent.
S: You just repeated that you just made those declarations, but for the record you’ve provided zero evidence that the president was the victim of massive voter fraud in New Hampshire. You provided zero evidence --
MILLER: Anyone who’s in New Hampshire politics --
STEPHANOPOULOS: Hold on.
MILLER: -- is familiar with that issue.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You have provided zero evidence of the president’s claim that he would’ve won the general -- the popular vote if 3 to 5 million illegal immigrants hadn’t voted. Zero evidence for either one of those claims.
MILLER: Well, if you -- it’s --
STEPHANOPOULOS: Thanks a lot for joining us in the morning (ph).
MILLER: The non-citizen voting issue -- the non-citizen voting issue is pervasive and widespread and we are going to protect our country from voter fraud. We’re going to protect our borders from terrorism. And we’re going to protect innocent men, women, and children from violent criminal illegal immigrants that need to be removed from this country. And our country will create jobs, safety, prosperity, and security -- particularly for disenfranchised working people of every background, faith, and ethnicity in this country.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You can start by providing evidence to back up your claims.
Thanks for joining us this morning.
MILLER: Thank you.
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