Welcome to the White House Shadow briefing. The questions are real and the answers are too, as opposed to those given by @PressSec So let's get right to your questions.

2. I know you said that President Trump was never briefed on these reports about the Russian bounties and whatnot, but can you say that he was briefed today? A. The President was briefed probably as early as last year by NSA John Bolton. But this is the Trump White House where

3. the President is not responsible for anything that goes wrong or for bowing to the Russians. So we'll keep up the fiction of the President not being in the loop for as long as we can. I know you don't believe us, you know you don't believe us but until @seanhannity says he

4. doesn't believe it, we're going to keep up the lies. Q. But has he been since briefed since all of these reports came out? A. He's been briefed all along. He's not particularly interested in the substance because he doesn't care about our troops, but he's very interested in

5. our talking points. Q. And one more question, if I could: Was he upset that this intelligence was reportedly shared with the British government, but not him? A. He doesn't care really. This isn't an issue that interests him and it makes it uncomfortable in his weekly calls

6. to Putin. He just wants everyone to get over it and move on. Q. How could the President not be briefed on the Russia bounty story? Was he out of the loop by his own intelligence community? A. He's out of the loop on most issues unless it means cash for him. And he gets

7. lots of it from Russia, China and Saudi too. Trust me, it's better when the President is out of the loop. Q. The President Trump tweeted overnight, “Intel just spoke[reported] to me…” What specifically does that mean? Who spoke to him? Did that person, in fact, give the

8. President a full briefing on the intelligence? A. Listen, my job is to stand up here and say a bunch of things that don't make sense. So sure, he got a briefing, but it wasn't really a briefing and he's in the loop on some things and out of the loop on bad things, the really

9. bad things. Q. And can you tell us who is coming to the White House today, and who is going to brief those lawmakers? A. A bunch of Republicans from the House. We're trying to get our stories straight before the really hard questions come. Q. And can you tell us who is

10. coming to the White House today, and who is going to brief those lawmakers? A. Since it's just about getting the story straight I expect the bulk of the briefing will be done by @KellyannePolls with an assist from @DanScavino who will be giving tweeting assignments.

11. only the best hires. Q. But they’re going to come to the White — just — I just want to be clear about what’s happening. Members of Congress have come or are coming to the White House? A. This is a beautiful things. We've got you so confused you're now focused just on

12. where the briefing is going to take place, not the substance. We are very good at this. Q. Okay, I have two questions. One: Isn’t it concerning that there was even a hint of credibility to this report that the Russians were offering to pay Taliban-linked militants to kill

13. American troops, and the President was not told about it? Has the National Security Advisor or anyone explained why they didn’t think it rose to the level that the Commander-in- Chief should find out about it? A. Asked and answered, he did know, but only the good things.

14. So I understand it has to be verified, but not everything in his daily briefings or in the Presidential Daily Brief — that’s the written document — is airtight. They let the President know about what they are hearing. That’s why it’s intelligence. So why would that not

15. have been something that rose to that level if, you know, we’re sharing it with other countries? A. Listen, we are very good at playing these games at the White House. What is a briefing really. Can you say you are briefed by a written document if you have not read it?

16. If a tree falls in the forest, will it make a sound? Think about all that deeply for awhile and get back to me. Q.question is: If this does be borne out to where the President believes that it is true, what is he going to do to hold Russia accountable? And is he still

17. going to invite Vladimir Putin to the G7, G8 — whatever he’s thinking about — in the fall? A. The President will never hold the Russians accountable because without them he never would be President. That simplifies a lot I'm sure. And given that, of course he wants them in

18. the G-7. He needs an ally in group, really needs one. The rest of them are spineless and stupid. Q. Ratcliffe is not disputing this. A. Well we were trying to keep up the fiction that lots of the intelligence agencies didn't think this was credible info. But are GOP

19. friends on the Hill spilled the beans and said it's just one agency. One agency out of 17. And since we've put some political goons in charge of intelligence, it's really disheartening we couldn't get all 17 to bow down to the President. We know the briefed the Brits

20. they knew we would try to bury it. It worked. Damn Q. So, who is disputing it in the intelligence community? A. No one really. There are a couple of hacks that are trying to bury it, but no one is paying attention to them.

21. Q. So you guys do not think this is true? You don’t think this report is true? A. Can we go off the record for a moment? Ok, the story is true. All of it. And a lot more is going to come out. Buckle up guys, the water is getting choppy. Now back on the record. No comment

22. Q. I wanted to go back to the tweet the President tweeted yesterday and then removed. This morning, you said that he didn’t hear the phrase “white power” in a portion of the video, and that when it was signaled to him that that was there, he took the tweet down.

23. So does the President retweet other people’s tweets and videos without knowing the full contents of what he’s retweeting? A. The President has a very short attention span, so it's believable he couldn't follow a thought for 9 seconds, even though the white power chant was

24. repeated twice. But on this one, it's not really a problem because the President is a racist, running a racist campaign appealing to racists voters. Q. Also, given your opening, do you have any comment on Mississippi taking steps to remove the Confederate emblem on the

25. state flag? A. This is a strategic problem for us. We want to go full racist on this, but we need Mississippi. The President is encouraging all Republicans and racists to stand strong here for White power and confederate flags.

26. Q. One follow-up on the Russia and then on another issue. Does the President have a specific message for Moscow, given these reports? A. Yes, don't sweat this, we'll change the subject here soon enough and don't stop depositing the cash in our offshore accounts.

27. All right. And on a separate issue: Jacksonville, Florida, today apparently is issuing a mask order. That, of course, is where the — at least part of the RNC will be held later this summer. Has the President’s thinking about wearing a mask changed at all given that order

28. and given the increased coronavirus cases in Texas, Florida, Arizona, and elsewhere? A. We're monitoring this very closely. There is no way @potus is going to wear a mask. On the positive side, we're not sure we have enough Republicans to fill the room anymore. So this

29. might turn out to be our excuse for cancelling. We'll just have to find a smaller hall in a more backward state. Q. There have been reports that some American service members actually were killed as a result of this Russian bounty. What information do you have on that?

30. A. Yes I can confirm that and when I asked the President about that he said, just get over it. It's the price or doing business. Q. So you say that he wasn’t briefed. Does that mean it wasn’t in the PDB either? A. Don't try to play the parsing words game with me.

31. We're in charge of parsing words and misleading you on a regular basis. Q. Secretary Azar said that the “window is closing.” This is — cases are on the rise. This is a very serious time obviously. The Vice President held — held a briefing on Friday. What is the

32. plan to talk to the public, encourage them to do things to stay safe? A. We don't really have a plan. This is totally under control. Record case numbers are not a fire, they are just dying embers, like a campfire in the morning. Do me a favor and raise your hand if you're

33. buying any of this? That's what I thought. Q. Kayleigh, there’s a national conversation going on right now about the proper place of symbols of the Confederacy — statues, memorials, names — and that the President tends to repeatedly insert himself into this debate.

34.. And I think a lot of people are trying to understand what his view of memorializing the Confederacy is and the proper place for the Confederate flag.
So, a couple of questions: One, does he believe — does President Trump believe that it was a good thing that the South

35. the Civil War? And then, two, is he interested in following NASCAR’s example — of him banning the Confederate flag at his own events? A. Confederate flags will always be welcomed at Trump rallies. Except the one's in the suburbs in swing states.

36. First off, the President has been talking about this big infrastructure push. I’m curious if we’re ever going to get a look at the proposal that DOT has been working on.

And then, secondly, I’m curious if you could give us a little info on how the phase four negotiations

37.are going. Do you get a sense that Congress is open to the “back-to-work bonus” that the President said he’s in favor of? A. Did I forget to mention it is infrastructure week. Yeah it's infrastructure week. Q. Thank you. I have two questions. First about the statues.

38. Thank you. I have two questions. First about the statues. I covered pretty closely the Trump inauguration rioting trials, and those all ended in, essentially, jury nullification, and no one was convicted. And I was wondering if President Trump is concerned about the

39. possibility that the same will happen with the people who were charged — the four — trying to topple the Jackson statue, particularly given his personal role helping to apprehend suspects. A. We're not concerned about this really. It's all for show for our racist base.

40. Got it. And my second question is: Over the weekend, President Trump retweeted a contrast of his presidency and President Obama’s, and there was a chart of the different things that President Obama did and President Trump did. And one of the differences was President Obama

41. Got it. And my second question is: Over the weekend, President Trump retweeted a contrast of his presidency and President Obama’s, and there was a chart of the different things that President Obama did and President Trump did. And one of the differences was President Obama.

42.approving the extrajudicial killings of Americans overseas. There was a little bit of confusion earlier in President Trump’s presidency about his position on that. Are you able to clarify whether he opposes that? A. That's a simple question to answer.

43. If Obama was for it, Trump is against it full stop. That is his entire ideology. That's how he makes big decisions. Q. Thanks, Kayleigh. I have two questions on COVID-19. First off, remdesivir, we found out today the pricing of it, going forward: For roughly a five-day

44. trial, $2,300 for government-backed programs; $3,100 in the commercial marketplace. Does the White House, does President Trump approve of that pricing — of that price point, considering there’s been some criticism as to whether or not that’s too high?

45. Q. These are getting too easy to answer. We're for whatever the drug companies want to charge. That's part of our overall health care plan to deny people health insurance while enriching the drug companies. Q. And then, secondly, just picking up where — what Jeff had asked

46. about masks: You said the President had no problem with masksn requests. However, the HHS Secretary, Alex Azar, said this weekend, quote, “We’ve got to practice social distancing. We’ve got to use face coverings when we can’t practice social distancing.” A. Get over it

47. The President isn't going to wear a mask. For one thing, it messes with his makeup. And another thing, it messes with his makeup. Q. So one Russia follow-up and then a separate issue. I just want to be clear: There are congressional leaders who are being briefed on the

48. Russia situation, but the President has still not been briefed on the situation? A. I'm confused. Just write whatever you want. We're going to call you fake news whether it's true or not. Stop sweating the details. Ok?

49. Q. And how does he know — if he hasn’t been briefed, how is he certain that Russia didn’t put out these bounties? A. That's a trick question isn't it.I don't answer trick questions. Q. Will the President denounce those who say white power? A. Gotta go, have an appt I forgot