Earlier this afternoon White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders and Acting OMB  Director Russell Vought held a press conference to brief reporters on the president’s fiscal year 2020 budget and answer questions on current political events:

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[White House] FURTHERING OUR ECONOMIC PROSPERITY: President Donald J. Trump’s budget request will continue our economic resurgence while furthering his vision to reduce spending and invest in America.
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President Donald Trump delivered an impromptu presser to White House media prior to departing for Alabama with First Lady Melania Trump. [Video and Transcript]

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[Transcript] – South Lawn – 9:37 A.M. EST – Q (Inaudible) February jobs numbers?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, the economy is doing very well. We’re seeing wages rise more than they have at any time for a long, long time. Wages are going up first time for many years — I talked about it during the campaign — for over 20 years. So, I’m happy about that.
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DNC President Tom Perez announced today that Fox News will not host, nor will they be even allowed to broadcast, a Democrat primary debate for the 2020 presidential race.
The DNC is anticipating more than a dozen debates and they will not allow Fox News to broadcast any of them.
In response, President Trump announced he is considering applying the same standard to the left-wing media for the general election:

The media will go bananas in 3,… 2,…

Earlier today President Trump hosted the 2018 division-1 FCS National Champions, the North Dakota State Bison, to the White House. [Video and Transcript]

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[Transcript] East Room – 12:14 P.M. EST – THE PRESIDENT: It’s a lot of big people I’m standing next to. (Laughter.) These are big, strong, powerful champions, right?
SENATOR CRAMER: That’s right.
THE PRESIDENT: All champions. Well, I just want to thank everybody for being here. And we’re very excited to welcome to the White House the 2018 FCS National Champions, the North Dakota State University Bison. And that’s with a “Z”. You know, I spell (inaudible) — (laughter and applause). I actually took the “S” out, and I just put the “Z”, because I didn’t want to —
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President Donald Trump delivered a two-hour speech today at CPAC.
Here’s the video, the transcript will follow later.

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White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders holds an impromptu press conference with media on the north lawn.

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Earlier today President Donald Trump delivered remarks announcing his intention to use a national emergency declaration to fund border security measures at the U.S-Mexico border.  This comes on the heels of a legislative compromise to avoid a government shutdown.
The move is expected to face a swift and forceful legal challenge that could stall the attempt in the courts for the near future. But the declaration and other money-moving plans allow Trump to continue to fight for border wall construction while also averting another partial government shutdown — which would have been triggered at midnight absent the new funding package. [Video and Transcript]

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[Transcript] Rose Garden – 10:39 A.M. EST – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, everybody. Before we begin, I’d like to just say that we have a large team of very talented people in China. We’ve had a negotiation going on for about two days. It’s going extremely well. Who knows what that means, because it only matters if we get it done. But we’re very much working very closely with China and President Xi, who I respect a lot. Very good relationship that we have. And we’re a lot closer than we ever were in this country with having a real trade deal.
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The White House has announced that President Trump will sign the Pelosi appropriations bill that includes limited funding for border security, and will simultaneously use a National Security Declaration to shift existing funds to build a structural barrier.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell met with the President and announced the plan from the senate floor before the chamber votes on the compromise bill.

.@senatemajldr: "I've just had an opportunity to speak with President Trump…he's prepared to sign the bill. He will also be issuing a national emergency declaration at the same time." pic.twitter.com/iukGKjmoZ8

— CSPAN (@cspan) February 14, 2019

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders statement:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has stated she will review options to file legal challenges to stop the use of a national security declaration to build a border barrier.
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President Trump delivers remarks from the oval office while introducing Colombian President Iván Duque Márquez.  The primary topic between the two leaders is the ongoing crisis in Venezuela.  President Trump praised interim Venezuelan president Juan Guaidó for being “brave”, and answered a variety of media questions.  [Video and transcript]:

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[Transcript] Oval Office – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. It’s a great honor to be with President Duque of Colombia. We’ve been working very closely. And it’s so nice to meet your wife, First Lady. And you have a brilliant reputation. And thank you for coming. We very much appreciate it. I think, Melania, you’re both going to have lunch afterwards and get to know each other.
MRS. RUIZ: We are. And I’m sure we’re going to enjoy it.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I know you’re going to enjoy it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much.
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It is going to be harder for Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer to work against funding border security after tonight.  President Donald Trump’s State of The Union speech was measured by CBS after delivery.  The results were initally tweeted:

♦ 76 percent of CBS viewers approved of what they heard in President. Trump’s SOTU speech;

♦ 72 percent of CBS viewers said they approved of President Trump’s SOTU ideas for immigration.

[Full Poll Results Here]

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