Transcripts For CSPAN White House Press Secretary Holds Brie

Over 180,000 americans gave their lives in the european theater during world war ii. And i want to take just a moment to honor their service and their sacrifice. Thank you to all of our veterans. You are truly, truly our heroes. Now, as i move to my next subject, i want to begin by saying this. Look, our rank and file men and women at the f. B. I. Are heroes in their own right. They protect this country from domestic crime, and we thank them for their service. They work hard and once again, we owe them a debt of gratitude. But that is separate and apart from what i am about to address right now. The f. B. I. Exists to investigate crimes, but in the case of Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, it appears they might have existed to manufacture one. As the motion filed by the department of justice yesterday explained, the f. B. I. Set out to interview general Michael Flynn when they had no predicate for any investigation of any crime. Over the past week, we learned from a handwritten note the true intent behind the f. B. I. s investigation of Lieutenant General Michael Flynn. The very day that thenf. B. I. Director jim comey sent agents to the white house to interview flynn, the f. B. I. Discussed what their intent was beforehand. This is what they said. What is our goal . Truth, admission, or to get him to lie so we can prosecute him or get him fired . These notes, in addition to other evidence, raise serious questions about the handling of the f. B. I. s handling of Michael Flynns case. Did the f. B. I. Confront flynn with the intent to get him to lie so we can prosecute him and fire him . Did the f. B. I. Manufacture a crime against Lieutenant General Michael Flynn . Federal investigators appear to paint a target on the back of general Michael Flynn. Kimberly of the wall street journal laid out point by point the very concerning aspects of this case and i am going to reiterate them as outlined in her column over the weekend. In december 2016, flynn spoke as the Incoming National security advisor to the russian ambassador. This call, as is customary, was recorded by the United States government. They record calls with foreigners. But in a highly irregular move, the Intelligence Community, under the obama administration, unmasked the identity of Michael Flynn, a United States citizen, who is entitled to Fourth Amendment rights and to due process. But Lieutenant General Michael Flynn received none of that. The Intelligence Community was hunting for evidence against general flynn, evidence they did not find. We learned from newly released transcripts that in stark contrast to what former d. N. I. James clapper had been saying, publicly and contrary what he was saying publicly, heres what he was saying privately with regard to russian collusion. I never saw any direct empirical evidence that the Trump Campaign or someone in it was plotting or conspiring with the russians to meddle with the election. Sounds awfully different from what he had just said 10 days prior in a public capacity. Having found no evidence of russian collusion, the f. B. I. Came up with a new, absurd theory that flynn might have violated the logan act, a statute from 1799 that in its 200 years of existence had never been used to convict an american citizen, but it was resurrected in the case of Lieutenant General Michael Flynn. Michael flynn didnt violate the logan act. Even the f. B. I. Did not think that general flynns telephone call provided the predicate for a criminal investigation. In fact, in january of 2017, an internal f. B. I. Document concluded that flynn was no longer a valid, viable candidate for investigation. Disgraced f. B. I. Agents and noted trump hater peter strzok disagreed, texting this. Hey, if you havent closed that flynn case yet, dont do so yet. So the flynn case remained active. This is a good thing for peter strzok. It was a bad thing for justice. It was a bad thing for the rule of law. According to yesterdays motion to dismiss the case against Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, it said this, mr. Strzok immediately relayed the, quote, share dip at thesly good news to page, special counsel at the f. B. I. , remarking, our utter incompetence actually helps us. There utter incompetence to close the case against Michael Flynn was something to be celebrated. The scheme to manufacture a case against Michael Flynn continued. After President Trump entered office, the f. B. I. s partisan pursuit of general flynn under jim comeys f. B. I. Despite possessing a transcript of flynns entire conversation, the f. B. I. Decided it was somehow necessary to go ask general flynn what happened on the call. Despite having a transcript in their possession. The only motive would have been to, quote, get him to lie. They advised him he didnt need a lawyer present. Imagine that, you are an american citizen you dont need , a lawyer. Were just coming in to have a chat. They didnt inform their superiors at the department of justice about their intent to interview flynn. Despite their own attorney at the f. B. I. Saying, if we usually tell the white house, then i think we need to do what we normally do. But they ignored the advice of f. B. I. Counsel, and they went in to interrogate Michael Flynn. Acting attorney general sally yates, no fan of President Trump, said she was flabbergasted, she was dumbfounded by the decision to not inform d. O. J. Officials who, quote, hit the roof. This is all outlined in a legal document that you can find. Additionally, when the f. B. I. Arrived at the white house, they did not even warn flynn about the consequences about providing an inaccurate response. The interrogation of Michael Flynn was not an inquiry. Make no mistake, it was a trap. Even more troubling was the fact that after the interrogation of flynn, former Deputy Director of the f. B. I. , andy mccabe, concluded that he, quote, didnt think flynn was lying. But the case against flynn continued. We were pleased to learn yesterday that the Justice Department moved to drop the case against general Michael Flynn, though it took several years, it is encouraging to see that justice finally prevailed. As we move forward as a country, its important to take these revelations very seriously in order for americans to have faith in our justice system. If the top leadership of the f. B. I. Can target a threestar general who served this country for three decades, make no mistake, they can target you. Its hard to believe that this happened in the United States of america. General Michael Flynns life was forever changed. He had to sell his home. He faced financial ruin. His family was even threatened with prosecution. But despite all of that, heres what Michael Flynn put out yesterday in his first reaction to the motion to dismiss. If we can play the video, lets go ahead and play it. Dont think we have the video cutie, but i encourage you to go on general flynns twitter feed and what youll see is a really beautiful video of his grandson talking about how much he loves this country and how everyone deserves justice for all and how commendable it is for general flynn at a time when he was so gravely wronged to say this. I still believe in this country. I still believe in america. I still believe in the principles that make this country the greatest on earth. And the words of renowned political philosopher, there is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of law and in the name of justice. I hope the media will take these questions very seriously. Will report the facts. There is heavy interest in the first iteration of flynn news from many years ago that got four times the coverage of the exoneration of Michael Flynn got today. That was a report by Media Research center. These facts are important. Thank you very much for those who have taken interest in reporting. With that, ill take questions. Thank you. Sec. Mcenany jim, you get the first one. Thank you, kayleigh. Congratulations on becoming press secretary. Sec. Mcenany thank you. Today, the Unemployment Rate hit the highest point since the great depression. What is the president s plan to get this country out of its ditch . Sec. Mcenany yeah. This president is the jobs president. This president got us to a place where we had the lowest Unemployment Rate in this country, historic lows for black americans, hispanic americans, the disabled veterans. As the president has noted and i think this is right, we had to put a stop to the economy. It was a pause. This wasnt some economic catastrophe that organically happened. It was decided upon by the president of the United States to stop the United States economy. Because we had to save 2. 2 million lives, perhaps more. Somewhere in that range. Because american lives, thats what mattered most. The president , when faced with the very tough decision to put a pause on the hottest economy in modern history said american lives mattered most, and thats what he did. I can tell you this, the president that got us to the hottest economy in modern history, hes done it once and he can do it again. Whats the plan . Sec. Mcenany well work with congress and come up with a hopefully phase four. We encourage the house to reconvene soon and it would be helpful if nancy pelosi is here. What what weve done is the p. P. P. , the paycheck protection program, that has kept 60 million employees on the payroll roughly half of the workforce in , the private sector has been kept on payroll thanks to that measure. Going forward, you know, principles like deregulation, principles like lowering taxes. The president has mentioned a payroll tax pause, which would be a great thing for the American People. There are a lot of proposals to be entertained. I dont want to get ahead of the president. Tothe president wants people get back to work. He wants the governors to reopen their states. If americans arent comfortable going to restaurants and movie theaters or the beach or whatever, how do you get this economy moving again . Whats the plan . Sec. Mcenany i can tell you theres a lot of pent up demand in this country. There are a lot of people that do want to go to movies and go back to their jobs. We see and hear that every day. I think people can trust we have a president who wants to reopen and reopen safely. These are datadriven guidelines to reopening. The president has those in place. So theres no reason to be concerned. Because we have a president who always looks at the data, as dr. Fauci and dr. Birx repeatedly noted. There was a second confirmed case of covid19 at the white house today. Currently a member of the Vice President s staff. That is two in two days. People are being tested now. Including the president and Vice President , every day to have had temperature checked for months. Why should the average american, whose workplace doesnt have access to these rapid tests, feel comfortable going to work if the white house is not even safe for people . Sec. Mcenany well, this individual, there is a member of the Vice President s team who is positive for coronavirus. We have put in place the guidelines that our experts have put forward to keep this building safe, which means contact tracing, all of the recommended guidelines we have for businesses that have essential workers, we are now putting in place here in the white house. So as america reopens safely, the white house is continuing to operate safely. The president , of course, we saw go down to the world war ii memorial with a group of seven american heroes all in their 90s. Did he give any consideration to wearing a mask, given his valet just tested positive, hes with some of those in the most vulnerable population, did he consider wearing a mask while he was with these veterans . Sec. Mcenany this president is regularly tested. This president will make the decision whether to wear a mask or not. I can tell you those veterans are protected. They made the choice to come here because theyve chosen to put their nation first and wanted to be with their commander in chief on this momentus day. It was their choice to come here. I can tell you the president always puts the safety of our Veterans First and the American People first. How much time how much exposure has he had to his valet . Can you give us a sense . Sec. Mcenany i can tell you weve taken every single precaution to protect the president. The same guidelines that our experts have put in place. We clean the facility. We social distance. We keep people six feet away from one another. So weve done every single thing that dr. Birx and dr. Fauci have told us to do. I can assure the American People that their commanderinchief is protected. Which Government Agency is in charge of distributing the drug and is the white house satisfied with how that drug is being distributed around the country . Sec. Mcenany i spoke with dr. Birx about this. Shes going to be working and consulting as to where this drug should go. Shes the person who is constantly reviewing the numbers , constantly reviewing the data. And the task force with her every day. She has the best grasp how thats to be distributed. She will be one of the chief consultants as to how that drug is distributed. I would note, 1. 5 million vials donated from gilead. We are thankful for that. This drug is promising and we want to get it to the American People in the areas that need it most. Congratulations. Sec. Mcenany thank you. Two quick questions. The first question, whats the possibility of the federal government getting involved, given georgia doesnt have any hate crime laws . Is it proven that men case and killed because he was an africanamerican and they racial profiled him and would the Justice Department get involved . Sec. Mcenany my heart goes out to the family of ahmad. I cant imagine what theyre going through right now. My heart breaks for this family. I know the president s heart breaks. Ive spoken to him about that. I tell you well follow the facts. As you know, its in the court in georgia. Its a state matter. But absolutely we will be following every detail. I refer you to d. O. J. , but as the facts merit, im certain theyll be following those facts. Second question i have in 2015, shortly after the president said some immigrants are racists and criminals. You said that language was racist and hateful. Do you still believe that today . Sec. Mcenany well, im actually glad you asked that. For about the first four weeks of the election, i was watching cnn and i was naively believing some of the headlines i saw on cnn. I know you personally sec. Mcenany im not going to read the headline. I very quickly came around for the president. In fact, cnn hired me. I was on many panels where i proudly supported this president who i believe is one of the best president s if not the best president this country will ever have. I would encourage the individual who did that analysis of my past, rather than focusing on me, he really should be focused on some of the very guests cnn shows on their network. He should be focused on over here, jim clapper who said 10 days before he privately told investigators there is no evidence of collusion that watergate paled in comparison to the russia probe. I would encourage them to look powers, who was privately saying i am not in , evidence of collusion. Ambassador rice, i dont recall intelligence or evidence of any collusion. Former attorney general loretta lynch, i do not recall that being briefed to me. And for three years, two years, probably more than that, cnn ran with the collusion narrative. If the American People are watching right now, theyre probably very confused as to some of the quotes i read. Those individuals were saying things differently publicly than privately. Im grateful that those transcript were released yesterday. Are you walking back those comments today . Sec. Mcenany i support this president , there is no questioning that. So proud to work for him. Thank you. On the Michael Flynn case, documents released yesterday suggested that members of the Intelligence Community tried to keep it unbind. Im wondering if you think that there should be an investigation and whether the administration should bring charges against James Clapper and peter strzok . Sec. Mcenany i refer you to the d. O. J. On that. There were questionable actions that happened in this case and i took you through a number of them and i do think the American People deserve answers, but i leave it to the Justice Department as to how to get those answers. Has the president spoken to Michael Flynn since this news yesterday . Do you expect that he will visit the white h