Host a scaleddown event with Muslim Community members to mark ramadan. This is one hour. Good afternoon everybody. No bunny today. No bunny. Just me, the admiral, and the team. Ok. So, yesterday, the Florida Supreme Court upheld the states dangerous abortion ban, putting desperately needed medical care further out of reach for millions of women. Whats worse, this ruling is also expected to trigger governor desantiss even more extreme ban that would prevent women from accessing care before many even know they are pregnant. We will continue to stand with the vast majority of americans support a womans right to choose. President biden and Vice President harris will continue to work to protect reproductive freedom and call on congress to pass a law restoring the protections of roe v. Wade. Second, starting this week, the white house will push Congressional Republicans to extend funding for the affordable connectivity program, created as part of the bipartisan infrastructure law. The program is helping over 23 million americans save between 30 bucks and 75 bucks per month on highspeed internet cost, but funding for the program is set to expire. And millions of americans will lose this benefit in the coming weeks. Six months ago, President Biden sent a request to congress for 6 billion in supplemental funding to extend the program, but republicans in congress have failed to act. If Congressional Republicans continue to do nothing, tens of millions of their own constituents will see their internet costs go up and some may lose access to highspeed Internet Access altogether. Additionally, and the president s agenda, we are prioritizing efforts enter the prioritizing efforts to counter the trafficking of illicit drugs to save lives. We are leading initiatives to step up counternarcotics cooperation including with mexico and the prc and launch the Global Coalition to address synthetic drug threats which brings together more than 150 countries against cartels and illicit finance. Working with our mexican partners, we have charged leaders of the sula cartel, and yesterday we charged 41 individuals connected to the jalisco new generation cartel. To date, we have sanctioned over 290 individuals and entities involved in the global illicit drug trade. A lot more work is needed, and that is why the president is pushing hard for the house to pass the senates Border Security agreement, or for congress more broadly, because it didnt get out of the senate yet, for congress to push forth the Border Security agreement which would provide provide Additional Technology to stop these illicit drugs. It is important to acknowledge when a mistake has been made and take responsibility for it. So, i want to recognize the daily caller for having the integrity to retract their story about the false claims that circulated this week about the easter egg roll. Now i am quoting here, the retraction, the ban of religious symbolism on eggs as part of the white house easter egg art contest has been longstanding, dating back decades, and the Biden Administration did not make any modifications to this rule. We hope others learn from their good example. I believe that there. Finally i want to rita the president s call. He called Chef Jose Andres to express that hes heartbroken by his by this news of the air strike that killed seven aid workers and to express and share his deepest condolences. The president conveyed that he is grieving with the entire world central kitchen family. The president felt it is important to recognize the tremendous contribution that world central kitchen has made to people in gaza and people around the world. The president conveyed he would make clear to israel that humanitarian aid workers must be protected. Now admiral john kirby is here to discuss the president s phone call with president xi of the peoples republic of china. Mr. Kirby good afternoon everybody. As you all know, President Biden spoke by phone today with president xi jinping of the peoples republic of china. The purpose was to build on the two leaders meeting in woodside , california back in november of last year. Over the course of about an hour and 45 minutes, the two leaders held a candid and constructive discussion on a range of bilateral, and areas of differences. They encouraged continued progress on issues discussed at the woodside summit including counternarcotics cooperation , ongoing military to military communications, talks to address artificial intelligencerelated risks, and continuing efforts on Climate Change and people to people exchanges. President biden also emphasized the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the taiwan strait, and reaffirmed the importance of the rule of law and freedom of navigation in the south china sea. He raised concerns over the China Support for russias Defense Industrial base and its impact on european and transatlantic security. He emphasized that the United States has an enduring commitment to the complete denuclearization of the korean peninsula. He also raised continued concerns about the prcs unfair trade policies and nonmarket economic practices which harm American Workers and families. He also emphasized that the United States will continue to take necessary actions to prevent advanced us technologies from being used to undermine our National Security without unduly limiting trade and investment. The president also repeated his call for china to release u. S. Citizens who are wrongfully detained or under exit bans. We believe that there is no substitute for regular communication at the leader level to effectively manage this complex and often tense bilateral relationship. Both president s agreed to pick up the phone and speak when needed. Following the leaders call, we will continue to advance our interests in cabinetlevel diplomacy including visits to china by secretary of the treasury alayn and in coming days, secretary of state blinken. We were outraged to learn about the idf strike killed a number of civilian humanitarian workers yesterday from world central kitchen which has been relentless in getting food to those who are hungry in gaza and, quite frankly, around the world. We extend our deep condolences to their families and their loved ones. We have seen the comments from Prime Minister netanyahu and from the Israeli Defense forces about their commitment to conduct an investigation. As we understand it, a preliminary investigation has been completed today and presented to the army chief of staff then we will look to see what the expected a chief of staff and we will officially look to see what they discovered. But we expect a broader investigation to be conducted and to be done so in a swift and comprehensive manner. We hope that those findings will be made public and that there is appropriate accountability held. More than aid workers have been 200 killed in this conflict, making it one of the worst for aid workers in recent history. This incident is emblematic of a larger problem, and evidence of wide distribution of aid in gaza has been so challenging. Beyond the strike, what is clear is that the idf must do much more than processes so the must do much more to improve deconfliction processes so civilians and humanitarian aid workers are protected. The u. S. Will continue to press israel to do more as well to ensure the safety of humanitarian workers and will continue to do all we can to deliver this assistance to Palestinian Civilians in gaza. Thank you. Reporter do you have any queries regarding israel and gaza about the floating dock and how can aid workers be protected . Reporter what do you mean worries . Obviously the temporary pier, it is done over the shore and it is on its way to the eastern military right now. It hasnt arrived yet. It will take time once it gets there to be assembled and to achieve what we call interim operating capability. We expect that will happen in the coming weeks. There is no concern in terms of our living and the skills needed to build it and to get it up and running. What we are working with partners in the region on our two things, one is the logistics things. One is the logistics floor, getting maritime materials to the pier and then working with the israelis in particular about how that pier is protected and secured, and how the material gets from the pier into gaza and is further distributed. Those modalities are still being worked out. Reporter do you expect to raise additional mr. Kirby we are under no illusion of the fact that gaza is always on. And protection of our troops will be first and foremost on the president mind as well as military leaders to make sure they can operate and assemble the pier in a safe way. Believe me, we our well aware that gaza is a war zone and that is what makes it challenging to get humanitarian aid. Reporter you said the white house is outraged or the strike that killed the world central kitchen workers. Has the white house already conveyed that outrage to anyone in the Israeli Government . And what was their response . Mr. Kirby i will not speak to their israelis. We have been clear about our feelings over this piculin strike and our expectations. Reporter have we provided for has the pentagon been able to gain any understanding of what happened . It sounds based on what jose andres has said that these workers were doing everything right, their vehicles were marked and they were in a safe zone. Mr. Kirby it is devastating to see these images and to see the reports about the steps they tried to take to deck themselves, but the israelis have already said that this is on them and they are doing this investigation. We obviously want to make sure that investigation gets completed and is as transparent as possible. There is accountability to be held here. Reporter question on china, what was the president ss message to the president when it comes to chinese misinformation campaigns or any effort by the Chinese Government or People Associated with the Chinese Government to interfere in the 2024 election . Mr. Kirby i will just say that we have been clear consistently even going back to the november meeting in california about our concerns about our own Election Security and efforts by certain actors, including some from the prc, to affect that. Reporter no new message in this conversation . Mr. Kirby i have no new message to read out today. Reporter on the death of the world central kitchen aid workers which includes one american who was killed, netanyahus reaction was, quote, it happens in war. What is your reaction to that comment from netanyahu . Mr. Kirby i dont think it would be useful for me to get into a titfortat here with the. And as i said that the that it will be transparent the results of it and that if theres accountability that needs to be had, it will be had. Reporter how can you take netanyahu at his word . As nancy was saying, this was a deconfliction zone. They had marked their car. They had even coordinated their movements with the idf. Mr. Kirby as i said in my opening statement, this is incident, it is not the first one. There are issues of deconfliction that clearly need to be fleshed out and improved. Reporter so how can the u. S. Continue to send aid to israel without any conditions . Mr. Kirby we are not sending aid to israel. We are sending aid into gaza, and that is reporter how can the u. S. Continue to send military aid without any conditions. Is there no red line . Mr. Kirby we have had this discussion, you and me, quite a bit. There is still they are still under a reliable threat of hamas. We are still going to make sure they can defend themselves. And the seventh of october doesnt happen again. That doesnt mean that its a free pass that that we, that we look the other way when Something Like this happens or that we are not and have not since the beginning of the conflict, urged the israelis to be more precise, to be more careful. And, quite frankly, to increase the amount of humanitarian assistance that gets in. We have not been asked about it yet, but there was a discussion yesterday with our counterparts about rafah done virtually. We expect there will be an in person meeting here in a weeks time or so. The whole reason to have that meeting was to talk about concerns over a major ground operation in rafah and to present viable alternatives for them to be more precise and more targeted. We are not paid attention to this is not that we are not paying attention to to the civilian casualties or the civilian suffering. It is just not true. Reporter these are verbal urgings, not commitments. Mr. Kirby what i am telling you is we continue to work with the israelis to make sure they are as precise as they can be and more aid is getting in and will continue to take that approach. Reporter to followup, do you guys have confirmation of the nationality were killed in the strike . Mr. Kirby i can confirm that one was a dual National American citizen. I could not speak with the authority about the nationalities of all of them. As i understand, there could be additional casualties coming. In terms of the current, i dont know . Mr. Kirby . Mr. Kirby do you know if there has been any contact with the family of the dual national . Mr. Kirby the state department has done outreach and i duly expect you will see outreach from us at an appropriate time. Reporter does the white house accept Prime Minister netanyahus explanation that this incident was unintentional . Mr. Kirby i think the investigation will bear that out. Reporter circumstances, is there a rule for some kind of protective force for aid workers given the threat of widespread famine and concerns about the you have already discussed the jaywalking and so forth, is there a rule that could be considered to try to protect aid workers with a neutral Party Security force . Mr. Kirby that protective force are to be the idea. As we have said. As they conduct operations in an urban, highly populated environment, the take care of the civilians living there and those, quite frankly, that are being moved about by the combat operations that are being conducted in a very confined space, they have that obligation. Reporter are you concerned that aid will be cut off for some period of time now because jose andres said theres a spending they are suspending operations for a period. The World Food Programme is having difficulties. It seems like this incident is exacerbating the crisis. Mr. Kirby it certainly is not helping. There is no question about that. We obviously respect chef andres decision not to continue operations for some time. We are not seeing a wholesale declaration of humanitarian assistance declination here of humanitarian assistance. But yes, that is a concern. The more violent it gets for humanitarian aid workers and as i said, this is one of the worst in recent history, the less likely it is that going to be willing to take the risk, which means it is more likely that civilians will suffer. Reporter secretary blinken during his in paris did not condemn the airstrike, even though, as you confirmed, there was a dual american canadian citizen who was killed. The French Foreign minister, who was at the same presser did. You say you were outraged. Why is the u. S. Not condemning the strike . Mr. Kirby i think by saying that we are outraged, i think you can fairly characterize that as condemning the strike itself of course. I mean nobody wants to see this kind of violence happened to the humanitarian aid workers who as was noted earlier, or doing other writings. Reporter a followup to what was asked earlier about the floating pier, are you considering moving it off the coast of gaza . Mr. Kirby by definition it will be operating off the coast. Reporter how do you ensure that any private partners that the u. S. Ends up partnering with to deliver aid is actually protected . Mr. Kirby we are working on that right now. Force protection for the troops and the people that are to be operating the pier will be paramount. There is going to be plans made plans with partners to do , everything that we can to ensure that that aid is safely assembled and collected at the pier and then safely distributed into gaza. It is going to be a multi step process. We will be responsible for some parts of that, but not all of it. It will take teamwork and we are working on that right now. Reporter quick clarification on something the secretary said against that iran delivered missiles to russia and they are being used moscow to target the ukrainians. Penny confirmed that was the case and not just drone missiles, but Ballistic Missiles and if yes, since when has this transfer been underway . Mr. Kirby i am not aware of the specific verification that we can give to iranian missiles being delivered to russia for use in ukraine. They certainly continue to deliver drones and actually helping the russians manufacture iraniandesigned drones. We know the russians have been using now for quite some time, Ballistic Missiles that they have gotten from north korea. But i am not personally aware of any verification that iranian missiles have been transferred and used. Reporter admiral, you said that there will be an investigation into the world central kitchen strike and you are reserving the u. S. s judgment until that is completed. What is a reasonable timeframe for that investigation to be concluded . Mr. Kirby we believe an investigation can be thoroughly conducted in a swift manner. Now, what is swift . Obviously we are not going to dictate a date on the calendar for the israelis. But it is noteworthy that just before coming out here, i was informed that they have completed a preliminary investigation and are reporting that up the chain of command. Tha