Transcripts For CSPAN White 20240704 : vimarsana.com

Public service along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. Up next, National Security Spokesman John Kirby is an update on russias antisatellite capabilities during a White House Press briefing. Before he speaks, press secretary Karine Jeanpierre also talked about recent shootings in kansas city and atlanta. This is about 30 minutes. Once again, i am starting the briefing on a pretty sad note. Yesterday, multiple gunmen opened fire during the chiefs super bowl parade in kansas city, killing two innocent people and wounding more than 20, including several children. We pray for the families who lost loved ones and we wish a speedy recovery to those who suffered injuries. Since this horrific shooting yesterday, the president has received regular updates from his team and senior white house staff have been in touch with state and local leaders. We also thank local Law Enforcement and other First Responders to spring into action to prevent the further loss of life. As the president s statement said yesterday, the super bowl is the most unifying event in america. Nothing brings more of us together for this celebration to be turned to tragedy yesterday in kansas city cuts deep in the american soul. But the kansas city shooting was not the only deadly shooting in america yesterday. Three Police Officers were shot in the line of duty in washington, d. C. And another School Shooting took place at Benjamin Mays high school in atlanta. Yesterday also marked six years since parkland and tuesday marked one year since the shooting at Michigan State university. At Michigan State university. N state weve weve now had more Mass Shootings in 2024 than there have been days in the year. Think about that one. Through executive action and implementation of the bipartisan Safer Communities act, the president has taken action to keep guns out of dangerous hands by expanding red flag laws, enhancing background checks, and tracking down on cracking down on gun trafficking while also making historic investment in violence prevention. As we all know, it is not enough. Enough. Congress must act. Congress needs to act. And its shameful we have not we need to ban assault weapons and high capacity magazine, require safe storage of gun, pass a National Red Flag law, enact universal background checks and invest in Proven Solutions that reduce violence. We know these actions can save lives and our communities literally cant afford to wait. Now on another note, you saw our announcement today, we are excited to announce that President Biden will welcome the president and Prime Minister of poland to the white house on march 12. This coincides with the anniversary of poelands accession to nato and underscores the United States commitment to the nato alliance. Theyll discuss our support for ukraine, the robust economic relationship and the shared commitment to democratic values. With that, i will turn it over to the admiral who is here to share newly available information thats captured washingtons attention, as you all know. Admiral . Mr. Kirby i know the latest post has prompted a lot of questions. Im limited by how much i can share about the specific nature of the threat i can confirm its related to an antisatellite capability russia is developing. I want to be clear about a couple of things right off the bat, first, this is not an active capability thats been deployed. Though russias use of this capability is troubling, theres no immediate threat to anyones safety. Were not talking about a weapon that cub used to attack human beings or cause physical destruction here on earth. That said, weve been closely monitoring this russian activity and will continue to take it very seriously. President biden has been kept fully informed and regularly informed by his National Security Team Including today. He has directed a series of initial actions including additional briefings to congressional leaders, direct, diplomatic engagement with russia, with our allies and partners as well, and with other countries around the world who have interests at stake. We have concerns a about a broad declassification of this intelligence. They assess that starting with private engagement rather than immediately publicizing the intelligence could be a much more effective approach. We agree with that which is consistent with the man for the which we have conducted downgrades of information in the past. This administration has put a lot of focus on doing that in a strategic, deliberate way and in particular when it comes to russia. Theres two things we always do first when we consider about downgrades. One, we work with the Intelligence Community to conduct a for roe scrub of that intelligence to make sure we are protecting sources and methods. And two, we sequence our private dilomacy with our Public Disclosure to ensure maximum effect. In keeping with that approach our National Security advise you, Jake Sullivan is meeting this afternoon with House Committee chairs and rankers to brief them on the latest analysis intelligence and our analysis of it. We will brief the senate when theyre back in session on the 25th of february. I wont get ahead of those discussions. We make decisions about how and when to publicly discomploaz intelligence in a deliberate and strategic way, a way we choose. Were not going to be knocked off that process regardless of what in this particular case has found its way into the Public Domain. I can assure you well continue to keep members of congress as well as our International Partners and all after you and the American People as fully informed as possible. Nothing is more important to President Biden than the safety and security they have American People. Thats his top prior did and it will remain front and center as we continue to determine the best next steps. Now briefly, i want to share a few words about the battlefield situation in ukraine where fighting is incredibly intense in the east, including in a city weve talked about several times before. Unfortunately were getting reports from ukrainians that the situation is critical with the russians conning to press ukrainian positions every single day. The city is at risk of falling into russian control. In very large parts this happening because the ukrainian force on the ground are running out of artillery ammunition. Russia is sending wave after wave of conscript forces to attack ukrainian positions. Because congress is yet to pass a supplemental bill, we are not able to provide Ukraine Ukraine with the artillery shells they need toties rupt these assaults. Russians are beginning to reach the trenches and overwhelm ukrainian defenses. The cost of this is stark and its being borne on the shoulders of ukrainian soldiers. We need congress to pass supplemental funding without delay. If it doesnt happen soon whats happening now in that city could happen elsewhere along the front. We need congress to act right away. Reporter addressing the matter you addressed in your topper, can you address whether the United States has the capability to defend against the russian antisatellite system theyre developing . Mr. Kirby i would tell you that this is still a capability theyre developing. We are still analyzing the information thats available. I would not speak defin tyly about our Strategic Deterrent capabilities one way or the other. We dont talk about that publicly. But were taking this potential threat very, very seriously. We are examining what the best next steps are. I want to reiterate. Its not an active capability, its not been deployed. Reporter when was the president first informed of this and whats been his level of interest and concern . Mr. Kirby i dont have a specific date on the calendar. Hes been kept informed throughout. And our general knowledge of russian pursuit of this kind of capability goes back many, many months. If not a few years. But only in recent weeks now has the Intelligence Community been table assess with a higher sense of confidence exactly how russia continues to pursue it. So the president has been briefed on this developing capability really from the outset and kept informed throughout. As i said, today, including today from his National Security team. Reporter theres a term tossed around the last couple of hours, i want to get some clarity. Is it a nuclear weapon, a nuclearpowered weapon or meu a nuclearcapable weapon . Mr. Kirby its an antisatellite capability, beyond that i will not go. Reporter youve spent time around nuclear weapons, what is Nuclear Capable. Mr. Kirby what is Nuclear Capable . It depends on the purpose of the device were talking about. We talk about making sure that australia has knew leerpoweredcapable submarines. So Nuclear Energy can be used for propulsion in an engineering sense. It can also p used as a weapon. Reporter Nuclear Capable could be either of those . Mr. Kirby im not going to get into any more detail about this capability than i have already. We work on downgrades of intelligence in a strategic, deliberate way. Were not going to get knocked off that approach regardless of whats out there. Reporter thank you. Your statement seemed to push back on turners call for the administration to declassify this information. And the fact that he made that desire public. The Intelligence Community has put out a notice about an hour ago that the language was preapproved by the Biden Administration. Are you saying that the language that he put out in his statement on social media was outside of what odni approved . Mr. Kirby what im going to tell you, jackie, and youve seen us do this, certainly since early 2021, when sorry 20222, when putin invaded ukraine. We have been careful and deliberate about what we dead deside to declassify, dunn graid, and share with the public. And theres a process, jackie. It starts with analysis of whether information can be downgraded safely without violating sources, without putting it in jeopardy, our ability to continue to collect information and intelligence. Then usually theres an engagement strategy that goes along with that, where you talk to allies and partners. Maybe the country in question. Certainly members of congress you do that to intense internal diplomacy. Then and only then, when thats complete, you work on specific language to downgrade. What i would tell you in this case, jake mentioned this yesterday, we have already begun that process. The process of analyzing it, making sure we werent violating sources and methods, informing members of congress, the president directed the team to start to inform allies and partners including not that russia is an ally or partner but to include diplomatic engagement with russia on this. Then wed get to a point where we would downgrade and declassify. We were on the arc of that process. When yesterday, this information regrettably found its way into the Public Domain in advance of our ability to do this according to process. Reporter regrettably though if the administration had been working with the committee to approve language that would make all of this known to all members of congress mr. Kirby if theres a presumption that somehow the administration gave a green light for this information to get public yesterday that is false. Thats not true. That did not happen. We were eventually going to get to a point where wed be able to share it with the American People and we still will, as appropriate. As i said in my opening statement, well keep you as informed as we can. Now is not the time for us to go into detail. Reporter is there pushback on the fact that allied partners had not been of thed and said they had been. When kid that happen . Mr. Kirby we are in the process of consulting with allies and partners. We are in the process of engaging with russia about this. We think, its a crazy thought, but we think its posh to follow that process and do it the right way rather than rush to put something out in the Public Domain. Reporter when we talk about the potential to sat slight cripple satellites, satellites can drive weather forecasting to wars. You says this something that nowld not impact those of us on earth. Why should americans be concerned about a russian capability that would target satellites . Mr. Kirby any antisatellite capability should be of general concern because youre right. There are private and public satellites circling the earth every day. They do a number of things that you talked about, you talked about some of them there. Communications. Command and control. Transportation. Meteorological concerns. Financial concerns. Theres a lot of things satellites do for the whole population of earth. So any capability that could disrupt that and that could therefore have some impact on services here on earth and across the world should be offing of concern to anybody, i think. Including the fact that we have astronauts in, often times in low orbit that could be at risk from an antisatellite capability. Youre talking about human lives. Reporter we heard from lawmakers saying among other things that this is not an immediate term threat, it is a medium to longterm threat. When we talk to medium to longterm threats so americans can feel comfortable with the state of this information, what does that mean . What time frame are we talk act in terms of concern . Mr. Kirby i hope youll understand im not going to get into too much more detail than ive said. It is not an active capability thats yet deployed. Reporter some members of congress described turners action as reckless. Is that how youd characterize what you did yesterday . Mr. Kirby we have followed a rigorous process to determine how and when information should be downgraded. We were and are in the prosoafs that with this particular capability. As i said in my opening statement, were not going to get knocked off that process. Were not going to have our hand forced to get out there faster and further than we think is appropriate. Reporter are you concerned that all members of congress now have access to this classified intelligence . Mr. Kirby thats for chairman turner to speak to, since the he made the decision to make it vail to all members of congress. This is based on look, well, again, well let chairman turner speak to his decision about how to share the information. It is based on information that we again are in the process of analyzing and sharing with allies and partners and were just not at a point right now, we dont believe we should be at a point right now, to be too forthcoming in all the details of it as we work through this process. But as i said, as we do with every other downgrade well get to a point where well share with you as much as we can. Reporter since the chairman is saying some informing is cleared, can you tell us what he worked on with the administration and why . Mr. Kirby no, im not going to get into that, im not going to speak to how he came to make this decision. We have a process, were going to stay on that process. Reporter the kremlin spokesman said today that the, speaking of this issue of the russian antisatellite capability, that a ploy by the white house to pressure republicans in congress to pass the supplemental and get aid to ukraine. Whats your reaction to that . Mr. Kirby bull. Prip and one more thing. Last night the leaders of australia, canada and new zealand issued a statement warning israel against any offensive, saying it would be devastating and catastrophic. These are some of the closest u. S. Allies. Can you tell us why the United States thinks differently to them and still feels that its possible that israel can offer, may be able to offer a credible plan for an offensive . Mr. Kirby i dont see a whole heck of a lot of gap between what theyve been saying and what weve been saying. I expect speak for them i feel tell you we continue to believe that under the current circumstances, without a cell plan as the president said, to account for the more than a million palestinians down in rafa, make sure they have a place where they can be secure and out of harms way. Without that plan, a major operation in rafa would be a disaster. We agree with that. Were continuing to talk to our israeli counterparts about what that might look like. Reporter going back to what you were saying to peter about satellites. Life as we know it revolves around satellites. Sounds like something would be greatly impacted, greatly, if these satellites were attacked. When and how and why would the National Security threat right now go up higher if something begins to move in a different direction . Can you tell us when and why that would go up higher . Mr. Kirby its difficult to answer that when were talking about a capability we dont believe is active and not deployed. We will engage directly. Plan to engage directly with the russians about this. And as well as allies and partners. Well continue to work through what our next steps and our approaches might be. I dont want to minimize the potential here for disruption should there be an antisatellite capability of any significant. It could affect services here on earth. Theres no question about that. Thats why we are taking this so seriously. Reporter lastly, as were dealing with this and looking at the complicated relationship that the United States has had with russia, you say youre going to go into conversations. Do you really trust russia when it comes to satellites . Mr. Kirby its not about trusting. I think our record on dealing with russia appropriately i think is pretty well established. Its in the about blind trust with russia. Reporter trust but verify . Mr. Kirby were not in position that were trusting whats coming out of russia. What they say we watch what they do. Wable size analyze what they do and make our own policy decisions about what were going to do based on their actions or inactions. Reporter staying on russia, before i move on to the indonesian election, Vladimir Putin said that Biden Administration would be more stable and better than a Trump Administration. Your reaction . Mr. Kirby i think mr. Biden im sorry. I think mr. Putin knows very well what this administration has been doing to counter russias malign influence around the world and what theyve been doing inside ukraine. We have demonstrated over and over and over again how willing we are to push back on what russia is doing. Particularly in ukraine. And mr. Putin should just stay out of our elections. Reporter on the indonesian election, the candidate claimed victory. A couple of questions. When does the Administration Plan to congratulate him . Are you planning to wait for official counts to come out which could be days or weeks . And number two, this was an individual who was banned from entering the United States for many years due to allegations of Human Rights Violations including the abduction and torture of prodemocracy activists during the the 1998 ouster of his then fatherinlaw who was the president. Is the administration comfortable working with a person with such a track record . Mr. Kirby well make our congratulations know a at the appropriate time. I dont have i couldnt give you a date certain or a time certain for that. I understand the results are still coming. In and the we will respect the vote and the voice of the indonesian people. Reporter just to clarify, the Trump Administration did grant the then Indonesia Defense minister, invited him to the u. S. , because of concerns that jakarta may be veering too close to bay jipg. I want to know what the Biden Administrations view is between balancing human rights values and geopolitical expediency. Mr. Kirby i think the only way to answer that is to say human rights, civil rights have been at the forefront of President Bidens foreign policy. Theres not a conversation we has anywhere in the world with leaders that doesnt focus on that. Reporter if you could take one more question on the House Foreign Affairs commission today on hearing on the afghanistan withdrawal, accusing the Biden Administration recreating the doha agreement and creating conditions that are ripe for taliban takeover. Mr. Kirby we have talked and briefed at great length about the situation we found ourselves in when we came into office. The doha agreement that was agreed to by the previous administration. I would point you to every Public Comment and testimony we have done before. I dont want to i dont think i need to relitigate that. The president was faced with a stark choice given the decisions that President Trump made about exiting afghanistan. Reporter the u. N. Aid agency today said in an interview with skynews that hamas is not a terrorist organization, he later clarified his remarks. Whats the word from washington and the white house about those comments. Mr. Kirby hamas is a terrorist organization, weve said so. It is. You dont have to look any further than what they did on october 7 to see it in stark terms. Look at their manifesto, the one thats socalled watered down in 2017. Theres no doubt they want to wipe israel off the face of the map. This is a terroristing orny sairks pure and simple, period. Reporter is it helpful . Have you reached out mr. Kirby we have not reached out nor do i think we need to. We have made clear what we think hamas is. Reporter israels minister ordered flour shipments not to go into gaza. Over the weekend a Senior Administration official said there was hope that shipments including a large u. S. Shipment could be delivered. It would feed like 1. 4 million gazans over six months. Whats the status of that and what can you do to guarantee those shipments . Mr. Kirby i wish i could tell you the flour is moving in, but i cannot right now. It is absolutely a staple to the palestinian people. It is absolutely vital, they committed to allowing it in and we want to make sure that happens. Reporter didnt net anya hue assure the president that it would happen . Mr. Kirby november any information that that particular conversation happened but we are working on that floor very, very hard. Reporter and on the antisatellite weapon capability. In 2007 the chinese destride satellite in orbit, creating a lot of debris. You know, at that point there was a demonstration of u. S. Antisatellite capability that was groundbased, basically, using a weapon on the grown to destroy a satellite that was going to fall to earth. Can you say whether the new capability the russians have developed is spacebased or does it involve some test of a weapon that is based on the ground . Mr. Kirby it would be spacebased. It would be a violation of the outer space treaty to which more than 130 countries have signed up to including russia. Reporter if i could circle back to the direct diplomatic engagement. Has contact been made with russia . Mr. Kirby we are in the process of that. Reporter on what level . Mr. Kirby we have reached out to the russian side but have not secured actual conversations at this point. Reporter you talk a lot about when youre talking about declassification that you need to be confirmed about not revealing methods. The way this was rolled out yesterday, is there any concern that its already been compromised . Mr. Kirby we are asking ourselves that question right now because we want to make sure that were not or that in any way, shape, or form anyone could compromise sources and methods. We are working our way through that analysis right now. Reporter on israel, its our understanding that the director traveled to israel to meet with netanyahu. What was his message . Mr. Kirby i make it a point not to speak about c. I. A. s directors travels. But hes been helping us with the hostage deal negotiations and we are very much shoulder to the wheel to see if we can get something done. Reporter you said that youre in the process of reaching out to russia about this issue. Im wondering if chairman furners actions in any way complicated e complicates the discussions for you . Reporter i have two questions for you john, first on the visit to the white house next month, on march 12, 1999, three countries were admitted to nato. Poeland, Czech Republic and hungary. Why President Biden invited only the leaders from poland . And the second question, why did he invite both leaders, the Prime Minister and the president . That is up usual, two leaders from one country. Especially that President Biden had not invited the former Prime Minister of poland to the white house he only met with the vice president. Mr. Kirby this is a great opportunity to celebrate the anniversary of poland coming into the alliance and also to show our gratitude for everything poland has done not just as a great nato ally but including security assistance, hosting more than a million ukrainian citizens on their soil. Theyve been generous, theyve been spirited, theyve been in support of the alliance and ukraine. The president is looking forward to seeing both leaders here in washington, d. C. Reporter why both at the same time . Mr. Kirby this was all done in consultation with our polish counterparts. The president have very excited and looking forward to it. Reporter the pakistani elections, does the white house believe that the palestine gran elections are not free and fair . Mr. Kirby we are concerned, we share concerns about some of the reports that weve heard coming out of pakistan in terms of intimidation, voter suppression, that kind of thing. So we are we are watching it very, very closely and as i understand it, votes are still being tallied. So international monitors are still taking a look at those tallies. Im not going to get ahead of that process. Reporter in the last several weeks, there have been attacks on the country, is there concern in india that the u. S. Is no longer safe . Mr. Kirby theres in excuse for violence, certainly based on race or gender or religion or any other factor. Thats just unacceptable here in the United States. The president and this administration has been working very, very hard to make sure we are doing everything we can to work with state and will call authorities to try to thwart and disrupt those attacks and make it clear to anybody who might consider them that theyll be held properly accountable. You mentioned the outer space treaty several questions ago. That is, as you said, enforced. But russia has pulled out of several arms control treaties in the last few years. Is the administration confident that this treaty is not going to go the same way that theres faith in the russian government to not unilaterally violate the treaty . And if they do, will the u. S. Pull out of the treaty to keep pace . Mr. Kirby what russia does with its treaty requirements is up to mr. Putin desai, i cant answer that and im going to im not going to engage in hypotheticals. We are a signatory to that treaty we take our obligations under that treaty very seriously and have no intention of violating it. Reporter theres been speculation that the spur for developing this weapon is has been the use of satellite, u. S. Launched satellites from space x for by ukraine, starlink satellites is there any truth to that . Is there anything you can say on whether this mr. Kirby im not going to get into intelligence analysis. Were still working our way through this. We have to breaf members of congress and allies and partners, im not going to get into that. Reporter you mentioned regarding this russian situation that the information that was disclosed made its way into the Public Domain. That was chairman turner. Have you ever had a situation before where a chairman of an Intelligence Committee has disclosed publicly information of this nature already or other intel information that normally stays in committee . Mr. Kirby i dont know of a similar instance here. As i look back at the News Coverage yesterday, just to be clear, much of the reporting about the supposed alleged details of that capability came fr cspan is your unfiltered view of government. Were funded by these Television Companies and more. Including charter communications. Next charter is proud to be recognized as one of the best internet providers. And were just Getting Started building 100,000 miles of new infrastructure to reach those who need it most. Charter communitions supports cspan as a public service, along with these other television providers. Giving you a front row seat to democracy. In georgia, Fulton County District Attorney fani willis is making is facing an effort to have her removed as prosecutor in the interference case against foer President Donald Trump for a prior relationship. A tords her court began hearing testimony earlier today in atlanta. That continues tomorrow at 9 00 a. M. Etern. We will have live coverage on cspan, after washington journal. You can also watch online at cspan. Org. Sunday on cspans q a. Don scott, virginias newly elected speaker of the house of delegates, and the states first black speaker in 405 years talks about his life. Including spending almost eight years in prison. I had never been in trouble before. I was hoping to get more grace. The judge could have given me more time than he did. But i remember hearing my mother when he said 10 years. She couldnt believe it. That yelp of pain always stays with me. It always lets me know how fragile our freedom is. And how perilous. If you make one wrong move sometimes, it can literally be the end of your life as you know it. Virginias Democratic House speaker don scott sunday on q a. Coming up, a conversation with treasury secretary janet yellen and michigan governor gretchen whitmer. They talk about the u. S. Economy, Workforce Development and the manufacturing industry. This event hosted by the Detroit Economic Club is about 30