Transcripts For CSPAN White 20240705

I need everyone to follow me. Security council john kirby discussed two recently released videos of Close Encounters with the Chinese Military. One by air at the other in the taiwan straight. Youre just a plane crash in virginia in which all passengers aboard were killed after reaching d. C. Airspace. Esther kirby joined the White House Press secretary for the Daily Briefing with reporters. Ex good afternoon everyone. So, with all the Foreign Policy is happening this morning or throughout the day we wanted to have admiral kirby joins the Briefing Room to take some your questions. As you and the denmark Prime Ministers here meeting with the present currently soap he will give a preview of that. As you also know and are tracking the uk Prime Minister will be here on thursday as well. The admiral can take any questions that you all have with the busy Foreign Policy. All right the floor is yours. Hi how are you all today . So this after the present is meeting with the Prime Minister of denmark. They just started. Thats designed to help strengthen deep and enduring ties between the United States and denmark. This is a visit the president has been looking forward to for quite some time. There is a pretty full agenda obviously meant to review our efforts as nato allies and close partners to strengthen transatlantic security. Bolster economic prosperity. Theyre also certainly going to discuss her unwavering support for ukraine in the face of russias brutal aggression. And in that context he can certainly expect they will the issue of the f16s mutual consortium will put together to try to advance an initial step of ukrainian pilots. And of course they will coordinate on a range of other issues including energy security, Climate Change and other global issues that we will have readout for you when it is over. I would also like to highlight quickly you have seen from department of treasury and state the United States does not take additional action to combat russias malign influence in bold ova. The individuals designated today a part a plot to capitalize on protests. That were designed to conduct an opposition meeting. These factors promote, train oversight groups in democratic countries that conduct antigovernment protests, rallies demonstrations its going to continue to support the government and their people and their efforts to combat coercive activity that undermine democracy there. Lets welcome back. Parts good to see you. In the span of a week weve had to Close Encounters. When at sea, what in the air the Chinese Military. Are these isolated incident or is trying to become more aggressive . Quick tallies are part and parcel of an increasing level of aggressiveness by that pla the prc military and particularly in the area of the Taiwan Straits and the south china sea. When air interceptors are the south china sea. And sadly this is part again of a growing aggressiveness by the prc that we are dealing with and prepared to address you heard secretary often speak of that the dialogue just this past weekend. We are going to continue to keep the lines open with the chinese to make it clear how unacceptable those particular intercepts are perplexed handshake is there been any other conversation between u. S. And chinese . You know we have two officials in beijing right now senior director for china in dan from the state department are in beijing as we speak. The verdict care about the words you choose is the best way to describe what china is doing in the air and on the sea . I will try to give you an answer. I sure would like to hear beijing justify what they are doing. That said these are intercepts. Air maritime intercepts happen all the time but heck we do it. The differences we do we feel like we need to do some professionally done inside the International Law. Its done in accordance with the rules of the road. These two that use our recently but they have happened with more frequency that we would like. Not all them are unsafe and unprofessional but these two were. He saw the air intercept they forced our aircraft in c1 35 to basically go through the jet wash. Use of the bump in the cockpit that shows you how close the chinese fighter was to our jets. In the maritime intercepts the Taiwan Straits 140 your weather 50 yards speaking as an old sailor myself i would say thats pretty close when youre in open waters like that. You can see the head of steam that chinese vessel had audit as across the bow of one of our destroyers. There is no call for that its unsafe, its unprofessional. As to why they are doing it i think thats a great question to ask them. What i would tell you from our perspective is we are flying, we are sailing, we are operating in International Airspace international waters. Both of those incidents were complete compliance with International Law. Theres absolutely no need pla to act as aggressively as they did. I wont be long before somebody gets hurt. That is the concern these unsafe in a professional intercepts. They can lead to misunderstandings where they can lead to miscalculations. We have pieces of metal that size whether it is in the error on on the sea in their operative necklace together it would not take much for an error in judgment or a mistake to get nay in somebody could get hurt. That is got to be unacceptable it should be unacceptable to them as well. Jon he just said as part of a pattern of increasing level. Why was it appropriate to send to senior officials to visit china on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre . It was not time to the anniversary of Tiananmen Square. Number two is not time specifically to deal with these intercepts. You can imagine a trip to beijing by u. S. Officials take some time to plan. That said both of the u. S. Officials use the opportunity to raise our concern over the two intercepts i just talked about. Absolutely raise the concerns we had barely raises concerns to our embassy as well this was not a new message the chinese for hearing. But you can also understand particularly when times are tense. Particular theres a risk of miscalculation in particular in the pla asking acting as aggressively as it is of no reason whatsoever that is the time you what to be able to have a conversation for weather conversations over the phone or facetoface. Without this visit was very much in keeping with their larger longer efforts keep lines of communication with the prc open. We will see where this goes after that. Administration for sending officials on that anniversary. With that decision in messe sigma step . I was not a misstep. It was a long planned trip. This is the way the schedule worked out. I think honestly people big criticizing the timing of Tiananmen Square to make a heck of a lot out of nothing. Wasnt time to anything with anniversary and again both of these officials were nothing about canada indirect with the intercepts they brought issues of human rights as we always do. Its important to have communication vehicles open for to have those kinds of conversations. I think were a whole lot less worse worried about the date on the calendar than what the agendas were talking to them. Sites are verbal concerns and communicate with beijing we get any kind of response to back china down from this increased aggression . We have continued to convey that message to them. I was so we are not in control of their military and the military assets of the military leaders. We urge them to make better decisions about how they operate in International Airspace. Whether they acknowledge the rules of the road or not they are the rules of the road. For nation like china that continues and touts International Law, sovereignty and territorial integrity you think they would understand when a vessel or aircraft is operating in International Airspace and see space bar going to keep setting up for those rules of the road. Were going to keep setting up of International Law. As a said earlier were going to keep flying, point keep sailing records operating wherever International Law allows a stupid clean up of navigation whether it is on the air or skiing is an important concept the red faces were send them four. They preferred on ukraine what is your understanding whether counteroffensive has begun . Im not talking to the credibility of that fit speaking stupid heard them say earlier today we are conducting of operations i wont go beyond that. What i can speak to us how hard work to prepare them to be ready. So that starting now, starting soon, whatever they decide to step up and decide to do the present is confident we could did everything we could or less six, eight months or more to make sure that all the equipment, training, capability to be successful. Expect to china do you think all these incidents are effort to intimidate or impact other channels of communication that you are trying keep open . Or do you see them part departmentalized the military setting blinken and yellen over there . Its hard to know for sure. Obviously when you fly and sell as aggressively. Saw the video for yourself. You do not need me today how aggressive it was. The chinese and kind of message. At the very least its a statement of a displeasure of our presence. What can the president said clearly we are a specific power. We are not going anywhere. We have cysts serious and the end of pacific. The vast majority of International Economic trade flows to the in the pacific. We are to stay there and continue to strengthen both alliances and partnerships. Again i cannot speak for the prc would not do it. If the message theyre trying to send us we are not welcome or are presidencies to be diminished but what if you stop flying, sailing and operating lot less likely to happen. Whack your continued to make progress in sending abbys visit for secretary boykin . Works we got to officials there we are talking is a good cyber he provides and so as i said now. In general without the next visit squidgy by whom or when we are feeling like we are making progress in terms of opening up additional lines of communication. Thank you. I have two questions. [inaudible] with china and russia for Nuclear Disarmament. We are or not. You think the Nuclear Disarmament is a possibility of issues . Will you continue to wait . Weve made it clear to kim jongun in the regime we are willing to sit down without conditions. This is not about waiting. We continue to send that message. But we havent gotten is any indication they are willing to engage in this kind of talks but the offer still stands. Is there some possibility of sequencing the visits differently so secretary delmas talked about sequencing being an issue sort of implied perhaps a blinken should go first . But any challengers in the political does it make sense to have economic visit first . But that is that part way ahead of the horse right now. We are glad we are able to visit beijing. We will do they come back with. Clearly one of the goals as advanced engagement the prc. See it we can do to the higher level visits in play. We are just not there about sequencing or specific scheduling. Donothing present tenant to speak with the danish Prime Minister about that today . Whether talks about having a woman question is not the purpose for the trip. Not the kind of deeds life in my Opening Statement they focused on three. Two different topics. How do interpret the decision to unilaterally cut production question because all of decision to cut production. Im making sure theres a balance between supply and demand. The price of those directly affected by this announcement. Of these additional cuts. The price of gasoline continues to come down. The president is going to say that the American People to making we are looking after those needs in terms of this. A separate topic i want to ask another visit from the leader this month. [inaudible] you had a very large focus on this administration between this questions of democracy. Teacher to articulate ex india is a Strong Partner on many, many levels with the United States. You saw in shangrila secretary often announce an additional defense cooperation we are going to pursue with india. There is an awful lot of economic trade between our two countries. Thats a member of the pacific quad. With an the pacific security. I could go on and on and on. As reasons why india certainly matters. Well tie and very many levels. Who talk about those issues to advance and deepen the partnership and the friendship. Following this administration concerned about the health of democracy . India is a vibrant democracy. They went to heaven to go to new delhi can do that for themselves. Certainly i would expect the strengthen health of Democratic Institutions will be part of the discussion. And look, we never shy away. Do that with friends youre supposed to do that with her and she never shy away from expressing concerns that we might have with Anyone Around the world. This visit is really about advancing what is now what we hope will be a deeper Stronger Partnership and friendship Going Forward. With ukraine being a fourth topic with the Prime Minister today in the uk here, when you consider the president investment in the United States and allies does the president went to see ukraine adhere to some the president s wishes with respect with reports of the covid action part of ukraine having the ability to act inside russia . Ukraine severity spoken to some of these quote unquote raids. Ive been denied participation in them so i will let them speak to that. What i can say, and we said this before we do not encourage we do not enable and we do not support. Strikes or attacks inside russia. Our effort we have been exceedingly plain about this with the it creates our effort is support them in their selfdefense independent there torturing their sovereignty but that is was invited by mr. Putin of russia and that is what we are helping them get back. Their independence, their territorial integrity that is where the focus is. I am not telling you anything here this Briefing Room that we have not said privately to the ukrainians in terms of expressing our concerns about that. They know our concerns for their provide us all we have to president zelenskyy assurances they will respect those concerns. Thank you. On taiwan President Biden in japan during his conference when asked about taiwan he said there is a clear understanding among our allies that if china were to act unilaterally there would be a response. What does he mean by response . Is that sanctions is that military intervention . Im not going to go beyond the president said. He has said that before we do not want to see the status quo changed unilaterally. Certainly do not want to see it changed by force. The other thing the president said and he said a gazillion times or is there is no reason to because nothing is changed about her when china probably do not support independence from taiwan we argosy do support their selfdefense capabilities and we will continue to do that theres no reason for the tension in the Taiwan Strait to evolve into the kind of conflict. Center city do not want to characterize weatherly to be getting a counteroffensive. But is this within the timeframe of when ukrainian officials told americans they can potentially begin are within the timeframe . Chris im just not going to go there, jeremy. They need to have the right and the responsibility to speak their own military operations and how they are conducting them where and when. It would not be appropriate for us to speak to that. Secondly, president zelenskyy told the wall street journal needs more patient middle missile batteries for the siblings and a crate the frontline troops from russian airpower. The dsm process and identifying additional patriot batteries or air defense . We have been prioritizing air defense for many, many months for this last package we talked about last week their interceptor missiles. Without getting ahead of announcements to come, i can assure your air defense remains top of defense of the kind of capabilities were going to make sure. I know batteries are topic is fairly scarce. There are there not a lot of them in our inventory or the inventory of nations and a purchase them. Again i do not want to get ahead of where we are. We do air defense is a priority we know how well the patriots have in performing side of ukraine which is why we provided some additional interceptor missiles last week. All he could tell his record to forward i just knowledge of the head. If you could help us understand whats going on. Think you have a sense of what happened can walk us through maybe was there involvement in this zeropoint ask i do not have a should have brought it with me. Do not have an exact tiktok minute by minute. I can walk you through the process. Before i do that though, i do want to express our deepest condolences to the family members the loved ones of those who died in that crash. Just terrible. Terrible news nobody wants to get that. We need to keep them front and center as we talk about and speed and altitude to enter restricted airspace then there are under the responsibilities to put aircraft up to again send a message and get a different outcome and thats what happened here. Six f16s from different airbases on the east coast certainly andrews was one of those left launched into the air, three airbases launched to intercept this particular site citation. As i understand it, the two were the first to reach and had to turn on the speed to get to them which is why people in the district area heard a sonic boom. They had to break the sound barrier to get up to speed to the aircraft in question. When they did, they did exactly what they are supposed to do, get on the radio and communicate to the pilot that wasnt working, made themselves visible, that didnt work and tragically it ended obviously in the crash of all on board. Throughout that process theres a Conference Call when you have an incident where they are on the phone, dod is on the phone in Real Time Monitoring it and getting realtime updates from the pilots and f16 pilots so that everybody is in the loop in real time. I dont know the exact moment at which the president was informed that he was briefed on the incident. Going back to the question and the episodes that occurred over the course of the past two weeks involving the Chinese Military at what point does the president pick up the phone, reach out and say enough, you cant continue these episodes for various vehicles including the conversations these two officials are having in beijing as we speak. The president will have another conversation with the president and do it at the appropriate time. And im sure that when he does he will be just as candid then as he has been in the past in terms of our concerns, the challenges in this relationship and also about the opportunities that remain and we want to continue to pursue. A followup question on china. We are getting messages that hes not able to meet his counterpart [inaudible] do you think its more difficult to establish . Go back in time to when then Speaker Pelosi visited taiwan. The chinese in retribution for that is shut down some lines of communication. That is one of the reasons why we want to get the secretary back over to beijing because that was part of his task was to see if he cant open up some of those lines. Shouldnt take the secretary of state to fly to beijing to do that, but i know he is willing to if needed. A secretary austin has for his own part to try to get those Military Lines back open for himself and we have been unsuccessful particularly because while we spend the first ten minutes in the press conference talking about these intercepts it is exactly because of that you want to be able to have that open line of communication in the military channels [inaudible] he is also pressing does that sound good to you . To speak to what he intends to raise the president is very much looking forward to this visit as well. Obviously the United Kingdom as a strong ally and friend on so many fronts ive figured out and theyve been right there literally in terms of helping ukraine the last 15 months and i have no doubt they will talk about ways we can Work Together moving forward in the future. I just dont have anything on the next to speak to. The president hasnt made a decision about who the United States would support, and i certainly dont want to get out ahead of him on that. I will say while ive got the chance that the president remains very grateful and appreciative of the leadership of the secretarygeneral extended a two or three times i think, and hes done a masterful job particularly when you look at what the alliance has been able to do unilaterally sometimes bilaterally in terms of supporting ukraine and a lot of nato business to be done and im sure they will discuss a whole range of those issues but i dont want to get ahead of that discussion. Was there any effort yesterday [inaudible] if not, why not . Im going to let the secret service talk about security here at the white house. Do you know how this was handled if the response was appropriate given the risk . I would refer you to the dod to talk about whatever after action they might do. Its not uncommon for the military to take a look at how it performed. Having observed this myself for many years, what i saw was just a classic textbook response to in this case what was an unresponsive pilot and aircraft again with completely tragic outcomes. On air on, the embassy and saudi arabia after a break and wanted to get the u. S. Assessment on the security situation in the persian gulf. Will the u. S. Increase its maritime presence in that area and [inaudible] which of those do you want me to take first . Led to the iranians and the saudis speak more specifically to this. But i would say in general, we support more integration and dialogue and more transparency throughout the region. And if the iranians open up another embassy and can help increase transparency, if it can deescalate attention and lead to the reduction in destabilizing behaviors including intercepting maritime shipping as theyve attempted to do over the last several days, then all of that is to the positive. In that interview many would die in the counteroffensive does the white house agree with that assessment . I certainly wouldnt think that it would be appropriate for us to land veracity about the Ukrainian Military in terms of casualties they might take. That is for them to speak to. Again, bear with me because i know this is going to sound like ive said this a gazillion times but weve done everything we can to make them ready. And thats not just about weapons systems. Its about training and how to use it and more critically how to integrate the capabilities on the battlefield and what we call the combined arms maneuver but they believe they are going to need to execute to be able to conduct successful counteroffensive ground operations and we have done a lot to help them get ready for that but as to how many casualties they might take thats nothing we would speculate on and in war of those things are unpredictable and a lot of its going to depend on how and where they conduct these operations and what kind of resistance they face on the forces. Could you give the administrations assessment on how significant . I would just tell you that again i dont want to armchair this thing day by day. Theres been continued vicious fighting in the don bus area. Certainly that didnt see much of a very private of the violence. The ukrainians have been fighting bravely even as they withdrew forces they still stayed in the vicinity. I will let them speak to the reasons why that is important and why they are protecting those of the way they are. Again our focus is making sure that they are ready. There was an outlet this morning the monitoring reports [inaudible] then i thought there is no way that question is going to come up again. I dont have been answered for you im sorry. I will have to get back to you. On saudi arabia, the production was that any advance notice given to the administration on what their thinking was on that and i guess more broadly what you can share to how it plays into the ongoing review of the relationship . I know of no advanced notice nor would there needs to be. It was a unilateral decision by a sovereign state so i will let them speak to that. We talked about this relationship before. As i said i think a few weeks ago theres going to be if she was where we dont agree with saudi arabia and we have the kind of relationship we can express those concerns directly and we do all the time, but we are focused on the future. Saudi arabia is a Strategic Partner and has been and will be and we are managing that relationship Going Forward. That is what our focus is on. I want to ask one question about ukraines strategy and the series of National Securities leaks that were developed. On ukraine i wonder if you could explain a little more why it is that the United States urges ukraine against the conduct of the crossborder operations wouldnt it be the swift way to bring this to conclusion of russia remains even a fraction it has inflicted on the ukrainian territory . We have been pretty consistent about this. I think we can all agree no matter where you stand on the war in ukraine that having it escalate to be exactly what putin has claimed it to be from the beginning to fight against the west or the United States or russia or nato versus russia is not good for anybody, certainly for the ukrainian people or european allies and partners or the russian people. So, we dont want to see this escalate beyond the degree that its escalated before and thats been the justification since the very beginning. On the National Security week, i wonder if you have today any better sense of how damaging to National Security they were. I ask this because i was struck by the divergence if you will in your comments and those by President Biden. You came to this room and pleaded with all of us not to publish this material presumably because of the damage it would cause. In fact even in the Court Filings and the ongoing prosecution federal prosecutors referred to the great damage caused as a potential and yet we saw President Biden say that there was nothing of great consequence. How could that be true . Both are true. First of all when i made those comments it was at the very beginning of the disclosures. We didnt know the full scope or what had been made public yet and the classification on a lot of this intelligence gave us proper cause for concern. I still would make the same point i made before we urge you not to publish this material. We dont think it belongs in the public domain. That said the more that we have come to learn over time and this is what the president was referring to is that much of the information thats out there and i say this with a caveat i still dont think we know for sure that there isnt more coming, but what weve seen thus far now weeks afterward is a snapshot in time, a very distinct period of time, six to eight weeks worth and certainly follow on intelligence assessments have simply moved on from where those assessments were, the ones that were published. The other thing i would say as many of them were based on the unfinished intelligence. Its no different than the way you do your job when you get a source of intelligence you do the right thing and follow it up and check it with two or three other sources until you triangulate yourselves and get where you are comfortable with what youve got. A load of that information was based on early reporting that had not been corroborated. How do you know there isnt material coming . [inaudible] what i can tell you is we cant say definitively there couldnt be more documents out there. I wish we could have a different answer to the question, but that is the honest answer. We havent seen many more disclosures in recent weeks, so thats a positive but its not like we are going to go whistling past the graveyard and say we are done. We are going to keep looking. One question on the House Oversight investigation, please. As you know on may 10th, the issued a report allegedly funneling 10 million into their Bank Accounts while joe biden as Vice President. Members of the committee have said there were several National Security concerns with the ties to the country. Have you read the report yourself and do you personally think there are any National Security concerns here . No. [inaudible] to stop human rights abuse by bangladesh also [inaudible] and to give people the best possible chance for a parliamentary election. What is your response on the recent letter to the president . Weve been consistent, and im aware of the communication weve been consistent on the need to hold free and Fair Elections and to demonstrate the commitment to the state department as you know recently announced a three visa policy that we are strict issuing to those that undermine bangladeshs elections. Two weeks ago i asked about the case of the former pilot facing deportation from the uk to rwanda. You said you would look into it. Thank you for that. Now the air force is not apparently cooperating with some of the officers who work with him available. Quoting from an email here publicity may invite more requests for support. You previously said the u. S. Government wants any former Afghan Service who served alongside the forces to request support, to come to the u. S. , to get asylum. Has there been a policy change that we no longer want requests for support . Without confirming the response which i havent seen, the short answer to your question im not questioning it im just without seeing it i want to speak to it. The short answer to the question is no. We continue to want to see our afghan allies get out and be able to have a life of freedom and certainly if they want that life here in the United States, we are still willing and able to help provide it to them. Theres been no change in policy at all. Thanks, everybody. Thank you so much, admiral can you clarify one thing in response to the question about the change of the venue . Is there any role in the decision to scramble or is that process selfcontained . What i can say for sure is the president was, they are certainly briefed and throughout the process kept abreast. I cant speak to the exact process and what comes first and how it all boils down. Clearly the department of defense that kind of certainly led to this operation but cant speak to where the president kind of engaged or not. I can tell you he was certainly kept abreast. Looking ahead friday given that it was just renamed, will the president get into the reasons behind the naming or will his remarks just be [inaudible] as you know its a few days away. So we will have more to share and certainly preview on what the president is going to say on friday when hes in north carolina. Just dont have anything right now and as you can imagine the remarks are continuously being worked on but i dont have anything to share specifically on what hes going to lay out. Anything you can tell us about the focus . I can share a couple things about tomorrow. As you know the president will be convening the cabinet secretary tomorrow in the cabinet room as he does from time to time to discuss the progress weve made in investing in america. That includes the 13 million jobs created in the last two and a half years under this president. Unemployment being below 4 for nearly a year and a half, annual inflation falling now for 11 months in a row. And more than 470 billion in private sector investments and lets not forget the bipartisan budget agreement that was that the president signed on saturday which will also be a conversation to include the progress that weve made in the last two years of the administration and also the priorities and funding levels and all the historic pieces of legislation that the president was able to do just the last two years. That is including ending covid19 and what you can expect as well is he will be talking to his cabinet members, cabinet secretaries about the next 100 days which we think is critically important as we move forward with the rest of the year unleashing more infrastructure, Clean Energy Manufacturing investments across the country and our work lets not forget to curb gun violence as well and also what we are seeing across the country on the attacks that we are seeing on womens reproductive rights. So that will certainly be part of the conversation that you all will hear and see from the president. [inaudible] does the president of a message for them . As you know the president , when it comes to these type of issue as he clearly hopes that they continue to have a conversation and they come together in good faith and certainly he always supports in this particular journalist to make sure they get a fair share here. Peak gang up on the cabinet meetings does the president have confidence into the secretary . He has confidence that she will get through and as you can imagine that she has the support of this administration to get her through and confirmed. She will be in attendance tomorrow. As you know shes been acting secretary of the department of labor, and we have confidence and we will do everything we can to make sure that she actually becomes secretary. What is he help doing to speed the process of . As you heard me say many times, she was confirmed, supported as the deputy secretary at labor by all Senate Democrats that occurred the first time she went through this process and it has garnered the support of businesses, labor, several organizations across the spectrum. If you think about the executive director of the port of los angeles recently wrote that julie is a consensus builder whose impact has played out in real time throughout the supply Chain Industry and for these reasons among others, no one is better suited nor Better Qualified than julie for the job of the secretary of labor, so this is a full court press to get julie confirmed out of side groups continue to also pushed her forward and certainly she will get the support from the white house as well and from this president is so we are confident and we will continue moving forward. Does the president feel after the debt ceiling negotiations he has a little [inaudible] if you look at the last two years at what this president has been able to do, the bill he signed into law just a couple of days ago, the budget negotiations agreement that was number 350 bipartisan piece of legislation so hes able to get that done. People said he would not be able to get that done which is bringing both sides together. Hes worked with democrats across the ideological spectrum over the past two years as well to get things done. You talk about the inflation reduction act, that is something that the senator theater that through and something the president worked very closely with him on talking about the American Rescue plan theres been many times where youve seen democrats come together to deliver for the American People and lets not forget the bipartisanship that this president and his leadership has been able to do so yes he believes we can continue to get things done and theres a long list of legislative agenda that he wants to see done as i just mentioned gun reform is one of them and as mentioned, reproductive rights is another and many other ways he believes we can continue to deliver for the American People. Go ahead. The National Retail federation [inaudible] are you concerned the problem there could actually exacerbate . Certainly we are monitoring these discussions with this situation very closely and we will continue to monitor. Thats what weve been doing. The way that we see this is we know that the parties who are negotiating as we know negotiations are very hard and weve talked about it many times hear the last couple of weeks but theyve overcome some major sticking points and continue to address those difficult issues right now. But what we see is the best way to move forward is where both sides are for all sides to continue to work to come to the table and come to a solution so that is what we are going to continue to encourage all parties to work in good faith toward a mutually beneficial resolution that ensures that workers get the fair benefits and quality of life and wages that they deserve and thats what we believe we will continue to be very vocal about. The latest flight of migrants i understand the white house is investigating where the flight originated and rather who paid for the flight to go. Are you in close touch and do you have any initial findings . We are in touch with state officials on the issue that you just laid out. As you mentioned, there is an investigation currently happening. And so certainly we will refer you to them on any specifics of the outcome of what they are looking at. So ive said many times from here repeatedly from this podium that flying migrants around the country without any coordination with the federal government, we talked about this, state or local officials as well is dangerous and unacceptable and will continue to be very clear about that. Its dangerous and unacceptable because you are putting peoples lives at risk and its dangerous and unacceptable because you are actually putting a lot of pressure on the states and local areas and so again we are in touch with state officials to offer any assistance that they might need but i would refer you to them on any specifics on the investigation. The results theres a bit more been the president and Speaker Mccarthy so im wondering is that an opportunity for Bipartisan Legislation Going Forward and what is next on the administrations legislative agenda. Under this president theres been about 350 pieces of Bipartisan Legislation the president has signed into law. Many of those prehistoric pieces of legislation. When you think of the bipartisan infrastructure act all these pieces of the legislation creates good paying jobs, lower cost for healthcare costs for americans, Lower Energy Costs for americans, the chips in the science act we talk about manufacturing jobs, creating manufacturing jobs in the country. So, look at these are all important things and issues that the president wants to continue to work on to continue to implement and i talked about the gun reform. We believe that there is a common sense approach that we can move forward with reproductive rights and we believe that this is something that we need to continue to work very hard towards making sure that the wealthy pay their fair share as well and not just leave it on the little guy and so we are going to continue to work on an economy that works for everyone. But making sure that we build it from the bottom up and at the middle out. Those are things the president needs to continue to work towards. So there are places that we see that can be a bipartisanship. If we are serious about the deficit and about making sure that we reduce the deficit, the president put forth a budget plan march 9th on how we can reduce the deficit by 3 trillion in the next ten years. So there are ways we believe that we can move forward here with congress. Any plans for the president and speaker to meet in a setting . No plans yet. Second during a town hall it was suggested that allowing transgender girls in the female locker room is driving us [inaudible] wonder if you have any comment. Look, im not going to go beyond what weve talked about when it comes to the department Departmentof Education and to ts president as it relates to that particular issue but i think more broadly what we have seen from republicans just across the country as it relates to transgender youth and lgbtq i plus community we have seen more than 600 bills. Many of those are targeted out of transgender youth and that is something the president will continue to speak out against. Its appalling what we are seeing, the hate, the attacks on this community. As of the president is going to be very clear that he supports the community. This is pride month as you know. Hes going to continue to lift up the community and all their accomplishments and celebrate them and so i will just leave it there for now. He also refused to answer a question about a bill for the abortion ban saying that the administration has not yet signed bills allowing abortions during 38, 39 weeks. Can you give us the sort of correct position of the administration in terms of what kind if any kind of restrictions i didnt watch this town hall so i cant speak to exactly what was said. I can speak to with the president has said which is that he will continue to call on congress to restore roe v wade is so if you know the particulars you will see where the president stands and i will leave it there for now. She also said that a vote for President Biden is a vote for Vice President harris. What do you say to anyone who is questioning whether the president would survive a full year term . Im not going to comment on 2024, shes a candidate so im going to be very careful here and we do follow the hatch act, so i want to be very mindful here. This is a president if you look at his track record, and im saying this more broadly if you look at what he is unable to do, he has been able to push forward and get it done historic pieces of legislation. Hes gotten more done than any other president when you think about the infrastructure legislation, when you think about the last president , it was a joke. We talked about infrastructure and it was a joke. Now you hear this president talking about infrastructure and when you think about being for medicare being able to negotiate and lower cost for americans, that matters to the American People. When you think about actually creating jobs, good paying jobs, which is part of this president s economic policy, that matters to the American People. The president literally was just able to get done a bipartisan agreement on the budget, which many people didnt think he would be able to get done and this president was able to get it done so look, this is the president has been attacked during 2020 where people said hes not going to win, hes not able to get it done. There is no way hes going to be the next president and he made it happen. In 2022, the same thing. Theres going to be a red wave. Its not going to happen, democrats are in trouble and look what happened. Because of what he was able to go and do and make sure there was a message out there that americans can see what he is unable to do and democrats were able to do, he really has one of the best midterm outcomes for a new democratic president in 60 years so look, i will leave you with a quote. Here is something that i think was said a couple of days ago a huffingtonpost headline after calling joe biden senile, republicans complain he outsmarted them and i will leave it there. There are arguments being made that a vote for joe biden is a vote for Vice President harris. Does the white house see those attacks and frankly comments on democrats concerns about that as sexist, racist, politically . Have to be careful, 2024, not going to speak to it from here. What i can speak to and will say more broadly is the Vice President has been a partner. Youve heard him say that multiple times. When it comes to difficult decisions, important decisions that matter to the American People, this is something that, those are issue was the president has talked to with the Vice President. So youve heard him say that and youve seen her do that out there on the road or whether its even here speaking to different issues that are incredibly important to the American People, so i will leave it there but not going to go into the tit for tat what does this mean, what is this outcome going to be. I will speak to what i know here in this white house and how theyve worked very closely to get all the things i just laid out on behalf of the American People. The chairman of the House Oversight Committee Says to hold the fbi director and contempt for withholding documents about some uncorroborated allegations when the president was vice Vice President. Is there a comment on the continued focus . I would have to refer you to the fbi. Theyve put out a statement on this and i would refer you to them. I wanted to ask the pros pentagon announced they would no longer host [inaudible] did the president or the white house consult on this or give any response to what was announced to try to celebrate pride month . That was a dod decision so certainly i would refer you to them and say a couple of things here. I want to start by saying that this is a president serving in the nations military and the contributions during pride with federal agencies including at the department of defense and also as the secretary said last week as well in his statement, and i will quote him, who you love or how you identify has nothing to do with how bravely you fight for the country so again they make these decisions. The dod makes these decisions independently so i would have to defer you to them on any specific questions. So the president says we are in a competition with china. Are we winning the competition . I would point you to the 800,000 manufacturing jobs created and the chips and science act that was bipartisan that the president was able to get done to make sure that we bring back jobs and i will point you to ask you always ask me about our economy and how its growing more than 13 million jobs are created at a record low and so the president has done the work to make sure that we bring those jobs back. Youve seen the investment. We talk about investing in america and the president is able to talk about that and go around the country laying that out because of what weve been able to do with historic pieces of legislation to prove that point that i am making. But we feel like he is we are in a place where we are we have created an economy that the president hopes will work for everyone that we dont leave anyone behind he and we create a good paying jobs and have manufacturing come back to america. We see that, we see those investments and companies saying they are willing to invest and created jobs into the 800,000 manufacturing jobs out of the 13 million that this president was able to create in just two years. Thats historical. No other president has been able to even in four years and so yes we are going to continue to be competitive and i think that is critically important to the American People and how we see the economy moving forward. Thanks everybody. See you tomorrow [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, whicisesponsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicaprg led tuesday on cspan networks at 10 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan, the house convenes for morning deba. At noon members consider legislation to prohibith Consumer Product Safety Commission from bni gas stoves. On cspan2, a House Committee overhears a hearing on staffing the border. At 10 00 a. M. On cspan3, a hearinonhe value of am radio. 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