Thank you for listening to Pictures Media Radio. Welcome to Policy and Rights,
the show about the government, policy and human rights. All right, welcome
back to Policy and Rights here at Depictions Media Radio. I'm your host,
Michael Cloggs. So in this next segment, we're going to hear from the
White House as we see that things are ramping up with the US presidential primaries
this November. They will have selected the actual party candidates for who is actually
going to run in the race for the presidency. And we're seeing a number
of primaries popping up, but the big ones are going to actually happen.
The big push is actually going to happen in November where everything will be finalized
to see who is going to be the Democratic candidate and who is going to
be the Republican of the Republican candidate. The In this press briefing, we're
going to hear a number of things about Haiti and the Haitian Prime minister and
maybe it is time for Haiti to step up and do elections themselves with a
new prime minister. We're also going to hear about a naval attack that happened
recently and who is responsible for and what it is they may have been trying
to achieve. According to the White House, along with that a large part
of what we're going to be hearing and as it's going to be leading into
a State of the Union address where President Biden is going to actually address a
number of people, and he invited a few delegates from the Ukraine and the
Russian Federation and they all follow the same theme of they are one women leaders
in those countries, and those also the wife of of of of of Vivaldi,
who who has recently been widowed and trying to show support to the countries
and the opposition against Vladimir Putin. President Selenski's wife was also invited and again
trying to show support for against uh Vladimir Putin and what he he is trying
to do in that region. So there's gonna be some other things there that
are gonna be talked about during the press briefing, but rest assured that the
crux of what is gonna be talked about in the State of you need to
address is not really going to be part of it. There is going to
be some questions asked about President Biden's age and his effectiveness, and they're gonna
kinda kind of shoot that down with the idea of the people want someone like
President Biden in office, and the bulk of the people aren't really don't really
want to go back down the road the f the four years that UH Donald
Trump offered the first time around, and that they want the United States to
be open to the world and to be a active part of how our world
is is forming and the things in a part of how our world is is
handling the issues. They want the United States to be part of that.
So it's gonna be kind of interesting to to see who actually wins the primary
in November. As here in Canada we're gonna be headed towards an election.
Also with well we could be seeing seeing something some something new happening here in
Canada, also with the Prime Minister wise and also here in British Columbia we
could be looking at it also looking at an election situation with a new premiere
and the UH and the n d P taking a back seat instead of a
front seat in the government. So why don't we move on listening to what
happened on the White House press floor and what was actually talked about. All
right, everybody, good afternoon, I have I think one thing for you
at the top, and then we'll get started. So before we get started,
I wanted to preview what to expect tomorrow night with President Bying delivers his
third State of the Union. You will hear the President lay out the historic
achievements he is delivered on on for the American people and his vision for the
future. Looking at what President Biden faced when he came into office and where
we are now, it is clear he's gotten more done in the first three
years than most presidents have accomplished in two terms. He will talk about the
success in implementing his agenda, from infrastructure to chips, to lowering drug prices
and getting rid of junk fies as you heard him speak to yesterday with his
Competition Council. He will talk about whose side he is on and his plan
to improve the lives of all Americans. That includes lowering costs for Americans and
giving people more breathing room, lowering healthcare premiums, and taking on big farmer
to lower the cost of prescription drugs, making the wealthy and corporations pay their
fair share in taxes, saving our democracy, and protecting our democratic institutions.
Protecting women's reproductive health in the face of relentless attacks from Republican elected officials,
making progress on his Unity agenda, and in cancer as we know it,
delivering on the sacred obligation to veterans, tackling the mental health crisis, and
beating the opioid and overdose pandemic. We will have more to share tomorrow,
but fundamentally, the President will outline an agenda that is about continuing to build
on the progress that we've made over the last three years. The President has
always been an optimistic person, as you all know, and even in the
face of challenges that we have in front of us, he will share why
he is hopeful about this country's future and why it is a mistake, it
is a mistake to bet against the American people with that something on a media
for image sure so. Earlier today, Ambassador Lynda Thomas green Bill said that
the US has asked the Prime Minister to quote move forward in a political process
that will lead to the establishment of a presidential Transitional Council that will lead to
elect So I just want to clarify, does that mean a resignation. Did
the US government ask him to resign directly. So a couple of things we
are not We are definitely not pushing prime the Prime minister to resign, that
is not what we're doing. But we have underscored that now is the time
to finalize a political core to help set Haiti on a path to a better
future, and that is something that we've been working on for some time.
We've been working that on that with the CARACOM, so that is nothing new.
We've had those conversations and also the Haitian partners on the paths who restoring
democratic order in Haiti through free and fair elections, inclusive governance and power sharing.
This will give the people an opportunity to democratically elect their prime minister.
Again, this has been a conversation that we've had with Haitian partners, CARACOM
with some from some time now, So that is not new, And we
certainly are not pushing him to resign, even though you're not directly calling on
him to resign. Can you just discuss the timing of why you're encouraging of
this transitional government now, and also because obviously the White House has long resisted
specifically pushing for his resignation, even if you aren't doing it now. So
can you just talk about the timing of this encouragement of why you're doing everything
the way you are right, we're not pushing is that you just stated in
your question for the Prime Minister to resign. This has been a long time
conversation that we have had with our Haitian partners with care Com on making sure
that there was a path to restoring democratic order. So that has been consistent
with what we've been trying to do for some time now, and we believe,
you know it is the Haitian people. They need to have an opportunity
to democratically elect their prime minister and so there needs to be a plan in
place obviously to do that, and so that's what we're encouraging. But we've
been having these conversations for some time now, and one domestic matter. Back
in February of twenty twenty one, President Biden said Donald Trump should not be
given the traditional intelligence free things that were into former presidents because quote, what
value is giving him an intelligence briefing? What impact does he have at all
other than the fact that he might slip and say something. Does the President
still feel that way now now that Donald Trump is on the way to becoming
the parties, the Republican Party's nominee and would be entitled to the briefings that
a president a party candidate would get. I think the President's word stand today
as he say to them, however long ago. I don't think his mind
has changed on that. I just don't have anything to add block him from
getting these brief banks later this year. I don't have anything to add,
but the President was very clear about how he felt about that, and I
would say those those comments certainly do stand today, esme. Thanks Green.
Can you confirm that the White House invited the Ukraine's first Lady to the State
of the Union, but that she declined to attend. So the White House
did invite missus Zelenska to the State of the Union, she was unable to
attend. I would refer you to Ukraine as to her reasoning why, but
she did. Indeed, she did indeed receive an invitation from US, also
an invite that went on to Nivoli's wife. Can you talk a bit about
how the president may address foreign policy issues. Of course, he's going to
be speaking to Republicans, many of them. Do you know he wants to
convince to that we're funding to Ukraine. So look, I'm going to be
really mindful and not get ahead of the President on his State of the Union
remarks. So not going to lay that out and how he's going to address
Republicans as you mentioned, who will be in front of him. But you
know the president as it relates to certainly Ukraine, the President's going to continue
to make his case that House Republicans need to move forward. The Speaker needs
to put the National Security Supplemental on the on the floor. We know that
it would get overwhelming support. And also it's also about our national security,
our own national security, and so we can't let politics get in the way
of our national security. So the President's going to make that clear, and
I'll just leave it to the President as he would say, stay tuned,
stay tuned for tis clear, he'd make those points clear out the State of
the Union. He's going to continue to make that case clear. You asked
me how he's going to do that or or lay that out tomorrow in the
State of the Union. I just don't want to get into get ahead of
the president. But our message continues right as it relates to National Security Supplemental
Obviously the Ukraine aid is included in that. Someone also invited So so I
talked about this yesterdays. Missus Navawney was indeed invited personally by the president.
She was not able to attend. I would refer you obviously to her to
explain why. But yes, she was missile strike it hit. It was
only about two hundred feet away from President Zelenski, that's according to one of
our sources. And a source close to Zelenski tells US that they believe Zelenski
was the intended target. Is the US looking into that strike? Do they
believe that Zelensky wasn't the intended target? So I can't speak to what they
were targeting. That's not something that I can speak to. But it appears
that it landed near as you just said, the convoy. And I think
Russia's actions speak for themselves here, but I just can't. I can't speak
for their their Exactay Korean, do you have any reaction to the sailors that
were quidly killed in a hoo the attack. So let me say a couple
of things about that that happened earlier today. So today the Huthi have killed
innocent civilians by continuing their reckless attacks against international commercial shipping, which impacts countries
throughout the world. The ship they attacked was a Barbados flagged, Liberian owned
bulk carrier. It was not a US ship. Contrary to what the Houthis
claimed. These reckless attacks by the Iran backed hou This have not only disrupted
global trade and commerce, but also taking the lives of international seafarers simply doing
their jobs. We offer our condolences, obviously to the families of those who
lost their lives, and again condemned the Hoothies for these attacks, and we
will call on governments around the world to do the same and join us in
bringing to a halt these appalling attacks. Thanks. And then one more on
Haiti. We understand that the Prime Minister Ree is located in the United States
Puerto Rico. Could you talk a little bit about what his status is there
and what the United States is doing as far as his travel logistics. So
I cannot speak to the Prime Minister's travel. He would have to speak to
himself. I just cannot speak to that, okay. And then should we
expect any policy like detailed policy roll out associated with state of the Union tomorrow.
I don't have anything to share at this time the president. I'm not
going to get ahead of the president certainly, as you would say, stay
too, stay two. Okay, you agreed. Did the President have any
reaction to Dean Phillips suspending his presidential campaign? I don't have any reaction.
I would I have to refer you to the campaign. Can you tell us
generally whether you know, if the President thinks there's you know, legitimacy behind
some of the main reasons that Phillips decided to run for a president. Concerns
about the president's age, concerns that he is a punal general election candidate is
not something you've ever spoke spoken to him about. So going to be really
careful. We're talking about it uncoming election and obviously in November, So going
to be really mindful. Look, this is why I think the State of
the Union is going to be really important. The President's going to lay out
what he has done the last three years, the successes that he's had,
historic successes that he's had. He's going to speak to how he sees the
future, the future for this country on behalf of the American people. I
think that's going to be important. And I would say this as it relates
to part of your question. The President has been very clear. He's been
very honest about his age. He knows that he makes jokes about it,
right, he makes jokes about his friend Jimmy Madison, Right, he gets
that. But this is also a president that has gotten done more in the
last three years than most presidents have in their two terms of presidency. And
that is what we've seen from the data, and a lot of that is
because of his experience. His experience matter. His experience has thirty six years
as a senator, eight years as vice president, and now into his first
term as president. It has shown that he can get things done. We
see that with the economy. We see that what he's trying to do with
lowering costs, we see what he's trying to do with lowing health care cost
and a lot of historic pieces of legislation that was done at are now law.
Obviously that was done in a bipartisan way, and that's because of the
president's experience, and I think that matters. And I'm just going to let
the President speak more to his future, his vision, what he sees for
this country tomorrow night. I'm just a quick question on the state of the
Union. You know, there was obviously a universe where a ceasefire and hostages
deal was reached before the State of the Union. It seems increasingly clear that
that's not going to happen in the next thirty six hours. So given that,
can you give us a little bit of insight in to how the President
has been working to draft a speech that addresses and speaks to just the anger
and frustration that a lot of people are feeling about the fact that he is
not willing so far to call for a permanencease fire. So look, as
you've heard the President call for a ceasefire period of time, a pause where
there's a period of time where obviously the fighting stops, right and with that
is a hostage deal where we can get these hostages back home to their family
and their loved ones. Let's not forget the hostages include about six Americans,
and so that's incredibly important. At the same time, let's not forget getting
that all important humanitarian aid into Gaza to the Palestinian people, and so that
is important. That is a first step that we need to get to.
The President's going to continue to continue to work on this, as he has
been for the past several weeks, for the past several months along with his
team. So we are steadfast focused on that. That is not going to
change just because a State of the Union tomorrow. And so the President is
going to be optimistic. He is as it relates to his speech. Look,
these speeches are all of them, you know, they take massive undertaking,
right, They take a lot of work and to actually meet the moment
of where we are as a country and also lay out the future for this
country. So not going to get into specifics as to how he's working through
that, you'll hear it from him directly. But the President certainly is going
to meet the moment where we are as a country, lay out the progress
that we've seen in the last three years, and not just that, how
do we build on that progress? Do you have to know? What about
the speech writing process this time around, the President has found the most challenging.
Look, this is his third State of the Union address. As you
know, this is going to be, as you can imagine, a very
important, important, as he sees in a conversation that he'll have with the
American people, millions of people are going to be watching and so it's not
just about the people who are the elected officials who are in front of him.
And so you know, I would say this, I would say this
is certainly a continuation of those conversations that he has with the American people when
he goes out, When he goes out and travels on the road, right,
he hears directly from them. He hears what they are dealing with,
He heals, he deals with what their family is dealing with. And so
it's built on that, It's built on those conversations, that experience that he
has and knowing and having his finger on the pulse is certainly about what the
American people have been going through these past three years. Going to be again,
going to be really mindful and not going to dive into his thought process.
I think when he delivers his speech tomorrow night, you'll get a good
sense of where the president is and how he sees where we are at this
country, the state of the Union. Obviously, hence the opportunity that he
has tomorrow. And so I'll just leave it at that. Yeah. Thanks.
After Nicki Haley withdrew this morning from the Republican presidential primary, President Biden
issued a statement and a direct appeal to her voters. Does President Biden plan
to reach out to Nicky Haley at some point and has it yet or has
he go that's for the campaign to speak to. I don't have anything on
that for you. Good Yesterday, I believe Jake Sullivan announced that the administration
backs a bipartisan bill that would lead to the banning of TikTok. Does Jake's
views represent the views of the rest of the White House. So just a
couple of things, and I'll get to your comment about the banning, but
I do want to say a couple of things at the top. The Administration
has worked with members of Congress from both parties to pursue a durable legislative solution
that would address the threat pose by certain technology services operating in the United States
that put at risk Americans personal information and broader national security. And so what
we see is this bill is important. We welcome this step on ongoing efforts
to deal with that, to address that, and we appreciate the bipartisan work.
I think that's important that this was done in a bipartisan way, and
so we look forward to working with Congress. Obviously, we provided technical assistance
as we normally do when pieces of legislations are like this are being put together.
But I would have to say, you know, we don't see this
as banning these apps. That's not what this is. But by ensuring that
their ownership isn't in the hands of those who may do us are harmed.
This is about our national security, obviously, and this is what we're focused
on here. And the President would sign the bill. I mean, the
bill explicitly gives the administration the authority to ban the apps if those ownership questions
aren't resolved, and the President would sign it, right, So we welcome
the bill. We obviously are working with them, and we think we're too
quickly act urging Congress to act quickly to send it to the president's And that's
what I was going to say. We welcome it obviously, we've been working
with them on it, and we would want to see this bill get done
so it can get to the president's desk. Final question, is the President
planning on talking to TikTok influencers on Friday after the State of the Union about
his speech. That's a good question. I don't have anything for you on
that. On his schedule for tomorrow. Once we do, we certainly will
share that good Friday for Friday, pardon me for Friday, as you know
he's going to be on the road on Friday. I don't have it,
and if he does, you wouldn't see any contradiction between the fact that the
president would be using a technology that he's urging Congress to. Here's the thing,
and I've been asked this question multiple times about TikTok and our use of
TikTok as it relates to the campaign. I know the campaign has created a
TikTok account. I would let them speak to that. That is their strategy.
Would let them speak to that. And we've said this before. We
are going to try to meet the American people where they are. We are.
I mean, we're trying to reach everyone. The president is a president
for all Americans, and so that's what we're trying to do. There doesn't
it's a dangerous plans, but it does. It doesn't mean that we're going
to try to figure out how to protect our national security, right. That's
what we're doing here. That's what you see in this bipartisan legislation that's being
moved forward that you heard from Jake about that you heard that you're hearing from
me about doesn't mean that we don't do the work to make sure that we
protect Americans. And that's what we're going to do here. Good time.
Thanks for my Kige reported that US officials told members of Congress and a recent
classified briefing that the US has quietly approved and delivered more than one hundred separate
foreign military sales to Israel since because the war began on October seven. I'm
wondering if the administration has has any comment on on just the scale of the
amount of or the White Houses any comment on the scale of the amount of
that's going to comment on that is that there should be more transparence here.
I'm just not I'm not going to comment on a reporting and what you've heard.
I'm just not going to comment on that. Joy. Thanks Green.
Just one more point of clarification on the TikTok stance. Are you saying that
President Biden would sign the bill in its current form? Because the NSC statement
said that you want to work with members of Congress and put on stronger legal
footing, So it sounds like he would not sign it in its current form.
We need it to be worked on right, as we have stated,
welcome the steps that they've taken. Obviously still need some work. Obviously we're
providing technical support and once it gets to a place where we think, to
your point, it's on legal standing and it's in a place where it can
get out of the Congress, then the President would sign it. But it
needs we need to continue to work on it. Obviously, one more on
the booty attack. Can you say if the US is readjusting its military strategy
against these in response to this deadly incident? Is the US going to step
up attacks on hoothy positions and the end responsible. So, look, the
US obviously is going to continue to take action, and we believe that and
I'm not going to get into national security here, we believe that we have
seen, we have been able to degrade their capabilities in the actions that we've
taken over the past several week, several months, and so that's that's been
very clear in our assessment. But this is not just our problem. Obviously,
this is an international one. So we are working in a multi multinational
coalition to deal with what we're seeing currently by the HOUTHIS. And so,
look, this is something that we're going to continue to do. We're going
to continue to take action, and that's what you have seen this administration do
over the past several weeks. Continue on the Houthis, Yeah, why is
the US Navy having so little effect on stopping these kinds of attacks from happens?
So, as I was answering the question to Jordan a second ago,
I'm not going to get into specific intelligence here, but broadly speaking, broadly,
we know that the strikes have indeed impacted on degrading their capabilities, and
that's important. We have taken out significant amount of Hooty weapons and our military
is regularly destroying Hooty missile and when they're being loaded and prepared to launch,
but before they can actually be fired at commercial ships. So that's what we've
been able to do. So we will continue to act as needed to degrade
the hoo these capabilities. And this is a process. This is a process.
Here is the US still hold it run responsible for these attacks? It's
it hasn't changed our our stance on that has not changed what happened. If
the Houthi city US naval ship. You've seen us, You've seen US respond
when you saw three military members were killed not too long ago. You saw
our response, So we are the President's is also the commander in chief,
as you know, and he understands that responsibility. And just to find up
one thing on Haiti about the Prime Minister being in Puerto Rico, just through
clarifyed he's there on his own volition or is the United States providing aidan cover?
So we are not providing any assistance to help the Prime Minister certainly return
to Haiti. We're not going to speak to his travel. That is something
for him to speak to you. He's just enjoying the science. That's for
him. That's one way to put it. That's for him to speak to
Is the President preparing for hecklers during the State of the Union? Look,
you saw the President last year when when some Republican members behaved in a way
that was I would say disrespectful, and he handled that and that he did
that on his own and he held them to account as it related to important
programs that matter to the American people, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid.
He called them out on it as they were obviously heckling at him. And
so the President's ready for anything. He's ready for anything as you saw him
literally do that last last year, and you know it was it was something
to watch. You all reported on that speech preparations as the drive. Look,
the President, I mean, the President knows how to handle this stuff.
I mean again, he did it literally last February of twenty twenty three,
and nobody was expecting that. Nobody was expecting that, and he took
them on and laid out and fought for the American people on programs that matter
to them. And so you know, he got this. The President's got
this. Given that House Speaker Mike Johnson has invited and is hosting the parents
that Evan Gerskovich, what is the Right House's reaction to that? Given his
role installing the National Security Bill, do you think think about his invitation to
Grotzkrovitch's parents as it relates to the National Security supplemental and the Speaker refusing to
put it on the floor so that it can get overwhelming supports, as we
know it's going to get and it will work towards our national security right protect
the American people national security. That's how we feel the Speaker should actually put
the bill on the floor. That we know Republicans are going to vote for
it. Obviously Democrats are going to vote for it overwhelming support. If he
cares about our national security and put politics aside, he should do that.
I asked because the White House has said before that the Speaker by stalling the
National Security Bill, he's giving aid to Russia. And now he's invited.
I mean, that's that still stands. I mean, you know, I
was just asked by one of your colleagues about the convoy right where President Zelinsky
was and the attack that happened near his convoy. We know what Russia is
up to. We've seen what has been happening on the battlefield over the past
several weeks because of Congress is in action and so we've been really clear.
When the four of the Big four were here just last week, the CIA
director was in the room and he laid out the dire consequences for Ukraine.
Look, we have to stand up for just like the brave Ukrainians are standing
up for democracy, we have to do the same. It also speaks to
our own national security. So the Speaker needs to put that National Securities Supplemental
on the floor and let it get that overwhelming support by personal support. That
we know that it's going to get finally, just to button something up on
Haiti. Yesterday, Admiral Kirby said that it was a simplistic explanation that there
was money being held up when it comes to this multinational security force, that
Republicans were holding up some of this money. He said that there are other
reasons for it. But I'll ask the question more bluntly, do you blame
Republicans for holding up critical money for Haiti? So let's not forget what we're
providing to Haiti is emergency really important emergency needs right when we think about food,
healthcare, clean water and other forms of critical assistance through UN and ANGEO
partners to help people in need across Haiti. And so what we are seeing
and what everyone is actually realizing, is that the deteriorating situation in Haiti has
required organizations to adjust their posture and at times prevented aid from reaching people in
need. And that is because of what we're seeing obviously on the ground.
And so we're gonna humanitarian partners are going to continue to provide the assistance and
miss the current security breakdown obviously the best way that they can. But as
we know there's a digger situation on the ground. It has made it very
difficult to get that aid. And we have said this before. The US
government has been leading in providing aid to the Haitian people. Want to State
of the Union tomorrow. How much of it can we expect to be forward
looking, potentially presenting a vision for the second term versus going over kind of
the accomplishments of the first. So I don't have a formula to read out
to you right now. What I can say is he's going to take a
look back, as I said at the top, look at the achievements and
the successes that we have had the last three years, and also speak to
how we're going to continue to build on those successes and fight for the Chips
Act, fight for the in fracture in sorry Inflation Reduction Act, which is
as we know, at least as it relates to the Inflation Reduction Act,
Republicans have tried to claw back, and these are important pieces of legislation that
we need to continue to implement and protect. So you're going to hear him
talk about that. I've talked about other things that the President wants to focus
on, lowing costs, fighting for our democracy, fighting for reproductive rights.
So he's going to talk about that, talk about the future, talk about
his vision for the American people. He's an optimistic guy, as we know.
But I don't have a formulation on percentages or how that's going to be
divvied up. But that's what you can expect to hear from the President and
the administration still debating taking executive action on immigration. I mean, we've been
clear about this. The bottom line is the best way to have moved forward
on dealing with immigration, dealing with the border challenges that we're seeing, was
for Republicans to have gotten out of the way, let the former president tell
them what to do, and actually move forward with a bipartisan proposal that came
out of the Senate. That would have been the toughest, the fairest way
to have moved forward with dealing with our immigration as it relates as it relates
to an executive action that we believe that's the best way to do that.
No executive action would have been able to have the impact that bipartisan proposal would
have had. We're always going to look at and evaluate everything, but we
just have not made a decision on that is there a timeline for when that
decision will be made. Don't have a timeline for you. Again, the
best way to move forward to deal with this broken immigration system that has been
broken for decades. The best way to move forward with the challenges at the
border is to get this bipartisan bipartisan proposal move forward again, not it.
Thank you, Kerrien. Since you don't have a comment on the Washington Post
story, I hope you have an answer for my question. A group of
House Democrats sent a letter to the President saying basically that and israel invasion of
Rapha will be in violation of US law and international loan it comes to weapon
sells to Israel. So do you think that Israel has been abiding by the
US law despite the fact that seventy percent of the people who being killed as
women and children. So I've heard about the reporting of the letter, so
I don't want to I haven't seen the letters, sort can't speak speak specifically
to it. No, let me, but I'll give you an answer that
I think we'll address your question. So look, as you all know our
support, we have supported Israel as they defend themselves against hamas a terrorist organization.
As you know that has been the policy here. We also continue to
urge Israel to do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties. And even as Hamas
has embedded let's not forget they've embedded and I know you know this itself among
civilian population. That is something that they have done. As we have said,
there have been far too many civilians who have been killed in this conflict.
It's far too many. And the President understands that, the Vice President
understands that, this entire administration understands that, and there's not enough humanitarian aid
getting in. We need to increase humanitarian aid. And you've heard that again
from the President, you've heard that from the Vice President. And so that's
why we're working so hard to get that hostage deal, as we know that
would lead to a ceasefire where the fighting would stop. We can get those
hostages home to their families. We can get that all needed humanitarian aid to
the people of the people in Gaza which need it, obviously need that critical
aid. And we're continuing to do what we can. Right the air drops
that were successful, we announced that yesterday. There's more coming from the Department
of Defense. The usaid is in the region providing humanitarian aid. We're working
with our regional partners to get more humanitarian aid in and so we have to
upcreate that obviously, the humanitarian aid. But this deal is so important.
We have to get this deal so we can we can get more aid in,
but not just that. Put a put a post, put a have
a ceasefire in place so that we can actually move forward. Here will the
President meet with the Prime Minister of Sweden tomorrow? He's on his way here.
Will he be I guess the state of the union and will the President
I know you don't want to speak ahead of the speech, but will he
talk about Ukraine and the success of the administration bring in Finland and Sweden in
tondo. So going to be really mindful, you know, not going to
speak to the president's uh speech here in detail uh and so going to be
really mindful. I don't have anything to read out on a meeting there with
the President. I believe this. The Secretary of State is having a meeting
with the Sweden Prime minister. So obviously you can you can reach out to
them, just don't have anything else to share beyond that. Get Danny.
Thanks Karen on Haiti I'm given the dial situation. There is there any consideration
of sending US forces in any way to stabilize things that now, as you
know, there is the Kenyon has agreed to send about two thousand forces there,
so that was recently signed and that's going to move forward. But there
is no plan to bring US forces into Haiti. Okay. Also in Haiti,
earlier, you said that the administration is not pushing Henry to resign.
Are you denying that? Yesterday the administration asked Henry to stand aside for traditional
a transitional government and an interim prime minister. What I can say is we're
not pushing the prime minister to resign. We're just not Now have we been
working with Krakom, Have we been working with our Haitian partners to put forth
a plan to figure out how do we move forward and restoring restoring democratic order
in Haiti through free and fair elections. That is a conversation that we've had.
But you're not pushing the prime minister out to resign. Asked him to
stand aside, We are not pushing I think I just answered that question.
We are not pushing him to resign. Okay, thank you, Cream New
topic. I wonder what it is. Has President Biden called to congratulate Jason
Palmer. We congratulate Jason Palmer on his whim last night. Okay, now
that the field is down to two, is President Biden going to commit to
a debate with Donald Trump? That's something for the campaign to speak to.
We know when the debates are going to be, we know where they're going
to be. Is he going to go? You should speak to the campaign
in twenty twenty once he got down to one on one, Joe Biden said,
I can hardly wait to debate him. How about now, I'm gonna
sound like a broken record. You should reach out to the campaign. Why
is this a campaign thing? Because it's an election. It's a debate for
the twenty twenty four presidential election. I'm not asking what argument he is going
to make at a debate. I'm just at it's not we're not talking about
arguments. You're talking about his attendance. You're able to talk to the campaign
about these polls concerning the president's age and his acuity. Do you think that
it is going to quiet concerns about the president's age and acuity if he decides
not to debate. What I can say about that is not talking about the
debate. That's something for the campaign to speak to. Not going to speak
about that. To your question about age, I think I sort of answer
that. I think you know, you're going to see the State of the
Union tomorrow. You're going to hear the president lay out his plans. You're
going to hear the president a president who has had a successful three years of
progress. Still a lot more work to be done, but a progress nonetheless,
in how he's going to be on that BLUs You did you did you
say something, you know, some fun here on Wednesday afternoon, But he
wouldn't have been able to get all seriousness. You know, you saw the
graphics behind me. You saw what the president has been able to do.
Fourteen point eight million jobs, unemployment under four percent, continuing to find ways
to lower cost We saw that when he made the announcement on junk fees.
He saw what he's been able to do for the American people internationally as well,
protecting our national security, being a leader as we're trying to fight a
dictator, as Ukraine is fighting a dictator that is mister Putin. And this
is because of the president's leadership. It really is. I mean, thirty
six years in the Senate, eight years as Vice president, that counts for
something, that counts for experience, that counts for having these relationships, that
counts for knowing how to get things done. And the president wants to build
on that. He does. And not only that, when people were saying
he couldn't get things done in a bipartisan way, he was able to do
that. Infrastructure it was a punchline in the last administration. It was a
joke. Now we actually have an infrastructure decade. You think about what we
have been able to do for our veterans in the Pacat really help our veterans.
Think about the Chips and Science Act, which is bringing home manufacturings.
Eight hundred thousand jobs have been created. This is what the President's been able
to do. And guess what that's because of his experience. And so just
for clarity, it's possible that there will be no Joe Biden. Donald Trump
debates, is that what you is that? Is that what you're excited about?
Is that what you want to see? Because you keep asking three,
four or five different times in different ways, and I have an upset in
a debate. I'm not asking a question about a specific debate. I'm just
asking how you literally saw just last year, back in January twenty twenty three,
at the last State of the Union take on Republicans during giving a major
speech. He took them on as they were heckling him. He took him
on and said he was going to fight for programs. Essentially said he was
fighting for programs that the American people needed, Social Security, Medicare, and
Medicaid. He stood there and fought for the American people. I mean,
that was pretty impressive. Some of you all reported on that. Okay,
I'm going to keep going. Go ahead, phil In it back. Thank
you. Victoria Newlan, the third third highest ranking US diplomat who's had a
hand in the future of Ukraine for some time, announced that she plans to
step down. How did the President react to news of that resignation and does
he believe you know that she was successful during her timeure of that So,
I have not spoken to the President about this, so I can't give you
an answer directly from the President, and so I'm just going to leave that
there. Obviously, it's an important position. We appreciate her service, is
not easy to serve, as you know, and we appreciate her service.
I just don't want to get into any specifics on that. I don't have
any shares. Then what's the president's reaction to France codifind abortion rights for our
constitution? So we appreciate countries taking a step forward to protect the right for
a woman, a woman to make very difficult decisions on their healthcare. We
appreciate that, and I think that's a good thing to see. And as
it relates to here in this country, the President's going to talk about reproductive
rights and fighting for that. And what we're seeing across the country more than
three hundred bills that were introduced recently on finding ways to prevent women from making
these really important decisions on their bodies. And that should not be that that's
because Roe v. Wade was overturned, which is a law, a law
that was constitution for that was part of the constitution for almost fifty years,
almost fifty years, and that was taken away. We see Republicans putting forth
three national national bands against abortion. That's you know, that's not that's not
what the president's fighting for. He's fighting for the right for a woman to
make a decision on her on her own body. Does he think that the
French prohibition on abortion after fourteen weeks is reasonable? Look, I'm not going
to get into the specifics of that particular bill. What I could say,
it's it's it's always important to see other countries actually take steps to protecting protecting
rights, fundamental rights that women should have. But I'm not going to get
into the specifics of the bill. Good, Karen's great. Can you get
us some insight into the president's State of Union prep sessions at Camp David?
Who is he working with on the speech and what does he do? I
mean, is he writing lines or is he editing what's given to him?
That process like for him? So look, you know, as it released
to Camp David, obviously the camp the President was of Camp David over the
weekend he worked on his speech on the State of the Union speech with his
senior staff, which included Bruce Reid, Anita Dunn, Steve Rochetti, and
Van Van. I ready, uh, this is fairly standard. He was
there last year for the February Stated the Union and I think you know,
even throughout today and tomorrow, he's going to continue to fine tune the speech.
This is something that he is personally involved in. Uh. This is
something that comes straight from having conversations with the American people, as he's had
over the past year leading to this, uh, certainly leading to the process.
And so look, these are these there are massive undertakings, right,
massive undertakers in having having stated the Union that speaks to where we are as
a country and how we're moving forward. And so that's what I'll say any
State of the Union traditions, like is there something he does tomorrow to prepare
for a speech like that? So I don't have anything to share he's going
to be I can say that he's going to be working on the speech throughout
the day, fine tuning the speech. He'll be doing that with his senior
staff, and just you know, it's a major address, it's an important
speech. He's going to be delivering it to millions of Americans who are going
to be tuning in and we appreciate that in front of obviously Congress and guests
of Congress, guests of the President, and it's going to be an incredibly
important moment, and the President takes that very very seriously. Good Karin,
I agree, Federal judge in Texas rule that the Minority of Business Development Agency
presumption that black and brown communities are disadvantage is unconstitutional and enjoy the agency from
distributing his services based on race. Is the White House concern that this ruling
could undo some of the efforts that you've been you've been making to black business
insistence. So look, I'm going to refer you to the DOJ for specific
questions about this particular ruling. But what I can say that the President is
very proud of the bipartisan infrastructure law that made the m MBDA a permanent part
of the federal government. He's very proud of that. It's important. Small
businesses, as you know, are the backbone of our economy, and so
it's vital. It's vital for our entrepreneurs to have the opportunity to start a
business. We've seen a sixteen million applications that was started under this administration over
the past three years, which is important. There was certainly a boost in
what we saw with minority businesses starting their small businesses obviously as filing those applications,
and we think that's really important as it relates to specifics and the way
forward or anything like that as it relates to the ruling, I would have
to refer you to Department of Justices thea there. In twenty twenty, when
the President won in his victory speed, he thanked black voters for their outsize
role in his historic win. He said that he would have their backs.
Obviously, polling and anecdotal reporting shows that significant number of black voters still feel
that the President hasn't completely had their backs or have not felt the impacts of
this administration's policies. How much of this speech does a president see as an
opportunity to lay out what he believes he has done to have the backs of
black Americans. So, look, we understand that it's complicated, right in
the sense of what the American people have gone through the last three years.
We came in. There was a pandemic and there was an economy that was
in a tailspin. So we get it. We get that Americans, some
Americans are trying to still figure out where we are and what's going on and
what this administration has done. This is why the State of the Union is
going to be so critical, so important, because the president gets to lay
that out. It gives a president opportunity to speak to that, and so
that's important. But to your to the beginning of your question about twenty twenty
and the promise that the president has made, he did make a promise and
he has done everything that he can to keep that promise. You think about
voting rights, the first couple of days of this administration, he put forward
in an executive action to do everything that he could on the federal level to
deal with to deal with that issue. So he did that. He took
executive action when Congress could not move on the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
You know that you covered that. He took actions from where he could
from here from the federal government. And so look, there are other ways
that he has taken action, obviously to make sure that communities that have felt
that they've been left behind or not left behind. And you see that in
every for example, every economic policy that he's moved forward with, whether it's
the bipartison infrastructural legislation, whether it's the Inflation Reduction Act that really deals with
making sure that medicare has the ability to fight big pharma right so that many
people in the community who have been paying hundreds of dollars for insulin, for
example. Now seniors are capped by thirty five bucks. These things matter,
These things add up, These things are important, and so he takes that
very seriously. When he walked into the administration, unemployment for the black community,
for example, was over nine percent. Now it's at five percent.
That's because of the work that this administration has taken. Think about the American
Rescue Plan. The Child Tax Credit really cut child poverty in the community by
half. That's because obviously the work that this president has done. That piece
of legislation. Only Democrats voted for it. So the President's taken action.
We understand that it's complicated. It's going to take some time for everyone to
see what this president has been able to do. The state of the Union
is a perfect opportunity, perfect opportunity to lay that out. Okay, Janie
good, thank you. Dady mattia vcation about the UH China and the President
BI don't signed an order of action which to prohibit enemies from scaling American portioner
or governmental information and that there is a list of six countries including China and
the North Korea by kitchen is UH. How is it the investigation into the
Confucius Institute, which is acting as China's intelligence agency processing in the United States.
Gotta so say that one so the President signed, say that one more
time. Regent signed the Order of Action for the enemy still the enemies US
informations, but that there is a h list of six countries including China and
m Lords, Korea or whatever, Iran and the six countries. Yeah,
so how is the investigation into the compitious instead of Lutish which is acting as
china It's intelligence agency processing in the United States and all of the world,
and the Korea also too. Yeah, that's something as it released to any
investigation, that's something that Department of Justice could go into. I'm not going
to go into it from here, all right ahead, God Andrew, thank
you. When the President speaks tomorrow and I you said he's going to talk
about his efforts to bolster democracy, is he going to have a message for
viewer people viewing this in other countries in US allies? Because I'm looking at
some pulling data from the UK says that forty eight percent of British adults see
the West response to Putin and Russia getting worse if the president loses reelection over
half fifty two percent say that if the president knew this reelection the West approach
to climate change, wood Worsen, is he going to try and reassure people
around the world that democracy is strong and project strength that he can win the
election? So going to be careful because you're asking me this question as it
relates to the election and upcoming election is going to be super No. Every
time I say that, really gets a little upset that I say that.
But I'm going to try and answer your question. But I just have to
be super mindful here. I mean, that's this is how it works here.
I'm a federal employee. There's something called the Hatch Act. Gotta be
mindful and so look, I talked about how the present's going to mention the
National Security supplemental and how important it is as certainly because we've seen what's going
on in Ukraine, right And one of the things that we know and we
believe, and this is something that I had mentioned that the CIA directors shared
with the Big Four, is that we see that Ukraine is losing ground in
the battlefield right now, and we believe it's because of Congress's in action,
right, And so it does matter. It does matter if we take action
or not. It does matter that if we get this National Security supplemental done
or not, it does other countries look at what we're doing. The President
has led the way in bringing NATO together, led the way and bringing other
countries fifty countries plus together on making sure that the brave people of Ukraine have
what they need, the security assistance that they need to fight against Russia's aggression.
So, yeah, it does matter, it does matter how we move
forward. I'm not going to get specifics into the president's president's speech. I
think that's important. I got to let the President speak to that. You
heard me at the top talk about the importance of democracy, talking about unifying
the American people. The President thinks that's really important. Protecting our fundamental freedoms
and democracy itself is incredibly important. So look, and let's not forget here
what many Americans have been going through, right, the attacks that they have
seen, the threats that they have seen. So there is an important,
important message that the President wants to send to the American people about that as
well. And so, but to your broader point of your question, does
our actions and how we for example, deal with Ukraine and make sure they
have the assistance that they have the inaction of Congress. Does that matter,
Yes, it matters. I mean Putin continues to move forward, right and
we have seen what the battlefield has looked like for Ukraine. They have lost
ground because Congress had an action. So it does matter, It does matter.
I'm not going to get into specifics as to what the President's going to
say. We're on Haiti. The Haitian Prime Minister is Puerto Rico. Obviously,
yesterday the Vice President's office said that she will be in Puerto Rico later
this month. Any chance that she could be asked to meet with the Prime
minister and perhaps pass a message, Look, you would have to certainly speak
to her office about her travel and where she's going to be. We've been
very clear. We've been very clear dealing with our what our message has been
essentially right, dealing with for some time now with Caracom our Haitian partners.
How we see that forward, and that is restoring democratic order in Haiti through
free and fair elections. That's been our message. Inclusive governance and power sharing.
That's what we want to see and we want to give the people in
Haiti. We want to make sure that they have an opportunity to democratically elect
their prime minister. That's what we want to see and I will leave it
there. Thanks everybody, thank you for listening today. I want to stress
this idea that we need to have governments cooperating and not trying to compete against
each other and trying to force only one way of life. We need our
government leaders to be open to all ways of life and to be and to
have an attitude there where they are listening to each other and trying to find
the best ways to solve our global problems from hunger to war and even climate
change, in ensuring that all countries have access to great medical care and are
able to help their people. So thank you for listening again and to find
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