Transcripts For CSPAN Natl 20240702

Make up your own mind. Campaign 2024 on the cspan network, cspan now are free mobile video app or anytime online at cspan. Org. Cspan, your unfiltered view of politics. White House National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby joined press secretary karine john. To update reporters on the unrest in the middle east. The white house clarified the Administration Stance on antisemitism and discussed recent attacks on u. S. Troops overseas. The briefing is just under one hour. Good afternoon, good afternoon everybody. Want to make that the clear at the top. I understand how important clarity is, especially now. When jews are targeted because of their beliefs or their identity, when israel is singled out because of antijewish hatred, that is antisemitism. That is acceptable. There is no place for antisemitism,. ,. It is important to the president and to meet personally, and everyone in the administration. Following the hamas terror attacks in israel, the deadliest for juice since the holocaust, the president has been consistent and clear that we must all do our part and forcefully speak out against antisemitism. And we must ensure that there is no place for hate in america. Not against jews, muslims, arab americans, palestinian americans, or anyone. I wanted to start there, and i would like to call up mike coley, john kirby, to take additional questions that you have on this or any other Foreign Policy questions, he agreed to come back and thank you for being here, admiral. Afternoon, everybody. I dont have a whole lot of new information here, but i do want to just stretch that the president continues to be briefed regularly by a National Security team on what is going on in the middle east, and we spoke with Prime Minister netanyahu to continue the dialogue that he had as things unfold there. We will continue to work to get humanitarian aid in and get safe passage for people out. I dont have a lot of progress to speak to on either front. There were no more trucks that got in and we have not secured present for folks out. We are working very very hard, as well as the hostage piece, not a lot on there. Just click lake quickly, with the state visit, we do expect the situation to come up with the Prime Minister tomorrow. He is looking for to a state visit, theres a lot on our plate with this important ally and key partner in the region. I want to just quickly go through, if i could, highlighting some of the key initiatives we will be announcing. We will have more details tomorrow, and i cant go into more detail than i i have today, and i think the theme that is running through this is that is innovation, advancing cooperation, critically on artificial intelligence, you might have seen them inking a deal with microsoft meant for ai. We welcome that. This taking of a shade innovation piece will also be highlighting a new space agreement that will allow u. S. Companies to launch into space from australia. Very exciting there. We will be committing to clean energy by building resilient at sustainable critical supply chains, the secretary of commerce was talking about that and getting us closer to finishing that critical mineral piece. Of the sea, tackling the chronic crisis by mobilizing fund for businesses across the region to transition to clean energy, advancing connectivity across the pacific through investments in undersea cable infrastructure and Maritime Infrastructure and enhancing defense cooperation between us to include the trilateral cooperation with japan. Continuing to work on this implementation. This is the trilateral agreement between great britain, the united and australia to provide australia with a nuclear powered, but conventionally armed submarine capability. There will be other deliverables as well, i wont belabor my time here. A very exciting visit, and they are looking for two. A lot to talk about in the world. The french president called today for hamas to be added to the targets of the u. S. Led Coalition Fighting the islamic state. Is that something the white house would support . We are aware of reports coming out from the osa, but first and foremost we are focused on coping israel go after hamas and making sure they have the capability and Security Systems to go after hamas. And we are in discussions with our allies and partners, as you know. President macron was on the call, and he was one of several calls we have had over the last several days and we will continue consultations. [indiscernible] evidence that israel used White Phosphorus in gaza . I cannot confirm that. And the un Security Council had a briefing on the killing of civilians, and [indiscernible] hostages would be released, hamas would be discerned, and disarmed . I cannot speculate on that. Those are potential steps that have not happened yet. And may not happen. Ally can tell you is that we will continue to make sure israel has the tools and capabilities that they need to defend themselves and continue to get that you meditate assistance in and get hostages and people out of gaza appropriately. And a cease fire right now benefits only hamas. That is what were dealing with right now. I understand the question, i cannot get ahead of where things are. [indiscernible] chrysler sorting combat between israel and hamas. And what youre saying to avert a ground incursion is a question for the Israeli Defense forces. They get to make a decision about what they will do, we do not believe the cease fire is it would only benefit hamas. There was reporting overnight that the u. N. Is planning for Mass Evacuations of americans. Can you give context of how likely you are to use that scenario and whether or not this is a large fraught plan or there is granularity . I wont go into granular detail one way or another. But it would be imprudent and irresponsible if we didnt have people thinking through a broad range of possibilities. At evacuations are one of those things. There is not a place in the world where the pentagon does not have contingency plans on the shelf needing updates, but on the shelf to help with the evacuation of american citizens, given what is going on, i think it is perfectly reasonable, and i think it would be imprudent and irresponsible if we were not doing some kind of contingency thinking. We are not at a point of execution right now and there are plenty of opportunities even in israel for people to get out. We are still pulling contract charter flights, and commercial flights going in and out of bengurion and theyre still going, but they are not all filled. The same could be said for places like lebanon. Each country is different, and the threats and challenges of each will change over time. And we everything right then you would expect us to. I was wondering if america would expel hamas leaders in the country right now. We are having conversations with partners across the region and we note that they have an open line of can indication with hamas. As you saw, we thank them for their support. I would tell you that those discussions and conversations are ongoing. At critically important. And i think i will leave it at that. The former president obama shared some of his views about the conflict yesterday, one of the things he said is that the israelis have done not done enough to avoid killing or injuring civilians, does President Biden share that view . President biden has, since the beginning of this conversation, been talking to the Prime Minister, and we have been talking to israelis at various levels about what separates us from hamas as to democracies, that is respect for human life, abiding by the law of war thats by doing , everything you can to try to prevent civilian casualties and Collateral Damage. And thats an active conversation we continue to have with them. Urging them to be on more respect with human life . What exactly is the message . I just conveyed it. President obama said is that the israeli governments decision to cut off food, water and electricity to a captive civilian population has the potential to erode Global Support for israel wondering if President Biden agrees with that. Hes been talking again to Prime Minister netanyahu and weve been speaking to the israelis again since the very early hours of this two weeks ago, that respect for human life, respect for the civilian population in gaza, making sure that they can continue to get access to food, water, medicine and electrical power remains critical. Its important and thats why he worked so hard on this last trip last week to do exactly that by getting the israelis and the egyptians to agree for humanitarian ssistance to get in. I just make sure were all using the right numbers. 33 americans said right now, how many unaccounted exactly 10, 10 total . Ok. Let me ask you became the president when he was departing, the event that just place a short time ago was asked by a reporter if enough is being done to let aid out. He said its not going in fast enough. Who is the obstacle right now . What is the primary obstacle, the ability for that aid to arrive at the pace the president would be satisfied by . I know it would be very tempting and satisfying for us to just pin the tail on the donkey here. But theres, theres a lot of factors at play here. And um if it was easy, my goodness, thered be 100 trucks flowing in every day. Its a combat zone, peter, its, its a war zone and that greatly complicates the ability to move safely and to the right uh recipients, the customers that kind of humanitarian aid. So theres, theres lots of players involved here. Hamas is obviously a player. Israel is a player. Egypts a player, the un is a player and ambassador sat satterfield is working this as hard as he can today. We havent seen any trucks go in, well see, well see what the hours to come bring. Follow up again on a separate topic here. Broadly speaking, we know the israeli war cabinet has been meeting with the Prime Minister, the president and others have spoken to members of that cabinet. Often, the president netanyahu often is the president confident that the israeli war cabinet led by the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will do the right thing as he views it in carrying out this war. He is confident that we are going to keep doing what we need to do to get israel the capabilities that it needs. The war cabinet could speak for themselves, but Prime Minister netanyahu can speak for his government. And usa that netanyahu has the confidence to lead this war effort. Its not our place to decide the competency of the unity government that Prime Minister netanyahu put in place. Thats for him to speak to and for his cabinet officials. The president left tel aviv confident that he had the opportunity to be candid and forthright with Prime Minister netanyahu privately and with the war cabinet writ large and that he had the opportunity to ask them the hard questions that he wants them to be asking themselves before they start some sort of major ground offensive. Thank you. I want to get a sense there have been a spate of attacks on u. S. Forces in the region, can you characterize the threat that we face in the region right now as israel poise is it self gaza . And then i have a question about australia. We remain deeply concerned by the potential for future attacks on our troops as youre right, weve seen and im, im guessimate here, but its about a dozen over the last several days. And as a result, tragically, one us contractor died as a result of a heart attack from sheltering. So its potentially a dangerous environment and were taking it very, very seriously. Our commanders on the ground have the right to defend themselves and their troops and can take the appropriate and are taking the appropriate force protection measures. And as you know, the president has added additional military force to the region. And now one of those Carrier Strike groups is going to go on through to uh to the gulf region to make sure that we send a strong signal of not only deterrence, but our willingness to protect and defend ourselves and our national interest. Sir as you have the , australian Prime Minister coming tomorrow in the midst of all of this activity around the middle east. Can you just give us a sense from the president s perspective, how is he balancing these two sort of immediate Foreign Policy objectives versus sort of his longer term Foreign Policy objectives that the Prime Ministers visit through the imposes as well . Hes balancing it well, hes doing it. If youre to give him a report card, a plus. Hes commander in chief. And the, and the, and the, and the duties and responsibilities are literally global. I mean, we are one nation that has truly global responsibilities and, and hes managing it all now. It would be really helpful if he could also get the support of congress up on capitol hill, particularly for this supplemental funding. It will be immensely simpler and easier for the president to manage all these multiple crises. If we could get that funding for ukraine, the funding for israel, the funding for the indo pacific strategy. And of course, down at the border. Even today, things are delayed, and thats my fault. Yeah, i appreciate that. It is true. Thats right. Presumably the president is going to have a number of calls he has to make tomorrow that he wouldnt have otherwise had to make if it had not been this crisis in the midst. Middle east. And how are you going to keep the Prime Minister of australia waiting while the netanyahu is on the phone . How is that going to work . I dont anticipate keeping the Prime Minister waiting on anything tomorrow. They got a pretty full agenda. And as i said, at the top, the president s looking forward to that, but being president United States means balancing an awful lot of priorities and challenges whether theyre domestic or foreign. And oftentimes the line between those gets blurred pretty dang quickly as green was talking about at the opening in terms of karine was talking about in the opening, with the potential spillover of domestic threats, but the president is managing up well because of his long spans the government, the wisdom he brings to the job, the relationships that he has. Look at Prime Minister netanyahu and theyve known each other for decades since the Prime Minister was working in the embassy here in dc as the deputy chief of mission. All that comes into the way he executes the job. And hes on top of it all, can on top of it all. Can you tell us specifically what the government is doing right now to get palestinian americans out of gaza . Because understandably there are some logistical issues, but weve talked to people who are, who are stuck at rafah and who want to leave. And so what is the government doing right now . This is something that ambassador satterfield is working on hard. The main focus is the several hundred americans that we know are there. I dont know how many are down in rafah, but there are many that want to get out and he is working very hard. We also believe and hes also talking to partners, particularly egypt about the possibility of others getting out through rafah. Again, innocent civilians of many different nationalities, certainly palestinians that want to leave and should be allowed to leave an active war zone for their own safety and for the safety of their families. I wish i could tell you that you know, we got the recipe cooked here and theyre all going to get out at a certain time and place. I just dont have that right now, but i can assure you and all of them that were working on this very hard in real time. So the Gaza Health Ministry obviously run by hamas said about 700 people were killed in an israeli airstrike today. First of all, is that a figure that the Us Government and i can verify echo . And youre right in saying that the ministry of health is run by hamas. And i think that all needs to be factored into anything that they put out publicly. This is sort of related to nancys question. But setting, you know, you know, setting aside whether that 700 figure is correct or not, im wondering if the administration is having concerns that the israeli response has been disproportionate in response to the obviously horrific attack that weve seen from. Were going to avoid trying to react to every single event on the battlefield. We all saw last week how quick reactions to events on the battlefield turned out to be inaccurate. Um, uh so we, for our part, were not gonna jump to conclusions on every time theres a report of something were not going to react in real time, certainly to, uh, a conflict uh to which we are not a part in terms of being a presence on the ground. All i can do all i can do is say what ive said before that we have and we will continue to talk to our israeli counterparts about the importance of avoiding and minimizing civilian casualties and respecting innocent life and trying to prevent Collateral Damage as they go after legitimate hamas targets. I said this the other day and, and i think your question prompts me to say it again because i think its an important notion. This is war, it is combat, it is bloody, it is ugly and its going to be messy and innocent civilians are going to be hurt, going forward. I wish i could tell you something different. I wish that that wasnt going to happen, but it is, it is going to happen and that doesnt make it right. It doesnt make it dismissible. It doesnt mean that we arent going to still express concerns about that and do everything we can to help the israelis do everything they can to minimize it. But uh but thats, thats unfortunately the nature of conflict. Thank you, admiral. So, going off your earlier exchange with peter to be clear, the us cannot say if theyre confident that israel has a clear and achievable military plan. That is a question for the Israeli Defense forces. Youve said you asked them tough questions, but has the us set or discussed any possible red lines . No. And following on that secretary stitt upstate Antony Blinken said that humanitarian systems must be sent to gaza. We want, as i said, from the beginning, we want to see all measure of protection for civilians and and pauses in operation is a tool and a tactic that can do that for temporary periods of time. That is not the same as saying a cease fire again right now. We believe a cease fire benefits hamas, a general cease fire and just to follow up on that. So could you clarify just a little bit how you would define the difference between a humanitarian policy . I mean, i think its really, its a question of duration and scope and size and that kind of thing. Got it. Ok. And then you said yesterday, when asked about kind of what the future of gaza might look like that, thats something that the israelis are going to need to figure out subsequently. And i think that they are, theyre exploring those questions about what governance in gaza looks like long term. I just dont think that and understandably their focus is much more on the here and now and the operations. Does the us have a view about the legality of a reoccupation of gaza by israel and whether thats a temporary thing or a position . I dont believe that we have taken the position. Thank you. Do you believe that the current level of bombardment allows for the extraction or transfer of hostages . Difficult to answer the question given that uh were not completely sure about the location of each and every hostage. And uh were working to get more granularity on that and we have seen now just yesterday, another two got out. Now, obviously, thats just a tiny fraction of, of the, the pool that we think hamas is holding. But we think its, we think the effort to continue to negotiate for the release of additional hostages is worth is worth the effort. Uh obviously, weve got four now families who are going to get reunited. Thats a good thing. And we think that work needs to continue if a pause rather than continue. Quite is a pause rather than a cease fire necessary, how long is reasonable to spec that information to be obtained . I couldnt begin to answer that. Israeli officials have told cnn that they do not support any transfer of fuel into gaza, which hamas has said is required for any sort of deal to release hostages. Does the us support that position separate and distinct position . Seven and distinct from the hostage situation is what were doing to get them out. And i want to be careful that im not talking about the specifics of the conversations that are going into getting these people out. Lest i Say Something that makes it harder to do it in the future. Put that aside for a second. We have said continue to say that fuel is an important commodity for life and sustainment in gaza, for the Palestinian People that are still there. And we know that fuel is a precious commodity thats running out and you need it for generator, generators and hospitals, you need it to run the desalination pump so that you can drink fresh water and not sea water. All of that is important. And so were going to continue to work with partners in the region. Were going to continue to push for fuel to get in. Now, look that said, i said this again yesterday. We certainly understand israeli concerns about the possibility for hamas to abscond with fuel and use it for their own purposes and not allow it to be used in hospitals and desalination plants. We understand that that is a legitimate concern. No question about it, which is why again, ambassador satterfield is on the ground working this so hard. Theres a, theres a balance here that has to be achieved. Obviously, we havent achieved it yet, but we still believe just in general that fuel needs to be able to get into the, to the people of gaza. Oh, thanks. Um of the 10 that are uh presumed, you know, missing or hostages. Can you tell us whether or not all 10 are presumed to be hostages or are some still missing . What are, whats the percentage . We dont know. They are unaccounted for. Some could be hostages, some could unfortunately be dead. We just, we dont know thats why theyre still in the unaccounted for category. And then just to pivot back because lines get blurred on everything. The australian Prime Minister has a meeting with president xi of china scheduled for next month. So im just wondering how much is countering china expected to come up tomorrow and also just what is the position of having such an important ally that needs to do business as we also do with china . Close i think we fully support and understand that the Prime Minister wants to meet with president xi and travel to beijing. We have traveled to beijing, uh three cabinet secretaries and special envoy kerry, of course, uh Jake Sullivan is going to be having and the secretary of state is going to be having meetings later this week with the foreign minister wang yi. So conversations with the chinese and keeping the lines of communication open is really important. The president has said that many, many times. Um and of course, australias, you know, their relationship with china is incredibly important to them as well to manage it. Now, to your first question, theres no question in my mind that uh the the challenges and the opportunities uh in relations with the pr c will be on the agenda tomorrow. No, no question about that. Covax john, does the administration agree with the un secretary generals Statement Today that the hamas attacks, quote did not happen in a vacuum. I dont know what he meant by that. So im not, i mean, im not sure i didnt see the comments and im not sure what the context is. He said that its important to recognize the attacks by hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian People have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation. Theyve seen their land steadily devoured by settlements by violence that goes on that statement infuriated a lot of israelis. I want to know if the administration disagrees with what he said. The president has spoken very clearly and i think very forcefully on whos to blame here for october 7th. Its hamas, its not the israelis, its not the innocent israeli people that were slaughtered going to a music festival. It was hamas. They planned this thing for many months, maybe even as long as a year, hamas is to blame. Hamas is to blame. Thanks on that note is the assessment still the same that iran did not directly play a role in this attack. You had senator blumenthal again. I never said that iran did not play a role, we have said, and there has been no change, is that iran is certainly complicit here without them. There is no hamas or hezbollah, there are new militia groups firing rockets at our troops in iraq and syria. As i said yesterday, we recognize irans monitoring all these events and in some cases, theyre encouraging some of these attacks. No question about it. Now, we, you talk about october 7th, we still havent seen any direct specific intelligence that says they were witting or participating or directing the attacks of october of october 7th. But as i said, broadly complicit, no question about that. And im sure that our israeli counterparts will in due time take a harder look at the intelligence picture and what might have been missed, what gaps there were. But ill let them speak to that. Can you speak to the shift in the last week . No one would confirm on the record that these attacks were coming from iranian proxy groups. But then general Patrick Ryder said that the u. S. Holds iran responsible. Is that a signal that iran is trying to widen the war . We see that they are backing these groups. No question about that. Um we have sent a strong signal of deterrence. Theres no indication right now that any other nation state or actor is uh is preparing or imminently to escalate this conflict. But were watching this very, very closely. And again, i want to be clear here, nobody is turning a blind eye to irans complicity, their support for these, these, these militia groups in iraq and syria, their support for terrorists throughout the region. We have addressed that through additional sanctions. We have addressed it through additional military force posture. Were obviously going to do what we have to do to protect ourselves and our troops. Nobody, nobodys at all turning away from that threat or their historic and sustained support for these terrorist groups. John, just a follow up to what peter asked earlier, like two questions but one to drill down, i assume when the president said aid isnt getting fast enough to, to gaza that hes not critiquing our efforts to get it there. And without hanging a hook on whos responsible . Is he saying that more can be done from our end . Is there more that can be done to get the aid to them . I think he was referring to actors in the region. And then the second question is, its for many years, youre going to meet with the Australian Government and they have supported the release of Julian Assange. Now we havent done so saying there were National Security reasons but for the reasons that he has been charged, theyre basically the same efforts that many reporters use. Is there any change of heart in this administrations efforts to free Julian Assange . I wont be able to talk about extradition matters, brian. And as you know, this is something, no, no fair question, but this is something the Justice Department is handling and i think its better if you go to them on that. We have to wrap up soon. Thanks admiral. Youve talked in here about contingency plans for uh this conflict potentially escalating even though the administration wants to prevent that. So is the us military really planning for possible evacuation of hundreds of americans from the middle east . What were talking about here is just prudent planning and thinking. There are no active efforts right now to evacuate americans from the region. Other than what were doing in israel providing charter flights. Theres no active efforts and were not parking ships off the coast and getting ready to send marines in to get people out of you pick the place over there. That is not happening right now. What was reported in the press is nothing more than prudent contingency planning. And as i said, at the outset, given everything thats been going on the last two weeks, it would be irresponsible if we werent taking pen to paper and taking a look at what that might look like. But theres been no orders given. Nobody prepositioned to do it, no moving in that direction. But if it should get to that, my goodness, youd want to make sure we were ready to do it and do it like that. The longer it takes for the house to agree on a speaker, how concerned are you . How concerned is the president that the administration is going to be able to get the necessary aid to israel as well as humanitarian aid concern. Its a concern. We have appropriations to support ukraine and israel for longer. How long it will take depends on the pace and scale of these combat operations in both countries. Yeah, we wouldnt have put a supplemental request in which, oh, by the way says right in the first line, its an urgent request. We wouldnt say it wasnt urgent if it wasnt urgent, we want them to act as quickly as possible. I wonder if weve heard numbers of several 100 americans who are in gaza up to 600. Do you have a more specific number of the actual number of americans who are state department is a better place to the state department is a better place for that. Several hundred, i know, is accurate. I wish i could be more detail, but you have to go to stay, they have a better count. And then in the prudent planning process, i mean, for the several 100 americans who are in gaza right now, if its in a prudent planning stage . No, no, no, no, no, dont. Please dont mix, mix up the two. What, what the question i was getting was on the Washington Post report about regional evacuation planning. We are actively trying to get americans out of gaza. Ambassador satterfield was appointed for that purpose. Well, also to get humanitarian assistance in and were doing that. But we know theres americans in that, we know they want to get out. That is different from a noncombatant evacuation operation. Thats safe passage out of a war zone. Is there a current, i mean advice, i guess for folks who are kind of trying to gather near the rafah crossing in case that is where they would evacuate. Is it advisable americans in gaza right now . I got this yesterday, and i should refer you to the state department, they can handle communication with american citizens overseas. And i think its better for that question to be posed to them. Thank you, john. I want to make sure that i understood the idea of a cease fire versus a humanitarian pause and you guys clearly are opposed to a cease fire thinking that would be a victory for hamas. But on the humanitarian pause, is it something that the us is actively pursuing or calling for that to be the case . Well, you heard the secretary of state talk about the uh the need to look at that to, to consider the possibility of a humanitarian pause to allow aid to get in and get in unfettered and and to allow for the Safe Movement of people out. But again, theres a lot that goes into that matt, you gotta, we got, we got the raffle rough out crossing open on the way in but not on the way out, there is a lot of state work and diplomacy to get that happen. Your not calling for it should be, i think its, again, i would refer you back to what secretary blinken said, but its certainly something that ought to be considered for the purpose of humanitarian assistance. And then one last thing on the 10 american that are unaccounted for, is there any confirmation that some number of those are currently being held hostage or is it completely that the us has no idea where those people . No. The fact that theyre unaccounted for means we truly dont know. We, we know again, as i said, a handful of less than 10 are being held hostage. But when we give you the number of unaccounted for and the reason that number goes up and down is because you get information. Sometimes its really bad news. Um, sometimes its not. So that number fluctuates. It hasnt fluctuated much over the last several days. Its hung around 10, 10, 11 today. Its 10. Um, but what i can tell you is were working real hard to try to solve those mysteries and so that the number is zero and at least families know at least they have information and then were, were working hard on that. All right. Thank you. Sorry, i was late. See, its my fault. Noted for the record. Indeed. A couple topics. The expanding uaw strike. Obviously, you had 5000 workers. They walked off the plane in texas, the strike is in its sixth week, you got for laying off workers in michigan and ohio. And im wondering how concerned the white house is right now that you can get a resolution. Thats in a timely enough fashion that you avoid significant economic damage. So obviously, were monitoring all of this, everything that you just laid out very closely yesterday. I was asked about j sperling and also acting secretary sue, who have been obviously playing point from this administration in helping in any way possible, not clearly, not part of the negotiation, but certainly helping communicate with the parties, both uaw and the big three. Look, the president continues to believe that collective bargaining is incredibly important, the options that are under collective bargaining. Uaw, the uaw has the right to, to, to uh to, you know, kind of think through those options. And so we believe that if everyone comes together in good faith that there could be a win, win uh agreement. Winwin agreement. And so were going to let them have those negotiations continue to have those conversations. Obviously, everything that you laid out, were going to monitor very closely. Um i dont have anything beyond that. And on the supplemental packages, obviously, you set up the National Security focus up last week. We have reporting others have reported as well that there are plans to send up a domestic focus supplemental. And im wondering if you could talk through kind of the idea of sending it in two different packages, especially because have people like Bernie Sanders saying congress cant pass just tens of billions for priorities abroad without addressing the priorities at home. So why did the white house choose to do it in separate packages . X i mean, look in director youngs letter, she said that there would be a domestic supplemental as well. Its coming this week. So certainly its going to lay out the president ial president s the president s priorities as it relates to Disaster Relief as it relates to child care. And so thats coming, that is forthcoming. We did the certainly as you heard from the admiral with the supplemental that we released last week, the foreign, the foreign one, the international one, it said urgent on it in the first line, right . Because we believed it was incredibly important as we see the war in ukraine, as we see whats happening with israel and hamas. We wanted to make sure that certainly that we can out that out there as soon as possible. Got out of there as soon as possible. But the domestic one is coming this week. Thats what director young said in her letter to that you all, im sure you all saw that theres going to be an additional request on the domestic front and those are going to be uh priorities and just as just as important but also priorities for the president as well. That is critical to domestic, to domestic push or platform that he has. Ok, weve heard from Senate Republicans that humanitarian aid to gaza is an issue for them. The aid package, are there any modifications to the aid package that would be red lines for the white house . Im not going to get into any hypotheticals or any red lines. We believe theres no reason for congress shouldnt pass or support this. This, we believe this is a National Security priority, right, which includes as you know, critical aid to ukraine as well. And thats just, thats just a aid 82 is happening with israel and what is happening in the region. But we also believe there is strong bipartisan support. Weve heard it from mitch mcconnell, weve heard it from mccall, right . Chairman mccall, we heard it from chairman turner. So we believe there is actually strong bipartisan support for this supplemental package that was introduced by the president last week and we believe that theres no reason, no reason at all that congress cant get it through. X does the president have any reaction to the reporting that congressman phillips is going to be seeking the democratic president ial nomination . Im going to be careful from here. Im not going to speak to electoral politics, upcoming electoral politics. 2024. One thing i would say outside of that is we appreciate the coma congressmans almost 100 support of this president as he has moved forward with some really important key legislative priorities for the American People. I just dont have anything to share on that. Republicans have selected tom emmer as their speaker nominee. I know you said very often that the white house does not have a vote in this. But emer has been one of the more supportive republicans for ukraine aid across the board. Do you see that as a positive, . Im just not going to speak to the process. Im sure theres more, more steps to go right before we get to the end here. I think its important and critical that, that the republicans in the conference, get their, get their act together, get their business in order and figure out who is going to lead not just the conference, but also because they have the majority in the house, the speaker in the house, im not going to get into it. I said months moments ago, we saw bipartisan support for the supplemental package president announced last week that we announced we would speak to last week. And so we believe that congress should move forward with that as it relates to their process and finding a speaker that is up to them. We do not, as the president has said himself, just quoting him. We do not have a vote in that space just to follow up. Space. Just a followup, i know you dont want to talk about their process. But once the house picks a speaker, your process, concerning the global situation, is this administration considered a asking the House Speaker to speak before a joint session of congress or would you consider having them over to members of the gop and the democratic leadership in congress over to the white house to talk about the situation since youre asking for additional funds. They are cot have been happening and will continue from this administration to focus on the capital. That has been happening via the director of omb. That has been happening with the legislative affairs office. Those conversations with congressional members have been ongoing as it relates to making sure we get this additional funding. That is going to continue. We are going to continue to make sure we talk to folks whether in the senate where the house about the critical importance of getting this data especially as we talk about our National Security. Youre going to announce the domestic peace as well. Those conversations continue. They will certainly move forward with that regardless of what happens. Will the president become personally involved . The situation as has been outlined here i the white house is held dire the situation is in the middle east and ukraine. To make the deal is the president willing to do it himself . We believe we have bipartisan support in the house and senate to get this done. I just mentioned a couple of i mentioned chair mccall, mitch mcconnell. They have been supportive of getting this living forward. We believe the bipartisan support is there and there is no reason for congress not to move forward. Are there any plans for him to have another conversation with those families . Can you talk about the contact between senior white house officials and the families . I dont have anything to read out to you on any further conversation. I dont have anything to share at this time on anything moving forward as it relates to the president speaking again to those families. How about people in the white house . I dont have specifics. Obviously we have had connection and conversations with them to i dont have specifics on who is talking to the families. We are a couple weeks away from government funding running out again. At this point, do you guys have a preferred strategy for how you would like to see government funding bill supplemental the two supplement all requests approved . Would you like to see legislation . I dont have a direct process on that. Certainly we want to see both of them get through. Both domestic supplemental which we are going to announce this week and the urgent supplemental as it relates to National Security as we announced last week. We think congress should move forward with both of them. We think they should move forward on getting those past. As it relates to the National Security requests we made with ukraine and israel, there should not be a reason for congress to move forward with that once we get the domestic supplemental request out there. We have conversations with as we are now going to have conversations with members of congress to talk about that piece as well. We want to see both of them move forward. They are both important. We are talking about childcare. We are talking about Disaster Relief fund. All incredibly important to the American People. When the negotiations were going on before, he referenced the deal for Speaker Mccarthy and the president had out of the debt ceiling talks. Given the state of Republican Leadership right now, do you guys still see that framework as operative or do you think you will be starting from square one . I am not going to get into hypotheticals from here. How the process is going to go. If we go back to the budget agreement a couple months ago, it was something House Republicans, two thirds of them voted for. It got bipartisan support. It was something the American People wanted to see. Republicans and democrats delivering for the American People. That was important for the president. We believe they needed to stick to the deal they voted on. The president signed that bill. Now we are at a point when we are talking about the lemental budget which is something that is common. It is not unusual for the administration to ask for a supplemental request. You said in addition to additional aid may include childcare and other priorities. Im wondering that is the main question. Beyond the depth you had agreed to. I understand the question. Supplementals are not unusual to ask. And these are domestic priorities the president thinks are incredibly important the American People need and want to see. If you think about childcare come of the American Rescue plan, how important it was to have the ctc and what a difference that made to communities across the country. This is something that has been part of the president s platform for some time. He is going to put out his domestic supplemental in the next day or two. He will lay that out for congress and we will continue to have those conversations. The reason he is asking for it is he believes it is very important and it is not unusual for the administration to ask for a supplemental budget. Current Energy Prices in a ran if i could. In iran if i could. They doubled oil output in 2019. The president s Current Energy policies think i ran enough money to fund terror groups . The price of oil has gone up. Former president trump, the average price of brent oil was 58. Under this president it is 83 or the price of oil is more. Is that giving iran enough money to fund terror groups . I wholeheartedly disagree we are our actions is that what youre saying . The Current Energy policy. From our Energy Policy up it the price of oil is going up. When you restrict supply here in the United States, to get the Global Supply to somewhere else, opec is cutting prices of oil to the price of oil goes up. We are not part of opec. They are going to make their decisions on whatever they decide. We are not a member of opec. The administration decided to regulate the oil industry in the u. S. And restrict future investment in the u. S. As the price of oil goes up, is that giving iran enough money to fund these terror groups . That seems to be a big jump. Certainly im not going to speak to that type of hypothetical. It sounds like a hypothetical youre asking me so certainly i am not going to weigh in to this. Im just not going to weigh in to a hypothetical here. Just to quickly follow up on something john kirby said about the Gaza Health Ministry expected to be helpful for americans watching from afar, does the administration see the Gaza Health Ministry a credible source for information concerning the crisis on the ground . He literally just spoke to this. He just answered this question. He said they were associated with hamas. He literally just spoke to this in answered it. I dont have anything additional to say. He just said we should question. Right . He answered the question. I dont have anything else to say. Thank you. No problem. A potential meeting between president xi in President Biden at the summit. Is china stands on israel and ukraine on the agenda . I did the wake of attacks in europe, im assuming the u. S. Does not want to see any other [indiscernible] a couple of things just to say at the top as you know. He is going to be meeting with secretary blinken and our National Security advisor Jake Sullivan. And so he is going to be in town on friday. That is when those meetings are going to occur. This is about engaging facetoface. As you hear us talk about all the time. Health diplomacy facetoface especially as it relates to Foreign Policy isnt readily important. We are going to raise the challenging issues. Youre going to address misperceptions and miscommunications and explore working with p. R. C. Where our interests intersect should do something we have said from the beginning of the administration. Our strategy toward p. R. C. Has been consistent. Our assessment of the challenges we have with p. R. C. Has not changed. We have been clear we want to see competition. That is what we want to see with p. R. C. , competition. We seek to manage that competition in a responsible way. You are going to see a double medic engagement, a facetoface engagement with the National Security advisor. We think it is important to have that conversation. You heard how there have been three secretaries that have already gone to beijing. Had the facetoface diplomatic conversations. Now he is going to be here on friday and we are going to continue those we believe important discussions. Is israel and ukraine going to be on there . Im not going to get ahead of what is going to be on the agenda but obviously we are going to talk about challenges and ways to Work Together that better our interests. We are going to get the new the engagement we have had at various levels to continue the engagement we have had at various levels. On the global south, you have called the effort to provide to gaza. We have seen from the arab world and the global south protests in indonesia, malaysia against United States supporting israel. Those allies in the indo pacific. Is the United States concerned about the strategy right now . We have important allies and partners across the globe. Those relationships are very important. The president and this administration has been clear in our support for israel and how we want to make sure they are able to deal with a terrorist organization like hamas and protect their people. We have been clear and make sure humanitarian aid as you have heard us say gets into gaza. That is going to be our focus. We have an ambassador on the ground focusing on that. Making sure we do everything we can to get the hostages out. That is our priority right now. That is going to be our focus. On the House Speaker, the odds are whoever republicans end up electing is not want to have much of history with the president and is not going to have done much in terms of major negotiations over legislation. I wonder if that heightens any level of concern the white house has about being able to get these priorities done by the end of the year. Having that familiarity in the conversations. I will say a couple of things there. We believe it is important to get the work done on behalf of the American People. It is important to have a functioning house which right now is not functioning because they cannot figure out who is going to lead. They meeting the House Republicans who is going to be the leader of their conference. Who is going to be the speaker of the house. That is a problem. We see that as a problem. We are going to getting you to do everything once they decide and we hope they do it very quickly because we have a lot of business to get done. Just talked about two supplementals. The National Security one we announced last week and a domestic one we are going to announce this week. And make sure the government stays open. There is a lot of work to be done. A lot of work to be done. We hope they get their priorities in order. They get themselves in order so we can get this done on behalf of the American People. We are willing to work with them in a bipartisan way to get things done. We see a bipartisan support for the National Security supplemental. That is important. We are going to be announcing our domestic supplemental. We think it is important House Republicans get their affairs in order so we can continue to deliver for the American People. In the interim, in an urgent situation, in an emergency situation, who does the white house consider the republican leader of the Republican Caucus . As you know there is the speaker pro tem obviously. By default. Write. By default. We say this ad nausea. We were joking around on this. It is for them to fix. It is for them to decide who is going to be the speaker could them meeting the House Republicans. Have got to get the work. The American People are counting on us. The president is doing his job. Doing his job domestically and commander in chief. Have to see House Republicans do their job as well. Thanks, everybody. Wednesday night at 11 00 eastern, President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden host a state dinner and host of the australian Prime Minister. Watch the guest rivals, dinner toasts, and more. Watch on cspan, cspan now, our free mobile video app, and online, at cspan. Org. A healthy democracy does not just look like this, it looks like this, where americans can see democracy at work,