to the issue of the russia probe, i m wondering, sean, if you can tell us when the president knew whether the president knew at the time that jared kushner was seeking to establish back channel communications at the russian embassy to the russian government, and if he didn t know at the time, when did he find out? i think that assumes a lot and i would just say that mr. kushner s attorney has said that mr. kushner s volunteered to share with congress what he knows about these meetings and he will do the same if he is contacted in connection with any other inquiry. has the president discussed this though? i m not getting into what the president did or did not discuss. your question assumes a lot of facts that aren t substantiated by anything but anonymous sources that are so far being leaked out. does he approve of that action? you re asking if he approves of an action that is not a confirmed action. that being said, i think secretary kelly and general mcmaster have both d
they are from anonymous sources. does he approve of that action? it s not a confirmed action. secretary kelly and general mcmaster have discussed that in general tes,ack channels are a part of diplomacy. phil is with us now. what a remarkable twisting of things. he didn t say it didn t happen. he said you assume a lot and you are talking about an action that is not confirmed to have happened. what do you make of that? park i m surprised there was not more at the white house. nobody wants to talk about it. we saw it in the immediate aftermath at the end of the foreign trip where they were not mentioning jared kushner, but it s three or r or four days and they had a chance to figure out what the defense is going to
anyone in this country, frankly, the freedom of expression. we support that fully. the second question, when you say that you re going to try to defeat isis and al qaeda, what are you doing to eliminate the abject poverty that is the breeding ground for the terrorists? as we ve mentioned before, his national security team s putting together a holistic solution to defeating isis. when that strategy is complete we ll have something for you on it. you said that a back channel is an appropriate part of diplomacy. i didn t say that. i said that secretary kelly and general mcmaster both commented on that. add more to that. how is it appropriate for someone who is a private citizen, not sworn in as an official of the u.s. government, to conduct any kind of negotiation or diplomacy with a foreign official? again, i would just refer to you what the comments that secretary kelly, general mcmaster have said about how they can be important tool in