thank you for being here. it is always good to have you on a slow news day. before i take questions, i wanted to note that this week represents an important step in our efforts to start delivering on the promise of expanding access to quality, affordable health coverage for millions of americans. we're launching the new and improved healthcare.gov which will be the marketplace's online home starting in october. for spanish-speaking customers, the website has been updated in preparation for the marketplace. the screen behind me gives you a sense of the new website. we're opening a consumer call center that will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. this toll-free service will help answer questions. starting in october, it will provide personalized assistance for callers filling out the application or selecting a plan. beginning october 1, a new health insurance marketplace will open in every state giving americans a new way to shop for health insurance. for the next 100 days, the team at hhs will be working to educate the public about in a moment. for the first time in the history of the private insurance market, consumers will be able to go to one place to check out coverage options, and get accurate information and make comparisons of plans before they make the decision. i do recommend you visit the site. it is well-designed and user- friendly and represents the efforts underway to help inform the american people about the options available to them under health care reform and the affordable care act. julie? >> what the can you tell us about edward snowden's whereabouts? is the white house working under the assumption he is still in russia? >> we understand he departed hong kong yesterday and arrived in russia. beyond that, i would refer you to russian authorities. >> you cannot tell us whether you are working under that assumption? >> it is our assumption he is in russia. >> what conversations happening between the u.s. and russia? there was a report that you were asking the russians took options to expel him. do they say they are working towards that goal? >> we are in conversations. we are working with them were discussing with them or expect in them to look at the options available to expel him back to the united states to face justice for the crimes with which he is charged. i would note that given our intensified cooperation with russia after the boston marathon bombings and our history of working with russia on law enforcement matters, including returning numerous high-level criminals back to russia at the request of the russian government, but we do expect the russian government to look options available to them to expel mr. snowden back to the united states. >> have they responded by saying yes we are? >> i do not have detailed conversations to read to you. we are monitoring the situation closely. we are in contact with russia and other governments as appropriate. >> snowden left hong kong. what type of influence do you think beijing had in that decision? >> first of all, let me say the request was made, complied with all of the points in the agreement. at no point did the authorities in hong kong raise any issues regarding these efficiencies of the u.s. arrest request. in light of this, we find their decision to be troubling. since june 10 when we learned mr. snowden was in hong kong, u.s. authorities have been in contact with their hong kong counterparts at the working and senior levels. attorney general eric holder placed a phone call on june 19 with his counterpart in hong kong stressing the importance of the matter and urging hong kong to honor our request for his arrest. there have been repeated engagements by the u.s. department of state and consulate general in hong kong. there have been repeated engagements by the fbi with their law enforcement counterparts. there have been continual communications by the doj office of international affairs with counterparts at the hong kong department of justice international law department. on june 17, hong kong authorities acknowledge receipt of our request. despite repeated inquiries, they did not respond with additional information saying only it was under review and refusing to elaborate. on june 21 hong kong authorities requested additional evidence. the u.s. had been in communication with hong kong about the increase in were in the process of responding to the request when we learned hong kong authorities allowed the fugitive to leave hong kong. we are not buying this was a technical decision but hong kong immigration official. this was a deliberate choice by the government to release the fugitive despite a valid arrest warrant. that decision and unquestionably has a negative impact on u.s.- china relationship. >> what are the repercussions in the relationship? >> i will not speculate, but the chinese have criticized the importance of building mutual trust. we think they have felt that effort is serious setback. if we cannot count on them to honor their legal extradition obligations, there is a problem. that is the point we're making to them directly. i have no presidential communications to report. obviously, we are communicating with our counterparts at the appropriate levels. >> are there repercussions for russia and u.s.-russia relations? >> i would not want to speculate on outcomes. as you know, we understand mr. snowden to be in russia. we are in discussions with russian authorities about that. we have a strong law enforcement cooperative relationship with the russians. that has resulted in us returning criminals to russia. we are expecting the russians to examine the options available to them to expel mr. snowden for his return to the united states. >> how frustrating is it to the president that china and let him go and now china seems to be on the verge of letting him go? >> i would not want to speculate on anything that has not happened yet. i will say our frustration and disappointment with hong kong and china is reflected in the statement i just made. >> how did the president react when he learned snowden had left hong kong? >> i would say the president has been updated by his national security staff on developments. i do not have a characterization of his reaction to developments except to say that he is monitoring it closely and the disappointment we feel in the handling of this by hong kong authorities and the chinese is evident by what i just said. >> do you want answers on why his passport was not pulled sooner? >> let me say a couple of things about that. the state department explained this yesterday. as a routine matter and consistent with u.s. regulations, persons with felony arrest warrants are subject to having their passport revoked. such a revocation does not affect citizenship status. persons wanted on felony charges such as mr. snowden should not be allowed to proceed in any further international travel and other than necessary to return them to the united states. because of the privacy act, we cannot comment on mr. snowden's passport specifically. i can say the hong kong authorities were advised of the status of his travel documents in plenty of time to have prohibited travel as appropriate. let me repeat. i can say the hong kong authorities were advised of the status of mr. snowden's travel documents in plenty of time to have prohibited his travel as appropriate. i think i did reflect our concern and disappointment in the actions or failure to act by hong kong authorities as well as the fact we do not buy the suggestion china cannot have taken action. >> the president made a call to president putin. if he has not, why not? >> i do not have presidential communications to read. there is no reason given international law and the relationships with the countries in question that this would require a communication from the president. i am not reading out presidential communications. there are communications at all appropriate levels. we have a strong cooperative relationship with the russians on law enforcement matters. we expect the russians to examine the options available to them to expel mr. snowden for his return to the united states. as i just said, when it comes to our relations with hong kong and china, we see this as a setback in terms of their efforts to build mutual trust. our concerns are clearly stated. yes. >> does the administration feel mr. snowden has revealed everything he had to reveal? he said he had access to the full roster of the nsa. do you believe he has access to that kind of information? >> there is a damage assessment being undertaken. i do not have specifics on the progress of that assessment for you. the nsa would have more on that for you. i can say we are concerned about the leak of classified information. we are concerned about the kind of information that has been leaked. i think that is reflected in the action taken by the department of justice. we have said all along the disclosure of this kind of highly classified material is extremely damaging to our national security and gives our terrorist enemies a playbook for our activities designed to thwart them. the implications of this kind of an authorized release of information are profound. yes. >> a russian news agency has speculated one reason for the delay in his departure may be that there are concerns the u.s. might try to force down a russian airliner to land on u.s. territory to retrieve snowden. would we go after him with force like that? >> we are communicating with appropriate authorities in russia and elsewhere on this matter. i am not going to respond to speculation in a russian newspaper. it has been a long time since i have done that. >> would we down an airliner from another country? >> we expect the russian authorities to examine all options available to them to expel mr. snowden appropriately. i think i can leave it at that. >> do you rule out any use of force? >> i will not engage in speculation about options. i will say we're working with authorities in a variety of countries on this matter. >> is there any information on what has happened to the four computers he is supposed to have been carrying? >> i do not have any information. as i have said, we remain concerned about the unauthorized leak of classified information and potential for leaks of more classified information. there is a damage assessment on going. i think it is safe to assume information he has provided and may still have is already compromised and the damage assessment would have to take that into account. >> there are stories out there. one story has the computers being left behind at one point. another story has the chinese having had a chance to copy the information. what do we know? >> i do not have specifics. maybe the department of justice does. it is safe to assume in the damage assessment that is ongoing that any information he might have that is unauthorized that he has not already provided publicly, we would expect to be compromised. >> the president is disappointed in china's handling. what about the u.s. handling? what is leading the efforts? is it the white house, the justice department? >> there are a variety of people involved on issues like this. the state department at the diplomatic level. the department of justice of compromised. law-enforcement level. the white house has a coordinator -- >> to track him down. >> department of justice has issued an indictment and has a lead in that matter. there are other agencies involved in the effort to deal with the situation. that involves diplomacy as well as law enforcement. the white house has a to your question about the u.s. handling of it, i think i addressed the issue of the passport. again, without being able to be specific about an individual's passport because of the privacy act, i was able to say what i said about the fact hong kong authorities were advised of the status of his travel documents in time to have prohibited his travel as appropriate. there was no indication in any conversations between u.s. officials and hong kong officials prior to their request for information that preceded the departure of mr. snowden that there were any problems. >> there have been suggestions and reports that interpol was not contacted early enough in the process to alert them to the fact that the u.s. wanted their help. is that true? when where they contacted? >> on matters of interpol read notices, it is most valuable when you where be reduced when the whereabouts of a fugitive are unknown. we knew he was in hong kong and sought his arrest pending extradition while the charges were under seal. it is unfortunate hong kong failed to take action on our request and permitted a fugitive to leave their country in an obvious attempt to escape justice. >> the administration was obviously embarrassed to have a contractor leaked documents in the first place. is the administration embarrassed that you cannot track him down? >> i have been clear about the actions we have taken and our assessment of the failure of authorities in hong kong to act appropriately on a provisional arrest. we have known where he is. we believe we know where he is now. there are ongoing conversations about that. beyond that, we will have to assess as time passes. >> we are more than six hours removed from the airplane he was supposedly going to be on on the way to havana. is he not on airplane yet? is that a sign the government is making progress? is that a positive sign as far as the u.s. government is concerned? that he has not gone on an airplane. >> this is an ongoing situation as you describe it. we have asked the russians to look at the options available to them to expel mr. snowden back to the united states. i can note that we have worked cooperatively with the russians in the wake of the boston marathon bombings and have a fairly substantial history of law enforcement cooperation with russia as a backdrop to this discussion. i would not want to characterize communications at this point. i would not want to speculate about outcomes. this is clearly fluid. we're monitoring. >> so far, they are cooperating? >> it is our understanding mr. snowden remains in russia. beyond that, i would not want to speculate about next steps except that we have communicated to the russians our hope that they will look all options available to them to expel mr. snowden back to the united states. >> does the u.s. government believe if he is allowed to leave russia the u.s. government will give up on getting him back? >> i would not want to speculate about that. i do not think "give up" is a way to characterize the situation. right now, we understand where he is and having appropriate conversations about that. i would not want to get ahead of that. >> on immigration, one of the house democrats said he does not believe it is a blow to immigration reform is a version does not pass the house before the august recess. are you comfortable with the idea that it does not act you can still get immigration reform? >> we want progress in both houses. we have seen substantial progress in the senate. we consider the agreement reached on border security to be a positive breakthrough in the bipartisan effort toward common- sense immigration reform, comprehensive immigration reform in the senate. this process is continuing. we look forward to action by the senate. we continue to work with the house as they take up the issue. your question is a good one because it reflects that there are obstacles that remain before we get to where we want to be, which is to a place where we have bipartisan legislation passed by both houses of congress that meets the standard set by the president, the principles he laid out, so he can sign it into law. this was always going to be a heavy lift. we are encouraged by the progress we have seen. we recognize we are not there yet. a lot of work remains to be done. in the house certainly, in the senate as well. i do not want to draw any lines in the sand about what we're hoping or expecting to see out of the house. we want to continue to see progress. we believe there is the kind of progress in the senate that reflects a broader consensus in the country. assessments that have been made about the bill in question reflect the broad benefits immigration reform will provide to the country, to the middle class, to businesses, to economic growth, to reducing our deficit. there are plenty of benefits here. there was an assessment about the benefits of legal immigration reform and the benefits that would have on innovation and entrepreneurship in this country. immigrants are disproportionately responsible for business start-ups. that helps to drive the economy and increase growth and job creation. this legislation and issue is much bigger with far broader benefits than i think is sometimes recognized. yes, sir. >> can you talk about the government's assessment of president mandela's condition and what the thinking is of how that might be handled going forward given the president's trip? >> at this point, i can say we are monitoring the situation and understand from the reports the former south african president nelson mandela is in critical condition. our thoughts and prayers are with him, his family, and the people of south africa. i would not want to speculate about the impact of his health on the president's trip. he continues to look forward to his visit to south africa and to continuing to build on our strong partnership with the south african government and people. the president obviously has long seen nelson mandela as one of his personal heroes. i think he is not alone in that in this country or around the world. we all express our thoughts and prayers are with the family at this time. >> would you anticipate if he were to pass before the president left the visit would be changed in tone but still take place? >> it is hard to say. it would not be appropriate to speculate on that right now. we're all wishing for his recovery. yes. >> back to the snowden situation. can you detail the president's personal involvement over the last few days? how often is he being briefed? is he personally monitoring things? is this operating below him at the justice department? >> i do not have presidential communications to read. i can say the president has been regularly briefed by his senior staff on the situation by all of the appropriate officials. with regards to one of the earlier questions, this is a circumstance where all the appropriate steps were taken. all of the appropriate communications were made with hong kong authorities. as has been detailed by the state department, we see no reason or no justification for the failure to provisionally arrest mr. snowden in hong kong by hong kong authorities in accordance with our negotiated agreement. so, this process continues. we are in conversations with other governments about the situation. yes. >> a question on climate and the president's speech tomorrow. does the president feel the epa has the ability to carry out the regulations he will outline tomorrow? >> gina mccarthy is uniquely qualified. she has decades of experience serving democrats and republicans. she has a long track record of working with industry and business leaders to find common sense solution. the senate should confirm her without delay. as you saw over the weekend, we announced the president will speak tomorrow at georgetown university on the growing threat of climate change and the need to reduce carbon pollution and that we need to do that for the sake of our children and future generations. he will lay out his vision for where he believes we need to go. i will not get into specifics about what he will announce. he will present a national plan to reduce carbon pollution, to prepare our country for the impact of climate change and lead global efforts to fight it. this is a serious challenge but one that we are uniquely qual