I dont think youre at the age in your career when you want to move up the career latter. You dont need anything more to your resume. Youve done pretty well. In the midst of all of these problems in the midst of a dysfunctional u. S. Congress and bitter partisanship, why do you want this job . Thank you chairman sanders for the question. I think its a good question. Its a question my family and i have talked a lot about. Desperately want this job because i think i can make a difference. I think that my entire career whether it was starting at west point, being in the second air born division, being in the proctor and Gamble Company one of the most admired companies in the world for 33 years has prepared me for this task. As i said in my prepared remarks, i think theres no higher calling. This is an opportunity for me to make a difference in the lives of the veterans who i care so deeply about. If not me, who . Now tuesdays White House Briefing with press secretary jorn josh eanest. The shooting down of the malaysian airliner in ukraine and the palestinian conflict. This is a little less than an hour. Good morning everybody. I dont start off too many briefings by saying that. Its nice to see you all. Were doing this early today in advance of the im glad steve appreciated that. Were doing this briefing to accommodate the president s travel and speaking event that he has in the afternoon today. I will try to be quick. I do have one statement at the top. Some of your colleagues in the in town travel pool are not here now. They are with the president who is visiting the embassy of the nenler lands in the washington d. C. To sign a condolence book of the shoot down of the Malaysian Airlines flight shot down in ukraine. Theres some footage you guys will have saccess to signing th condolence book. Is there anything that basically invalidates the Health Care Subsidies for people in states that havent set up exchanges. I know there will be a statement coming from the department of justice on this. They are representing the position in the United States government and the administration before the dc circuit so id refer that statement i do have a couple of thoughts. The first is that its important for people caall across the country that this ruling does not have any Practical Impact on their act to receive tax credits right now. Right now there are millions of americans all across the country who are receiving tax credits from the federal government as a result of the Affordable Care act that is making health care more affordable to them. It has no practical on their tax credits right now. The second is there are four Different Cases of making this point that are working their way through the federal court system. Two of them have been dismissed at the District Court level. Two of them are awaiting their initial ruling. This of course is the appeal of one of those cases. So there is decidedly mixed legal opinion about this. For those who are keeping score were still ahead 21 here. What i do anticipate the department of justice will do is ask for a full ruling from the d. C. Circuit as you know. This was a decision that was issued by three members of the d. C. Circuit. Two ruled for the federal government and one agreed for the governments position. Its important for people to also understand that some of the District Courts that have thrown out this case have been decided by judges who used some pretty strong rhetoric in doing so. There was a judge in this case at the district level who said there is simply no evidence in the statute itself or in the legislative history of any intent by congress to support the claims made by the plaintiff. In other case that was making the same legal argument, a judge wrote that the neary propounded by the plaintiffs was not a viable theory. The last thing thats important and this is theres a lot of highminded case law thats applied here theres also an element of common sense which is that you dont need a fancy legal degree to understand that congress intended for every eligible american to have access to tax credits that will lower their Health Care Cost whether it was state officials or federal officials running the marketplace. I think that is a pretty clear intent of the congressional law. This will work its way through the legal process. We are confident in the legal case that the department of justice will be making. Obviously as these cases do work through the legal system there could end up being a Practical Impact on people receiving subsidies. Can the Health Care Law work effectively and continue to as you say be affordable for americans without the subsidies being available in all states. We are confident in the legal position that we have that millions of americans what if that legal position no longer becomes tenable. Can the law work if these subsidies are not widely available. That is a hypothetical we may be able to entertain at some point. Right now were confident in the legal basis that supports our case. The department of justice will litigate these claims through the federal court system. Again, our confidence is rooted in the fact that it is pretty obvious what the congressional intent was here. Their intent was for every eligible american who applied for tax credits to make their health care more affordable to have access to the tax credits whether it was state officials or federal officials running the marketplace. Can you give us some context on the president s decision to send dennis mcdunna and lisa monaco today. I think the statement originated in germany where the chief of staff and where ms. Monaco currently are. This is the result of a telephone conversation between the president and murkel and they agreed that the president s chief of staff and top home land security advisor would travel to germany to meet with their counterparts to talk through some of the issues that have been covered in the media. It was an opportunity to meet and discuss the state of bilateral relations and future cooperation. There were a full range of issues discussed including intelligence and security cooperation. They agreed to set up a structured dialogue to address concerns of both sides and establish Guiding Principles for future cooperation. Did they bring with them any specific information or answers on the two allegations of u. S. Spies in germany . I will not get into the substance of the talks. I will describe the talk as productive and a useful trip. As weve said a couple of times as it relates to these reports, it is the view of the United States that differences of opinion or differences of perspective on these kinds matters are best established through diplomatic and intelligence channels. That is what were doing. What does that mean structured dialogue. I think its simply the basis of future discussions on these kinds of issues. Again, it is our view that these kinds of differences are best resolved through these private established channels and not litigated through the media. Vladimir putin is saying he will use his influence to allow a full investigation. Are you detecting a change in tone from the kremlin . Well, there was some news from that region that we welcome for a change. We welcome the news that most of the remains of those that parished in malaysian flight 17 are now in the hands of dutch and malaysian authorities. While that is one step in the right direction. International investigators led by the dutch still need immediate and full access to the site. As you point out russia did say today that it will use its influence over the separatists to fully cooperate. We intend to hold the russians to that. The investigators still dont have access though . They dont have i think what we have seen is weve seen conditions on the ground improve. Thats illustrated by the nafac that we made progress by the two matters i addressed at the top. I dont think weve seen yet the level of cooperation with International Investigators that wed like to see at this point. This is a complicated issue and one we anticipate that we well, we anticipate its going to require some work to get the kind of cooperation that we would like to see. Time is of the essence here. As the president said yesterday, it is the least that those separatists could do to cooperate with International Investigators. Give them the access that they need to that site so that they can conduct a transparent investigation and determine what exactly happened jim. Anything new on the evidence in the plane crash investigation . I know yesterday some Senior Administration officials were telling reporters that the black boxes were not perhaps as important as the wreckage itself. There are some reports about burn marks on some of the pieces of wreckage at the crash site. Is that a approximapromising si. Any new evidence that bulls t the u. S. Case what happens. I think theres been evidence that paints a compelling picture. Weve been saying for months and in some settings the russians have acknowledged that they are actively supporting the rebels, the separatists in eastern ukraine. Some of the leaders are actually of russian citizenship. Weve seen reports of heavy weapons moving across the russian border into ukraine. In fact that was the reason for the sanctions regime that this administration announced last week was the continued evidence of heavy weapons moving from russia to ukraine. Weve seen evidence that russians are training separatists on how to use the weapons, including antiair craft weapons. In fact they have bragged in the last several weeks of shooting down three Different Aircraft. Theres ample Association Media evidence to indicate that the separatists have access to the kind of saa 11 missile that is capable of reaching aircraft flying at high alt it yitudes. The shaother thing we know is t the airplane was downed by a missile on the ground in a separatist controlled area. At the time the Ukrainian Military was not operating antiaanti antiair craft weapons at that time. After the plane was down, there were ample social media accounts to indicate that a sa 11 system that appeared to be missing one specific missile was being transported across the border from ukraine to russia. There were also social media accounts of separatists talking about shooting down an airplane. Theres a lot of evidence that has already been marshals. Is it a circumstantial case at this point . Well, there will be a role for a more formal intelligence assessment to be presented. I do expect that you will hear from intel officials later today who will have some more data to present and more evidence to indicate educate you about what we know so far about that situation but i will leave specific intelligence assessments to them. They are the experts who can analyze this data and can be more effective in drawing a more conclusive case but i will leave tha that to them. Apparently u. S. Carriers are making decisions not to fly over parts of israel because of the violence down there. Does the Administration Support that . Was the administration pivotal in making that change and asking the carriers to do this. As it relates to the air face in gaza the faa has not issued any notices related to the ongoing violence in that region of the world. I think it does serve to illustrate its individual carriers who make the decision about their flight plans and whether or not to alter specific routes bases on hostilities on the ground. Some people raised the question about Malaysian Airlines and whether they should have been flying over that air space in ukraine. Ultimately its the malaysian carriers who are responsible for the flight path. One point, the president was going to go on the jimmy kimmel show but then i guess booking was canceled by the white house. Was the white house concerned about image that might be put out if the president was there on a late night talk show . Well, what i can say jim is that we had been in touch with representatives of his show about having the president participate in that program on this trip. We ultimately elected not to have the president do that interview over the course of this trip. That is at least in part related to the challenges of doing a comedy show in the midst of some of these other more serious matters that the president is dealing with the in the international seen. At this point we just elected not to do it. John. Thank you. Getting back yesterday to the u. S. Being supportive of the European Union also joining in the sanctions against russia youre obviously aware of the difference between britain and france on the sale of the misdrawed helicopter care to russia. Does the u. S. Have a dog in the flight or that all the eu members have to be united in order for the sanctions to work. Well, john we have said many times that we believe sanctions would be most effective when they are closely coordinated with our international partners. Thats why youve seen intensive discussions between the president and individual leaders, particularly in western europe about the sanctions regime that should be in place to further isolate russia. So this has been a months long endeavor. There have been important steps that have been taken by the United States in coordination with our partners to impose economic costs on russia. There is ample evidence to indicate that the russian economy has suffered as a result of those economic costs. As it relates specifically to the proposed military transaction between the french and russians, we have in the past, i think the president was traveling in brussels in june, and he articulated some concerns about the sale of that military equipment to the russians. Again. This is a little bit of a common sense thing. Weve seen ample evidence that the russians are flouting International Norms. Supporting efforts to violate the territorial integrity of independent sovereign nations. It seems like a suboptimal time if you will to be transferring advanced military systems to them. So weve made our concerns known. We will continue to work in close coordination with the british, the french, the germans and others as we coordinate the effort to further isolate the russian regime. Any concerns for. Yes, i believe the president had the chance to say this privately and publically. This intelligence presentation to whom was the setting. Who were the officials . I did not get that impression from either the briefing yesterday or the background briefing we had either that you guys felt any sort of pressure or had any intent to lay out more of an intelligence case than you already had. Obviously i misread that but did anything change in the last 24 hours that made this discussion necessary . No, i dont think that anything changed the calculus on that matter. In terms of the logistics, id r refer to the office of the director of National Intelligence who i think will have some more information about this later today. Look, we want to be as forthcoming as we can understanding that there are important intelligence equities to protect about the evidence of what exactly happened. This is something that we would envision would be integrated with an ongoing forensic investigation at the crash site. I dont want to leave you or anyone with the impression that somehow whenever intelligence assessment is arrived by the u. S. Intelligence community somehow supersedes the ongoing work being performed on the ground. That work is important. That work will also give us Important Information about what exactly transpired in this tragic circumstance. But we are working with the International Community to try to make sure that International Investigators have access to the site so that they can conduct that investigation while at the same time were going to do our best to present the information that we have already obtained or assessed about what exactly happened last week. Are you in a position to say whether that intelligence assessment has been shared with say, the dutch and the malaysians and the ukrainians im not in a position to talk about how that intelligence has been handled but you can try the office of the dni and maybe they will be able to share some additional light on that for you. Major. Thanks, josh. There are reports that the eu is going to impose a new round of sanctions against russia after consultations today. Do you have any confirmation of that or any reaction . Im not in a position to confirm that. I know that these talks have been ongoing and are headed into the evening hours over in europe. We certainly would welcome additional steps from the International Community principally our allies in western europe that would impose additional economic costs in russia. We would think that those additional costs are justified. Is there a triggering mechanism that if the eu goes ahead and does another round than the u. S. Might go ahead and follow state. Or is the u. S. Government intent on where it is. Well, content is not the word that i would use. I think were continuing to review the sanctions regime thats in place. We will continue to work with the International Community to coordinate efforts to impose costs on russia. Our willingness to consider adding additional costs is something that continues to be a live option here. You mentioned that theres no practical effect of this federal Appeals Court ruling today, is there not a practical effect in that it creates an atmosphere of uncertainty. Thats what i was trying to clear up. For those who are in the Health Care Industry itself and are trying to apply, implement, follow, and are trying to understand if they are going to have patients who have subsidies or dont. Doesnt that uncertainty itself have a practical effect as the law is implemented . I dont think it does for tw