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President Biden will welcome Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy to the White House on March 1 to reaffirm the strong relationship between the United States and Italy.  They will discuss shared approaches to address global challenges, including their commitment to continue supporting Ukraine as it confronts Russia’s aggression, preventing regional escalation in the Middle East, delivering humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, developments in North Africa, and close transatlantic coordination regarding the People’s Republic of China. They will also discuss Italy’s G7 presidency and coordinate in advance of the NATO Summit in Washington.

The post Statement from White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on the Visit of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy appeared first on The White House.

President Biden will welcome Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy to the White House on March 1 to reaffirm the strong relationship between the United States and Italy.  They will discuss shared approaches to address global challenges, including their commitment to continue supporting Ukraine as it confronts Russia’s aggression, preventing regional escalation in the Middle East, delivering humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, developments in North Africa, and close transatlantic coordination regarding the People’s Republic of China. They will also discuss Italy’s G7 presidency and coordinate in advance of the NATO Summit in Washington.

The post Statement from White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on the Visit of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy appeared first on The White House.

   During National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, we shine a light on these serious health conditions, which impact nearly 1 in 10 people across America, and reaffirm our commitment to improving access to mental health services, treatment, recovery, and support. 

     Eating disorders are serious and life-threatening, but with early intervention, a full recovery is possible.  Unfortunately, the stigmatization experienced by people struggling with eating disorders often prevents them from seeking health care and support.  When left untreated, eating disorders can have devastating effects on the human body.  Each of us has the power to show compassion to those who are struggling, help break down the barriers standing in the way of recovery, and create a culture that treats everyone with dignity and respect.

     My Administration is taking action to support all those living with eating disorders.  Federal agencies such as the National Institute of Mental Health have been working to improve the detection and prevention of eating disorders so we can save lives by developing effective therapies and interventions.  Through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and funding for the National Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders, we are working to expand access to new tools and trainings for health care providers, families, caregivers, and community members so they can better detect and treat eating disorders.  We are helping schools hire more mental health counselors, social workers, and nurses to make sure that young people have the support they need to live full and healthy lives.

     At its core, tackling the mental health crisis is about providing hope.  That is why my Administration is investing billions of dollars to improve access to mental health services, helping people get the care they deserve.  Across the United States, we are expanding the number of Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics that provide 24/7 care regardless of a person’s ability to pay.  We are expanding training for health care professionals; integrating mental health services into primary care settings; improving coverage of mental health conditions; strengthening enforcement of parity laws; and addressing the harms of bullying and social media that fuel eating disorders, depression, and self-harm. 

     As Americans, we have a duty to reach out to one another and leave no one behind.  Let us extend a helping hand to those struggling with an eating disorder and ensure that they have access to the treatment they deserve.  This week, we recommit to showing compassion and empowering our fellow Americans to ask for help when they need it.  For those in need of support, visit samhsa.gov/find-support or call the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357 for confidential, free, 24-hours-a-day, 365-days-a-year information and referral services.  For anyone experiencing a crisis, immediate and confidential help is also available by calling or texting 988, the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

     NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim February 26 through March 3, 2024, as National Eating Disorders Awareness Week.  I encourage citizens, government agencies, private businesses, nonprofit organizations, and other interested groups to join in activities that will increase awareness of what Americans can do to prevent eating disorders and that will improve access to care and other support services for those currently living with an eating disorder.

     IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-third day of February, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-eighth.

                             JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

The post Proclamation on National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, 2024 appeared first on The White House.

   During National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, we shine a light on these serious health conditions, which impact nearly 1 in 10 people across America, and reaffirm our commitment to improving access to mental health services, treatment, recovery, and support. 

     Eating disorders are serious and life-threatening, but with early intervention, a full recovery is possible.  Unfortunately, the stigmatization experienced by people struggling with eating disorders often prevents them from seeking health care and support.  When left untreated, eating disorders can have devastating effects on the human body.  Each of us has the power to show compassion to those who are struggling, help break down the barriers standing in the way of recovery, and create a culture that treats everyone with dignity and respect.

     My Administration is taking action to support all those living with eating disorders.  Federal agencies such as the National Institute of Mental Health have been working to improve the detection and prevention of eating disorders so we can save lives by developing effective therapies and interventions.  Through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and funding for the National Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders, we are working to expand access to new tools and trainings for health care providers, families, caregivers, and community members so they can better detect and treat eating disorders.  We are helping schools hire more mental health counselors, social workers, and nurses to make sure that young people have the support they need to live full and healthy lives.

     At its core, tackling the mental health crisis is about providing hope.  That is why my Administration is investing billions of dollars to improve access to mental health services, helping people get the care they deserve.  Across the United States, we are expanding the number of Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics that provide 24/7 care regardless of a person’s ability to pay.  We are expanding training for health care professionals; integrating mental health services into primary care settings; improving coverage of mental health conditions; strengthening enforcement of parity laws; and addressing the harms of bullying and social media that fuel eating disorders, depression, and self-harm. 

     As Americans, we have a duty to reach out to one another and leave no one behind.  Let us extend a helping hand to those struggling with an eating disorder and ensure that they have access to the treatment they deserve.  This week, we recommit to showing compassion and empowering our fellow Americans to ask for help when they need it.  For those in need of support, visit samhsa.gov/find-support or call the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357 for confidential, free, 24-hours-a-day, 365-days-a-year information and referral services.  For anyone experiencing a crisis, immediate and confidential help is also available by calling or texting 988, the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

     NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim February 26 through March 3, 2024, as National Eating Disorders Awareness Week.  I encourage citizens, government agencies, private businesses, nonprofit organizations, and other interested groups to join in activities that will increase awareness of what Americans can do to prevent eating disorders and that will improve access to care and other support services for those currently living with an eating disorder.

     IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-third day of February, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-eighth.

                             JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

The post Proclamation on National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, 2024 appeared first on The White House.

12:35 P.M. PST

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, folks.  This morning, I had the honor of meeting with Aleksey Navalny’s wife and daughter. 

As to state the obvious, he was a man of incredible courage.  And it’s amazing how his wife and daughter are — are emulating that.  And we’re going to be announcing the sanctions against Putin, who is responsible for his death, tomorrow.

And — but the one thing I’ve made — that was made clear to me is that Yulanda [Yulia] is going to — she’s going to continue to fight (inaudible) the way.  So, we’re not letting up.

Thank you.

12:35 P.M. PST

The post Remarks by President Biden in Press Gaggle | San Francisco, CA appeared first on The White House.

12:35 P.M. PST

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, folks.  This morning, I had the honor of meeting with Aleksey Navalny’s wife and daughter. 

As to state the obvious, he was a man of incredible courage.  And it’s amazing how his wife and daughter are — are emulating that.  And we’re going to be announcing the sanctions against Putin, who is responsible for his death, tomorrow.

And — but the one thing I’ve made — that was made clear to me is that Yulanda [Yulia] is going to — she’s going to continue to fight (inaudible) the way.  So, we’re not letting up.

Thank you.

12:35 P.M. PST

The post Remarks by President Biden in Press Gaggle | San Francisco, CA appeared first on The White House.

Two years ago tomorrow, shortly before dawn, Russian missiles began exploding near the capital city of Kyiv. Russian troops marched across the border into Ukraine. Vladimir Putin’s vicious onslaught against Ukraine had begun. 

He believed that he could easily bend the will and break the resolve of a free people. That he could roll into a sovereign nation, and the world would roll over. That he could shake the foundations of security in Europe and beyond. 

Two years later, we see even more vividly what we’ve known since day one: Putin miscalculated badly.

The brave people of Ukraine fight on, unbowed in their determination to defend their freedom and future. NATO is stronger, larger, and more united than ever. And the unprecedented 50-nation global coalition in support of Ukraine, led by the United States, remains committed to providing critical assistance to Ukraine and holding Russia accountable for its aggression.

The American people and people around the world understand that the stakes of this fight extend far beyond Ukraine. Ten years ago, Putin occupied Crimea, and created puppet regimes in Ukraine’s Luhansk and Donetsk regions.  Two years ago, he tried to wipe Ukraine off the map.  If Putin does not pay the price for his death and destruction, he will keep going. And the costs to the United States—along with our NATO Allies and partners in Europe and around the world—will rise.

Today, I am announcing more than 500 new sanctions against Russia for its ongoing war of conquest on Ukraine and for the death of Aleksey Navalny, who was a courageous anti-corruption activist and Putin’s fiercest opposition leader. These sanctions will target individuals connected to Navalny’s imprisonment as well as Russia’s financial sector, defense industrial base, procurement networks and sanctions evaders across multiple continents. They will ensure Putin pays an even steeper price for his aggression abroad and repression at home.

We are also imposing new export restrictions on nearly 100 entities for providing backdoor support for Russia’s war machine. We are taking action to further reduce Russia’s energy revenues. And I’ve directed my team to strengthen support for civil society, independent media, and those who fight for democracy around the world.

Two years into this war, the people of Ukraine continue to fight with tremendous courage. But they are running out of ammunition. Ukraine needs more supplies from the United States to hold the line against Russia’s relentless attacks, which are enabled by arms and ammunition from Iran and North Korea. That’s why the House of Representatives must pass the bipartisan national security supplemental bill, before it’s too late.

This bill provides urgent funding for Ukraine. It also invests in America’s own defense industrial base. It passed overwhelmingly in the Senate, and there is no question that, if the Speaker called a vote, it would pass quickly in the House. Congress knows that by supporting this bill, we can strengthen security in Europe, strengthen our security at home, and stand up to Putin. Opposing this bill only plays into his hands.

History is watching. The failure to support Ukraine at this critical moment will not be forgotten. Now is the time for us to stand strong with Ukraine and stand united with our Allies and partners. Now is the time to prove that the United States stands up for freedom and bows down to no one.

###

The post Statement from President Joe Biden Ahead of the Two-Year Anniversary of Russia’s Brutal Assault Against Ukraine appeared first on The White House.

Two years ago tomorrow, shortly before dawn, Russian missiles began exploding near the capital city of Kyiv. Russian troops marched across the border into Ukraine. Vladimir Putin’s vicious onslaught against Ukraine had begun. 

He believed that he could easily bend the will and break the resolve of a free people. That he could roll into a sovereign nation, and the world would roll over. That he could shake the foundations of security in Europe and beyond. 

Two years later, we see even more vividly what we’ve known since day one: Putin miscalculated badly.

The brave people of Ukraine fight on, unbowed in their determination to defend their freedom and future. NATO is stronger, larger, and more united than ever. And the unprecedented 50-nation global coalition in support of Ukraine, led by the United States, remains committed to providing critical assistance to Ukraine and holding Russia accountable for its aggression.

The American people and people around the world understand that the stakes of this fight extend far beyond Ukraine. Ten years ago, Putin occupied Crimea, and created puppet regimes in Ukraine’s Luhansk and Donetsk regions.  Two years ago, he tried to wipe Ukraine off the map.  If Putin does not pay the price for his death and destruction, he will keep going. And the costs to the United States—along with our NATO Allies and partners in Europe and around the world—will rise.

Today, I am announcing more than 500 new sanctions against Russia for its ongoing war of conquest on Ukraine and for the death of Aleksey Navalny, who was a courageous anti-corruption activist and Putin’s fiercest opposition leader. These sanctions will target individuals connected to Navalny’s imprisonment as well as Russia’s financial sector, defense industrial base, procurement networks and sanctions evaders across multiple continents. They will ensure Putin pays an even steeper price for his aggression abroad and repression at home.

We are also imposing new export restrictions on nearly 100 entities for providing backdoor support for Russia’s war machine. We are taking action to further reduce Russia’s energy revenues. And I’ve directed my team to strengthen support for civil society, independent media, and those who fight for democracy around the world.

Two years into this war, the people of Ukraine continue to fight with tremendous courage. But they are running out of ammunition. Ukraine needs more supplies from the United States to hold the line against Russia’s relentless attacks, which are enabled by arms and ammunition from Iran and North Korea. That’s why the House of Representatives must pass the bipartisan national security supplemental bill, before it’s too late.

This bill provides urgent funding for Ukraine. It also invests in America’s own defense industrial base. It passed overwhelmingly in the Senate, and there is no question that, if the Speaker called a vote, it would pass quickly in the House. Congress knows that by supporting this bill, we can strengthen security in Europe, strengthen our security at home, and stand up to Putin. Opposing this bill only plays into his hands.

History is watching. The failure to support Ukraine at this critical moment will not be forgotten. Now is the time for us to stand strong with Ukraine and stand united with our Allies and partners. Now is the time to prove that the United States stands up for freedom and bows down to no one.

###

The post Statement from President Joe Biden Ahead of the Two-Year Anniversary of Russia’s Brutal Assault Against Ukraine appeared first on The White House.

Private Residence
Los Altos Hills, California

2:34 P.M. PST

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, hello, hello.  (Applause.) 

Thank you.  Thank you.  (Applause.)

Thank you, thank you, thank you.  I think I should go home now.  (Laughter.) 

Well, first of all, Bob and Danielle, thank you for hosting us today.  It matters a lot to me, and I want to especially thank you for your philanthropy advancing medical research, including for cancer. 

You know, the same goes for so many of you around this country, including our great Vice President, Kamala Harris.  She’s an incredible partner, and I’m not sure what I’d be able to do without her. 

You know, we’ve made clear from day one of our administration that we believe in science, which the other guy is not quite sure exists.  (Laughter.)  But, you know, think of if he had moved on the pandemic earlier, how many people — how many chairs would not be empty at kitchen tables these days.  

It got us through the pandemic and, on behalf of everyone else, a belief that we can do just about anything we set our minds to. 

You know, I truly believe we can end cancer as we know it.  I’ve believed that for a long time.  (Applause.)  No —

I had the opportunity when I was vice president and subsequent to that to visit every major cancer research facility in the world — in the world.  And there’s so much — so much going on and so much more we can do if we fund it and provide the effort to make — make it a priority.

Some of you may remember, I got in a little bit of trouble when I was asked — no one ever doubts in me when I say I sometimes say all that I mean, though.  (Laughter.)  But when I — I said — they asked me when I first got elected, if I can do any one thing, what would I do.  I said I’d end cancer.  And they looked at me like there are other things — ending nuclear war, a whole range of other things that would be consequential.

And I said for two reasons: First of all, America used to believe we could do anything — anything we set our mind to.  And that fa- — that — that image began to fade; people began to wonder what we can do.  We started to downplay America’s capacity. 

And I said if we — if we we’re able to take one thing and end cancer, it’d communicate to all of America that there is nothing beyond our capacity when we work together.  I believe that. 

That’s why, when I was vice president, I asked Barack to let me start a Cancer Moonshot.  Because, you know, as President, I reinvigorated that, what we call ARPA-H.  I got that from, you know, a way to fundamentally change the way we approach cancer. 

And, you know, one of the things is that it’s a — a cure for cancer isn’t going to come based on a timetable.  One day, a scientist — one of you is going to walk into the lab and you’re going to find it.  I said it doesn’t happen, like, on a schedule.  But it happens with constant, unrelenting work.

And, you know, I designed this ARPA-H with billions of dollars at the Department of Health after my work in the area of for- — of foreign and defense policy.  There’s an outfit at the Department of Defense called DARPA.  And DARPA is the ones that came up with — transformed our nation by creating the early GPS warning systems so far — that we’ve invested. 

And I said if you had one thing that just focuses on what the most essential need at the moment is within the Defense Department, you’d get enormous results.  And — and it just gets funded almost separately.  But it’s a focus.

And I wanted the same thing to happen at NIH.  And that’s why I came up with ARPA-H.  Now, we’ve only gotten $3 billion there so far, but it’s $3 billion that wasn’t there before.  And it matters.

Look, folks, you know, we’ve come through one of the toughest periods in modern American history.  And I’d like to talk about the future and how we finish the job we started. 

You know, “finishing the job” means beating Big Pharma again.  When I was a senator for 270 years — (laughter) — you know, I was at an event yesterday, and they said, “And I want to read from Ari-” — someone said, “I want to read from Aristotle.  Now, here’s Joe.”  And I said, “I knew him well.”  (Laughter and applause.)  “I knew him well.”

But all kidding aside, you know, from when I was a senator all those years, we tried to take on Big Pharma.  You all know this.  You’re an incredibly sophisticated audience.  If I put you on Air Force One with me, and you have a prescription — no matter what it’s for, minor or major — and I flew you to Toronto or flew to London or flew you to Brazil or flew you anywhere in the world, I can get you that prescription filled for somewhere between 40 to 60 percent less than it costs here.

I think everybody should make a — be able to make a buck for what they do.  But it’s ridiculous what’s going on. 

And so, we wanted to make sure we changed the law.  We finally got it changed as president.  (Applause.) 

So — and it was a simple proposition.  You know, we had a circumstance where if you want to — want to supply veterans the — in the Department of Veteran Affairs and the hospitals, they’re able to negotiate the prices they’re going to pay.  Well, guess what?  Why in the hell can’t Medi- — the — why can’t that be done now, in terms of dealing with what we’re talking about?  And so, we started this effort. 

And some of you know — and you certainly know; my host knows — about diabetes and other issues that require insulin.  Well, you know, it was costing people — the average person — somewhere between 4- and 500 bucks a month.  Now, they cannot charge more than $35 a month.  (Applause.)

And, folks, they’re still making 350 percent profit.  The guy who came up with that insulin said he didn’t want to patent it because he wanted it available to everyone.  It costs 10 bucks to make and 13 bucks to package, maximum — 35 bucks. 

And we also changed the law — we changed the law for the future, beginning in 2024 [2025], every — no senior is going to have to pay more than $2,000 a year for their combined prescription costs, even if — and some of these cancer drugs, as you all unfortunately know too well, are $10-, $12-, $14,000 a year.  

And — but it’s not just it saves the patients money. And saves — but it saves the — it reduces the deficit.  You know, the one thing we’ve done so far — you know how much they’re going to cut the deficit by?  $160 billion — 160 — because Medicare doesn’t have to pay out.  They have to pay out 35 bucks instead of — 38 bucks or 40, instead of paying out 400 bucks for one prescription.

So, anyway.  We wanted everyone to make it.  We wanted to make it for everybody.  And we did get that passed initially, but as we went through the renegotiation process for the next budget, my MAGA friends in the Republican Party cut it out.  So, to finish the job, I want to make sure 35-bucks insulin is for everybody — not just Medicare, everybody.  (Applause.)

And the deal we were able to put into law: We’re — every year, we’re going to be able to get dozens of other prescription drugs.  Six — six a year — new drugs can be picked.  Six a year.  And it also serves [saves] taxpayers billions of dollars.

Look, Trump and his MAGA friends are promising again to get rid of the Affordable Care Act.  As our host has told you, that law protects millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions who are not well off.  They cannot afford to get insurance. 

This will be — Trump has announced they’re going to do it again.  This will be the — the 51st time that the MAGA Republicans have tried to eliminate this. 

“Finish the job” means protecting and expanding the Affordable Care Act and doing it now.  You know, look, it means protecting and strengthening Social Security and Medicare.  The fact is, Republicans want to put it on the chopping block. 

You may remember the last State of the Union message.  I was able to spontaneously embarrass them into saying they wouldn’t try it last year.  You remember that?  They were booing me.  And I said, “How many of you out there are for cutting Me-…”  (Laughter.)  And I said, “Well, raise your hand if you’re going to commit to you’re not going to do anything to Medi-…”  (Laughter.)

Well, they’re back at it.  Medicare has to be dealt with, but not the way they’re proposing it. 

Trump wants to do away with the most historic action ever on climate.  We’re going to finish the job with the Inflation Reduction Act.  We should have called it the “Climate Act.”  But, you know, it calls for $368 billion — more money than ever, in all of history, to be spent on climate.  And it’s beginning to work.  Some of you are deeply involved in the climate fight, and you know we’re on the cusp of a lot of breakthroughs — a lot of breakthroughs.

And we’re going to build clean energy here — here in America — invest here in America.  It’s on its way.

“Finish the job” means making housing more affordable and more accessible.  You know, we made progress with tax fairness.  The — I come from the corporate capital of the world: Delaware.  More of you are incorporated in Delaware than — (laughter) — and I got elected six times in Delaware, so — (laughter).  I’m not anti-corporation, but you got to pay your taxes.  (Laughter.)

And so, folks, look, making tax fairness is the big- — and the biggest corporations begin to pay their fair share.  Right now we have — I was able to increase the tax to a minimum tax of 15 percent.  That paid for every one of the programs I got passed through and, plus, cut the deficit by $7 billion.

But, look, here — here’s what we’ve got to do: Trump’s $2 trillion dollar tax cut — not a penny of which is paid for — some of you were able to benefit from that.  I’m sure it wasn’t what you asked for, but some of you.  But the vast — vast majority of American people, including — by the way, I’ve not increased taxes for anybody over 400- — 4- — under $400,000 a year, period. 

But the point is we’re in a situation where it’s gotten out of hand, and the deficit increased — it ballooned under Trump, overwhelmingly benefiting — and — but, look, to finish the job, in my view, means getting rid of Trump’s tax cut, which expires next year, and closing the loopholes. 

Now, I hope some of you in here are billionaires.  I’m a capitalist.  (Laughter.)  No, I mean it.  But paying an average of 8.2 percent ain’t enough.  I don’t know anybody in America wouldn’t trade — say, “Want to trade for 8.2 percent for whatever you’re paying?”  I don’t know anybody.

But if we just had a billionaire minimum tax of 25 percent, guess what?  That would raise $440 billion over the next 10 years — $440 billion — allow us to pay for everything from — it would grow the economy, from childcare, to long-term care, and so much more. 

And it’s not confiscatory to anybody.  It’s just being a little bit fair. 

You know, it’s good for families, but it’s also good for the economy.  I asked the Treasury Department to do a study on whether or not there was — what would happen if we did this.  It grows the economy.  It grows the economy because you got — women are able to go out and work because they have childcare.  You got — I won’t go through it all because I’m supposed to make this short.  (Laughter.)

But, look, Trump and his MAGA friends are determined to take away your fundamental freedoms. 

“Finish the job” means passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, finally.  (Applause.)

Trump brags about having taken away Roe v. Wade by the Court he appo- — he appointed — a woman’s freedom to choose.  Well, now a new report is out there.  He’s saying that he wants to limit what any state can — what any state — number they can set — limit the ni- — the — the right to choose across the board. 

Well, guess what?  I made it real clear.  If our MAGA Republican friends do that, I will veto it.  (Applause.)  I will veto it. 

And if you elect Kamala and me and we take back the House and a little bigger majority in the Senate, I promise you: We will fully restore Roe v. Wade — (applause) — fully restore Roe v. Wade. 

I kept my promise to appoint the first Black [woman] Supreme Court justice.  And then, what I didn’t realize is — I said I wanted an administration that looked like the American people.  One of you said — I will — I will not use the exact phrase she used in the — in the line — but I should pay more attention to women’s issues.  I pointed out I wanted an administration that looked like America.  I have more women in my Cabinet then men.  (Laughter and applause.)  There’s more women in my administration than men — in my administration — across the board.

In addition to that — in addition to appointing the first Black woman to the Supreme Court, I have appointed more women to the appellate courts than every other president in American history combined.  (Applause.)  They’re part of the 177 federal judge we’ve appointed so far.  And “finish the job” means getting more judges on the bench while we can, now.

All this progress matters to the American people and positions us to win in 2024, in my view.

And that brings me to my second point: We have to make — we have to make constant and crystal clear the choice here.  I am often quoted as saying what my dad would say: “Don’t compare me to the Almighty; compare me to the alternative.”  Well — (the President makes the sign of the cross.)  (Laughter.)

But, look, time and again, Republicans show they’re part of a — part of a party of chaos and division.  Think about this.  The Republican party this year has no platform.  No, I’m not — I’m not jok- — I’m not joking.  There is no place you can go and get the Republican platform. 

Look what they’re doing with the bipartisan immigration border law.  We worked for five months to get that.  The border is in chaos.  The bord- — and the first bill I ever introduced as a pres- — as President of the United States was on the border, on immigration.  We need somewhere in an order — in excess of 2,000 additional personnel at the border — from judges to ICE to just the Border Patrol.  They don’t have the personnel.

And, by the way, the idea the Border Patrol endorsed me this time out, if I’m so — so much of chaos.  (Laughter.)  Well, look — and so, we — we came up with a proposal.  It did everything I wanted, and I promised I’d come back for it.  It didn’t deal with the issue — which I think we should be dealing with — which has to do with minors who have come here.  Anyway.  I won’t go into it. 

But there’s — we can all — we can pick that all up.  But in the meantime, we’ve got to get the personnel at the border.  They won’t even give us the money for the technology to identify the fentanyl that’s coming through.  We have machines that can determine and find it.

Look, you know, and it looked like it was going to pass –pass through the Senate.  You know what Trump did?  I’m told he was on the telephone calling House members, threatening with retribution if they voted for it.  Why?  Because, quote, “It would help Biden.”

Like I said, I’ve been around a long time, but I don’t ever remember a time when the opposition was driven by the prospect, even if it’s a good pre- — proposal, that “Don’t do it because it would help the incumbent president.” 

Look what they’re doing to the national security supplemental.  That’s that — I used the Senate terms; I shouldn’t — some of the money for Ukraine, Israel, and the Palestinian people.  The Palestinian people need more help.  And they’re doing nothing.  Won’t even let it come up for a vote.  Why?  Because Donald Trump tells them not to do it.

It’s outrageous.  He’s even gone further.  And I — when I — I knew this, but when I said it before, people looked at me like I was crazy until it got all over television.  He invites Putin to invade NATO countries — to invade NATO — do whatever the hell you want, take them down if you’re not paying your dues. 

He has no notion of history.  Imagine, had we had — not had NATO the last seven decades, what would be — what would be the situation in Europe now.  We need it as badly as Europe needs it.  It’s crazy.

The bottom line is Republicans have to decide who they serve.  Do they serve Donald Trump, or do they serve the American people?  Are they here to solve problems or just to weaponize them as political issues?  Because that’s literally what it’s come to.  I’m not — not a joke.  Not a joke.

There’s still a lot of good Republicans.  This is not your father’s Republican Party, though.  There’s a lot of good Republicans in the Senate — House and Senate.  I’ve had seven — I will not name them; I promised I never would, and I won’t.  Over the last three years, seven senators I worked with when I was a senator have come in saying, “Joe…” — individually — “Joe, I agree with you, but I can’t — I can’t do it because they’ll primary me, and I’ll be lost.”  It does not say much about political courage, but it says about what the state of the party is right now.

Look, I’m here and you’re here helping out to serve the American people.  It sounds ridiculous to have to say that.  When we make it clear — we’re going to make that actually clear to the American people, we’re going to win. 

Just look at 2020.  In 2020, we were supposed to get shellacked.  Remember?  And I made that speech that became very famous at the Independence Hall about democracy being at stake.  And the press, who’s in the room here, a lot of them asked, “What’s he talking about democracy for?”  Well, 66 percent of the American people agree with me: It’s at stake.  It’s at stake.

2022, we were supposed to get blistered.  Remember?  In the off year, the only — we were the on- — of all the presidents who, in an off year for them, didn’t lose.  Remember the red wave was coming?  Well, guess what?  The lowest amount of wins for the party that’s out of office in — I think, ever, but I don’t want to — I can’t guarantee that — but than anybody ever thought.

2023, we were supposed to clobbered.  We won every critical race out there but one — every one: governors, senators, as well as off-year elections that occurred.

Look, this gets me to my final point.  We can’t take anything for granted.  Trump and his friends are doing one thing: deliberately trying to divide us.  It’s about dividing the country. 

When I ran the first time, I said I was running for three years — for three reasons in my first term out.  I said I was running because I wanted to restore the soul of the nation.  That wasn’t hyperbole.  I meant the sense of decency and honor, being able to know what your leaders are telling you are truthful. 

I said, secondly, I want to do — I want to run for a second reason: because I want to change the dynamic of how we build the middle class.  Because when you build the middle class, everybody does well.  I was tired of trickle-down economics. 

A lot of you are economists and run multibillion-dollar companies.  Name me a time when you thought we were going to be as well off in terms of economics as we are today.  Raise your hand if you thought, like I thought from the beginning, we would not have a recession, that we would be, in fact — I won’t go through it all.

But the fact of the matter is, when you build from the middle out and the bottom up, the poor have a shot, the middle class do well, and the wealthy still very, very well. 

You know, these guys want to drag us back to the future.  I’m trying to pull us into — I mean, excuse me — drive us back to the past.  I want to pull us into the future.

Refusing to accept the results of the last election, still; seeking, as Trump says, to, quote, “terminate” elements of the Constitution.  He is saying it out loud — terminate elements — he thinks he has the right to terminate elements of the Constitution. 

He embraces political violence.  No president since the Civil War has done that: embracing it, encouraging it.  You saw what he did, he — with the January 6th insurrectionists.  He calls them “patriots” and saying, if he gets elected, he’s going to pardon them all.  These guys killed cops.  They killed people.

I was at the first meeting of the G7 with the European leaders when — in February after I got elected.  And I sat down, and I was sitting next to Macron.  And I said, “Well, America is back.”  He looked at me and said, “For how long, Joe?”  Not a joke. 

The German Chancellor spoke up and said, “Joe, what would you say if tomorrow we picked up the London Times and you read in London that they broke down the doors of the Parliament to stop the election of a Prime Minister, and three bobbies were killed?  What would you think?”  What would we think?  I mean, just put yourself — what would we think?

We are the leader of the free world, God darn it.  We are looked to.  (Applause.)  No, I mean it.  We are.  The rest of the world looks to us.  They look to us. 

Doesn’t mean we have the responsibility of doing everything, but we have a responsibility of doing what we can, and we can do more than any other country can.

When he calls immigrants the “vermin” who poison the blood of the country, threatening our very democracy, as he says.  Folks, no wonder the survey of 150 presidential scholars done a couple of weeks ago rates him as the worst president in American history.  These are presidential scholars, his- — presidential historians.

Look, folks, we have to make it clear that the America we believe in still believes in honesty, still believes in decency and dignity, respect.  We believe everyone deserves just a fair shot — no guarantees, just a fair shot — an even opportunity.  We leave nobody behind.

My dad, who was a really well-read man — he got into Johns Hopkins when he was out — getting out of school, but the war came along so he never went.  My dad used to have an expression.  I mean this; I give you my word as a Biden.  He’d say, “Joey, remember, a job is about a lot more than a paycheck.  It’s about your dignity.  It’s about respect.  It’s about being able to look your kid in the eye and say, ‘Honey, it’s going to be okay’ and believe he has a shot.” 

Where’s the dignity and respect shown to working people in this country until recently?  Where is it? 

You know, in America, we’ve never before given hate to safe harbor.  This guy gives safe — safe harbor.

And as I said earlier, I believe in science.  You believe in science.  This guy — we’ve made more progress in three years than most presidents have made in eight, so far, with your help and with the help of a lot of smart people in my administration.  But it can all be wiped out.  Not hyperbole.  It can all be wiped out in this election.

So, we have to stay focused on what we do — have to do to win.  We have to get out the vote.  We have to keep the White House, we have to keep the Senate, and we have — must bring — win back the House. 

If we do that, we can say something that few generations of electors have ever been able to say: We will have saved democracy. 

I’m — I’m tempted to go on, but I won’t.

Here’s the deal.  Think about it.  Think about what happens if Donald Trump wins this election.  Think about all the things you’ve worked for.  Not a joke.  Just ask any of the MAGA Republicans who are out there.

And, by the way, not all Republicans — a lot of decent Republicans — Republican senators and congressmen, governors.  But these guys, they control the party.  About 32 percent of them control it.  If they win, it’s a different world.

Katie, there’s two of your former colleagues — not at the same network — who have told me personally that, if he wins, they have to leave the country because he has threatened to put them in jail for things they’ve — he’s — they’ve said about him.  This is the United States of America.

So, folks, we just remember who in the hell we are.  We’re the United States of America — the United States of America.  There is nothing — nothing beyond our capacity — not a damn thing in — when we all work together — not a damn thing.  And that’s not hyperbole.

As I said earlier, name me a country that’s come out of every crisis stronger than it went in, other than the United States.  Name me one.  Name me one.

So, folks, we have enormous opportunities — enormous, enormous opportunities.  And I’m not the gift of all presidents, but I’m sure in hell better than the last guy.  (Laughter and applause.)

Thank you very much.  (Applause.)

3:01 P.M. PST

The post Remarks by President Biden at a Campaign Reception | Los Altos Hills, CA appeared first on The White House.

Private Residence
Los Altos Hills, California

2:34 P.M. PST

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, hello, hello.  (Applause.) 

Thank you.  Thank you.  (Applause.)

Thank you, thank you, thank you.  I think I should go home now.  (Laughter.) 

Well, first of all, Bob and Danielle, thank you for hosting us today.  It matters a lot to me, and I want to especially thank you for your philanthropy advancing medical research, including for cancer. 

You know, the same goes for so many of you around this country, including our great Vice President, Kamala Harris.  She’s an incredible partner, and I’m not sure what I’d be able to do without her. 

You know, we’ve made clear from day one of our administration that we believe in science, which the other guy is not quite sure exists.  (Laughter.)  But, you know, think of if he had moved on the pandemic earlier, how many people — how many chairs would not be empty at kitchen tables these days.  

It got us through the pandemic and, on behalf of everyone else, a belief that we can do just about anything we set our minds to. 

You know, I truly believe we can end cancer as we know it.  I’ve believed that for a long time.  (Applause.)  No —

I had the opportunity when I was vice president and subsequent to that to visit every major cancer research facility in the world — in the world.  And there’s so much — so much going on and so much more we can do if we fund it and provide the effort to make — make it a priority.

Some of you may remember, I got in a little bit of trouble when I was asked — no one ever doubts in me when I say I sometimes say all that I mean, though.  (Laughter.)  But when I — I said — they asked me when I first got elected, if I can do any one thing, what would I do.  I said I’d end cancer.  And they looked at me like there are other things — ending nuclear war, a whole range of other things that would be consequential.

And I said for two reasons: First of all, America used to believe we could do anything — anything we set our mind to.  And that fa- — that — that image began to fade; people began to wonder what we can do.  We started to downplay America’s capacity. 

And I said if we — if we we’re able to take one thing and end cancer, it’d communicate to all of America that there is nothing beyond our capacity when we work together.  I believe that. 

That’s why, when I was vice president, I asked Barack to let me start a Cancer Moonshot.  Because, you know, as President, I reinvigorated that, what we call ARPA-H.  I got that from, you know, a way to fundamentally change the way we approach cancer. 

And, you know, one of the things is that it’s a — a cure for cancer isn’t going to come based on a timetable.  One day, a scientist — one of you is going to walk into the lab and you’re going to find it.  I said it doesn’t happen, like, on a schedule.  But it happens with constant, unrelenting work.

And, you know, I designed this ARPA-H with billions of dollars at the Department of Health after my work in the area of for- — of foreign and defense policy.  There’s an outfit at the Department of Defense called DARPA.  And DARPA is the ones that came up with — transformed our nation by creating the early GPS warning systems so far — that we’ve invested. 

And I said if you had one thing that just focuses on what the most essential need at the moment is within the Defense Department, you’d get enormous results.  And — and it just gets funded almost separately.  But it’s a focus.

And I wanted the same thing to happen at NIH.  And that’s why I came up with ARPA-H.  Now, we’ve only gotten $3 billion there so far, but it’s $3 billion that wasn’t there before.  And it matters.

Look, folks, you know, we’ve come through one of the toughest periods in modern American history.  And I’d like to talk about the future and how we finish the job we started. 

You know, “finishing the job” means beating Big Pharma again.  When I was a senator for 270 years — (laughter) — you know, I was at an event yesterday, and they said, “And I want to read from Ari-” — someone said, “I want to read from Aristotle.  Now, here’s Joe.”  And I said, “I knew him well.”  (Laughter and applause.)  “I knew him well.”

But all kidding aside, you know, from when I was a senator all those years, we tried to take on Big Pharma.  You all know this.  You’re an incredibly sophisticated audience.  If I put you on Air Force One with me, and you have a prescription — no matter what it’s for, minor or major — and I flew you to Toronto or flew to London or flew you to Brazil or flew you anywhere in the world, I can get you that prescription filled for somewhere between 40 to 60 percent less than it costs here.

I think everybody should make a — be able to make a buck for what they do.  But it’s ridiculous what’s going on. 

And so, we wanted to make sure we changed the law.  We finally got it changed as president.  (Applause.) 

So — and it was a simple proposition.  You know, we had a circumstance where if you want to — want to supply veterans the — in the Department of Veteran Affairs and the hospitals, they’re able to negotiate the prices they’re going to pay.  Well, guess what?  Why in the hell can’t Medi- — the — why can’t that be done now, in terms of dealing with what we’re talking about?  And so, we started this effort. 

And some of you know — and you certainly know; my host knows — about diabetes and other issues that require insulin.  Well, you know, it was costing people — the average person — somewhere between 4- and 500 bucks a month.  Now, they cannot charge more than $35 a month.  (Applause.)

And, folks, they’re still making 350 percent profit.  The guy who came up with that insulin said he didn’t want to patent it because he wanted it available to everyone.  It costs 10 bucks to make and 13 bucks to package, maximum — 35 bucks. 

And we also changed the law — we changed the law for the future, beginning in 2024 [2025], every — no senior is going to have to pay more than $2,000 a year for their combined prescription costs, even if — and some of these cancer drugs, as you all unfortunately know too well, are $10-, $12-, $14,000 a year.  

And — but it’s not just it saves the patients money. And saves — but it saves the — it reduces the deficit.  You know, the one thing we’ve done so far — you know how much they’re going to cut the deficit by?  $160 billion — 160 — because Medicare doesn’t have to pay out.  They have to pay out 35 bucks instead of — 38 bucks or 40, instead of paying out 400 bucks for one prescription.

So, anyway.  We wanted everyone to make it.  We wanted to make it for everybody.  And we did get that passed initially, but as we went through the renegotiation process for the next budget, my MAGA friends in the Republican Party cut it out.  So, to finish the job, I want to make sure 35-bucks insulin is for everybody — not just Medicare, everybody.  (Applause.)

And the deal we were able to put into law: We’re — every year, we’re going to be able to get dozens of other prescription drugs.  Six — six a year — new drugs can be picked.  Six a year.  And it also serves [saves] taxpayers billions of dollars.

Look, Trump and his MAGA friends are promising again to get rid of the Affordable Care Act.  As our host has told you, that law protects millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions who are not well off.  They cannot afford to get insurance. 

This will be — Trump has announced they’re going to do it again.  This will be the — the 51st time that the MAGA Republicans have tried to eliminate this. 

“Finish the job” means protecting and expanding the Affordable Care Act and doing it now.  You know, look, it means protecting and strengthening Social Security and Medicare.  The fact is, Republicans want to put it on the chopping block. 

You may remember the last State of the Union message.  I was able to spontaneously embarrass them into saying they wouldn’t try it last year.  You remember that?  They were booing me.  And I said, “How many of you out there are for cutting Me-…”  (Laughter.)  And I said, “Well, raise your hand if you’re going to commit to you’re not going to do anything to Medi-…”  (Laughter.)

Well, they’re back at it.  Medicare has to be dealt with, but not the way they’re proposing it. 

Trump wants to do away with the most historic action ever on climate.  We’re going to finish the job with the Inflation Reduction Act.  We should have called it the “Climate Act.”  But, you know, it calls for $368 billion — more money than ever, in all of history, to be spent on climate.  And it’s beginning to work.  Some of you are deeply involved in the climate fight, and you know we’re on the cusp of a lot of breakthroughs — a lot of breakthroughs.

And we’re going to build clean energy here — here in America — invest here in America.  It’s on its way.

“Finish the job” means making housing more affordable and more accessible.  You know, we made progress with tax fairness.  The — I come from the corporate capital of the world: Delaware.  More of you are incorporated in Delaware than — (laughter) — and I got elected six times in Delaware, so — (laughter).  I’m not anti-corporation, but you got to pay your taxes.  (Laughter.)

And so, folks, look, making tax fairness is the big- — and the biggest corporations begin to pay their fair share.  Right now we have — I was able to increase the tax to a minimum tax of 15 percent.  That paid for every one of the programs I got passed through and, plus, cut the deficit by $7 billion.

But, look, here — here’s what we’ve got to do: Trump’s $2 trillion dollar tax cut — not a penny of which is paid for — some of you were able to benefit from that.  I’m sure it wasn’t what you asked for, but some of you.  But the vast — vast majority of American people, including — by the way, I’ve not increased taxes for anybody over 400- — 4- — under $400,000 a year, period. 

But the point is we’re in a situation where it’s gotten out of hand, and the deficit increased — it ballooned under Trump, overwhelmingly benefiting — and — but, look, to finish the job, in my view, means getting rid of Trump’s tax cut, which expires next year, and closing the loopholes. 

Now, I hope some of you in here are billionaires.  I’m a capitalist.  (Laughter.)  No, I mean it.  But paying an average of 8.2 percent ain’t enough.  I don’t know anybody in America wouldn’t trade — say, “Want to trade for 8.2 percent for whatever you’re paying?”  I don’t know anybody.

But if we just had a billionaire minimum tax of 25 percent, guess what?  That would raise $440 billion over the next 10 years — $440 billion — allow us to pay for everything from — it would grow the economy, from childcare, to long-term care, and so much more. 

And it’s not confiscatory to anybody.  It’s just being a little bit fair. 

You know, it’s good for families, but it’s also good for the economy.  I asked the Treasury Department to do a study on whether or not there was — what would happen if we did this.  It grows the economy.  It grows the economy because you got — women are able to go out and work because they have childcare.  You got — I won’t go through it all because I’m supposed to make this short.  (Laughter.)

But, look, Trump and his MAGA friends are determined to take away your fundamental freedoms. 

“Finish the job” means passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, finally.  (Applause.)

Trump brags about having taken away Roe v. Wade by the Court he appo- — he appointed — a woman’s freedom to choose.  Well, now a new report is out there.  He’s saying that he wants to limit what any state can — what any state — number they can set — limit the ni- — the — the right to choose across the board. 

Well, guess what?  I made it real clear.  If our MAGA Republican friends do that, I will veto it.  (Applause.)  I will veto it. 

And if you elect Kamala and me and we take back the House and a little bigger majority in the Senate, I promise you: We will fully restore Roe v. Wade — (applause) — fully restore Roe v. Wade. 

I kept my promise to appoint the first Black [woman] Supreme Court justice.  And then, what I didn’t realize is — I said I wanted an administration that looked like the American people.  One of you said — I will — I will not use the exact phrase she used in the — in the line — but I should pay more attention to women’s issues.  I pointed out I wanted an administration that looked like America.  I have more women in my Cabinet then men.  (Laughter and applause.)  There’s more women in my administration than men — in my administration — across the board.

In addition to that — in addition to appointing the first Black woman to the Supreme Court, I have appointed more women to the appellate courts than every other president in American history combined.  (Applause.)  They’re part of the 177 federal judge we’ve appointed so far.  And “finish the job” means getting more judges on the bench while we can, now.

All this progress matters to the American people and positions us to win in 2024, in my view.

And that brings me to my second point: We have to make — we have to make constant and crystal clear the choice here.  I am often quoted as saying what my dad would say: “Don’t compare me to the Almighty; compare me to the alternative.”  Well — (the President makes the sign of the cross.)  (Laughter.)

But, look, time and again, Republicans show they’re part of a — part of a party of chaos and division.  Think about this.  The Republican party this year has no platform.  No, I’m not — I’m not jok- — I’m not joking.  There is no place you can go and get the Republican platform. 

Look what they’re doing with the bipartisan immigration border law.  We worked for five months to get that.  The border is in chaos.  The bord- — and the first bill I ever introduced as a pres- — as President of the United States was on the border, on immigration.  We need somewhere in an order — in excess of 2,000 additional personnel at the border — from judges to ICE to just the Border Patrol.  They don’t have the personnel.

And, by the way, the idea the Border Patrol endorsed me this time out, if I’m so — so much of chaos.  (Laughter.)  Well, look — and so, we — we came up with a proposal.  It did everything I wanted, and I promised I’d come back for it.  It didn’t deal with the issue — which I think we should be dealing with — which has to do with minors who have come here.  Anyway.  I won’t go into it. 

But there’s — we can all — we can pick that all up.  But in the meantime, we’ve got to get the personnel at the border.  They won’t even give us the money for the technology to identify the fentanyl that’s coming through.  We have machines that can determine and find it.

Look, you know, and it looked like it was going to pass –pass through the Senate.  You know what Trump did?  I’m told he was on the telephone calling House members, threatening with retribution if they voted for it.  Why?  Because, quote, “It would help Biden.”

Like I said, I’ve been around a long time, but I don’t ever remember a time when the opposition was driven by the prospect, even if it’s a good pre- — proposal, that “Don’t do it because it would help the incumbent president.” 

Look what they’re doing to the national security supplemental.  That’s that — I used the Senate terms; I shouldn’t — some of the money for Ukraine, Israel, and the Palestinian people.  The Palestinian people need more help.  And they’re doing nothing.  Won’t even let it come up for a vote.  Why?  Because Donald Trump tells them not to do it.

It’s outrageous.  He’s even gone further.  And I — when I — I knew this, but when I said it before, people looked at me like I was crazy until it got all over television.  He invites Putin to invade NATO countries — to invade NATO — do whatever the hell you want, take them down if you’re not paying your dues. 

He has no notion of history.  Imagine, had we had — not had NATO the last seven decades, what would be — what would be the situation in Europe now.  We need it as badly as Europe needs it.  It’s crazy.

The bottom line is Republicans have to decide who they serve.  Do they serve Donald Trump, or do they serve the American people?  Are they here to solve problems or just to weaponize them as political issues?  Because that’s literally what it’s come to.  I’m not — not a joke.  Not a joke.

There’s still a lot of good Republicans.  This is not your father’s Republican Party, though.  There’s a lot of good Republicans in the Senate — House and Senate.  I’ve had seven — I will not name them; I promised I never would, and I won’t.  Over the last three years, seven senators I worked with when I was a senator have come in saying, “Joe…” — individually — “Joe, I agree with you, but I can’t — I can’t do it because they’ll primary me, and I’ll be lost.”  It does not say much about political courage, but it says about what the state of the party is right now.

Look, I’m here and you’re here helping out to serve the American people.  It sounds ridiculous to have to say that.  When we make it clear — we’re going to make that actually clear to the American people, we’re going to win. 

Just look at 2020.  In 2020, we were supposed to get shellacked.  Remember?  And I made that speech that became very famous at the Independence Hall about democracy being at stake.  And the press, who’s in the room here, a lot of them asked, “What’s he talking about democracy for?”  Well, 66 percent of the American people agree with me: It’s at stake.  It’s at stake.

2022, we were supposed to get blistered.  Remember?  In the off year, the only — we were the on- — of all the presidents who, in an off year for them, didn’t lose.  Remember the red wave was coming?  Well, guess what?  The lowest amount of wins for the party that’s out of office in — I think, ever, but I don’t want to — I can’t guarantee that — but than anybody ever thought.

2023, we were supposed to clobbered.  We won every critical race out there but one — every one: governors, senators, as well as off-year elections that occurred.

Look, this gets me to my final point.  We can’t take anything for granted.  Trump and his friends are doing one thing: deliberately trying to divide us.  It’s about dividing the country. 

When I ran the first time, I said I was running for three years — for three reasons in my first term out.  I said I was running because I wanted to restore the soul of the nation.  That wasn’t hyperbole.  I meant the sense of decency and honor, being able to know what your leaders are telling you are truthful. 

I said, secondly, I want to do — I want to run for a second reason: because I want to change the dynamic of how we build the middle class.  Because when you build the middle class, everybody does well.  I was tired of trickle-down economics. 

A lot of you are economists and run multibillion-dollar companies.  Name me a time when you thought we were going to be as well off in terms of economics as we are today.  Raise your hand if you thought, like I thought from the beginning, we would not have a recession, that we would be, in fact — I won’t go through it all.

But the fact of the matter is, when you build from the middle out and the bottom up, the poor have a shot, the middle class do well, and the wealthy still very, very well. 

You know, these guys want to drag us back to the future.  I’m trying to pull us into — I mean, excuse me — drive us back to the past.  I want to pull us into the future.

Refusing to accept the results of the last election, still; seeking, as Trump says, to, quote, “terminate” elements of the Constitution.  He is saying it out loud — terminate elements — he thinks he has the right to terminate elements of the Constitution. 

He embraces political violence.  No president since the Civil War has done that: embracing it, encouraging it.  You saw what he did, he — with the January 6th insurrectionists.  He calls them “patriots” and saying, if he gets elected, he’s going to pardon them all.  These guys killed cops.  They killed people.

I was at the first meeting of the G7 with the European leaders when — in February after I got elected.  And I sat down, and I was sitting next to Macron.  And I said, “Well, America is back.”  He looked at me and said, “For how long, Joe?”  Not a joke. 

The German Chancellor spoke up and said, “Joe, what would you say if tomorrow we picked up the London Times and you read in London that they broke down the doors of the Parliament to stop the election of a Prime Minister, and three bobbies were killed?  What would you think?”  What would we think?  I mean, just put yourself — what would we think?

We are the leader of the free world, God darn it.  We are looked to.  (Applause.)  No, I mean it.  We are.  The rest of the world looks to us.  They look to us. 

Doesn’t mean we have the responsibility of doing everything, but we have a responsibility of doing what we can, and we can do more than any other country can.

When he calls immigrants the “vermin” who poison the blood of the country, threatening our very democracy, as he says.  Folks, no wonder the survey of 150 presidential scholars done a couple of weeks ago rates him as the worst president in American history.  These are presidential scholars, his- — presidential historians.

Look, folks, we have to make it clear that the America we believe in still believes in honesty, still believes in decency and dignity, respect.  We believe everyone deserves just a fair shot — no guarantees, just a fair shot — an even opportunity.  We leave nobody behind.

My dad, who was a really well-read man — he got into Johns Hopkins when he was out — getting out of school, but the war came along so he never went.  My dad used to have an expression.  I mean this; I give you my word as a Biden.  He’d say, “Joey, remember, a job is about a lot more than a paycheck.  It’s about your dignity.  It’s about respect.  It’s about being able to look your kid in the eye and say, ‘Honey, it’s going to be okay’ and believe he has a shot.” 

Where’s the dignity and respect shown to working people in this country until recently?  Where is it? 

You know, in America, we’ve never before given hate to safe harbor.  This guy gives safe — safe harbor.

And as I said earlier, I believe in science.  You believe in science.  This guy — we’ve made more progress in three years than most presidents have made in eight, so far, with your help and with the help of a lot of smart people in my administration.  But it can all be wiped out.  Not hyperbole.  It can all be wiped out in this election.

So, we have to stay focused on what we do — have to do to win.  We have to get out the vote.  We have to keep the White House, we have to keep the Senate, and we have — must bring — win back the House. 

If we do that, we can say something that few generations of electors have ever been able to say: We will have saved democracy. 

I’m — I’m tempted to go on, but I won’t.

Here’s the deal.  Think about it.  Think about what happens if Donald Trump wins this election.  Think about all the things you’ve worked for.  Not a joke.  Just ask any of the MAGA Republicans who are out there.

And, by the way, not all Republicans — a lot of decent Republicans — Republican senators and congressmen, governors.  But these guys, they control the party.  About 32 percent of them control it.  If they win, it’s a different world.

Katie, there’s two of your former colleagues — not at the same network — who have told me personally that, if he wins, they have to leave the country because he has threatened to put them in jail for things they’ve — he’s — they’ve said about him.  This is the United States of America.

So, folks, we just remember who in the hell we are.  We’re the United States of America — the United States of America.  There is nothing — nothing beyond our capacity — not a damn thing in — when we all work together — not a damn thing.  And that’s not hyperbole.

As I said earlier, name me a country that’s come out of every crisis stronger than it went in, other than the United States.  Name me one.  Name me one.

So, folks, we have enormous opportunities — enormous, enormous opportunities.  And I’m not the gift of all presidents, but I’m sure in hell better than the last guy.  (Laughter and applause.)

Thank you very much.  (Applause.)

3:01 P.M. PST

The post Remarks by President Biden at a Campaign Reception | Los Altos Hills, CA appeared first on The White House.

Della Soul Records
Grand Rapids, Michigan

4:29 P.M. EST

THE VICE PRESIDENT: So, let me start by saying I am so happy to support a local small business. And this is an example of the many small businesses that I have visited around the country where you have individuals who have — they’re inspired by an idea, they are inspired by understanding how they can make a difference in a community.

I have always found — and here is no different — that you have somebody who is a business leader but is also a civic leader who is engaged in the community — she has the intention of building a community garden next door.  She is hiring locally.  And that’s really part of the backbone of who we are as a country but also of — of our economy.

And the President and I believe very much in building a broad-based economy, and this is an example of how we do that: supporting small businesses.

And so, I know you want to know what I bought.  So, you want to know that I got the George Clinton doll.  Does everybody know who George Clinton is?  Do you know P-Funk? 

No?  Okay.  Well, there is lessons to be taught, like Bootsy Collins.  Anybody know who Bootsy Collins is? 

Okay.  So, there’s some education that needs to be done.  I can see that.

I got a Miles Davis album and then a couple of cards.

Now, as — you have now asked about the women of Alabama.  The decision by the court in Alabama is shocking and, at the same time, post the Dobbs decision, not surprising.  I talked about it from the beginning, when the Dobbs decision came down, that we were looking at what potentially would be the beginning of the erosion of so many fundamental rights — in particular, around reproductive freedom.

And so, we have seen that states around our country have taken everything from an individual’s ability to make decisions about their own body to access to reproductive healthcare, limiting how people can get access to reproductive healthcare in — in very substantial ways.  We’ve seen clinics close, things of that nature.  We have seen laws that would criminalize doctors and nurses, provide up to prison for life for administering reproductive healthcare.

And — and we knew that IVF was always very much on the table.  And so, what we have seen now Alabama is — sure enough, it has now been attacked, and the access to reproductive healthcare through IVF is being taken from countless individuals and families.

And this is about an individual’s right, but it also affects entire families.  And the irony of it all is that, on the one hand, these proponents are — are suggesting that an individual and a woman does not have the right to end an unwanted pregnancy and, on the other hand, does not have the right to become pregnant if that is her choice and her desire and her dream.

So, I think that everyone should understand we each have a responsibility and the ability to change this trajectory.  And elections matter. 

President Biden has been very clear: If Congress puts back in place the rights that the Court took away, that — which means putting back in place the protections of Roe v. Wade — Joe Biden will sign it. 

So, elections matter.

                          END                      4:32 P.M. EST

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Della Soul Records
Grand Rapids, Michigan

4:29 P.M. EST

THE VICE PRESIDENT: So, let me start by saying I am so happy to support a local small business. And this is an example of the many small businesses that I have visited around the country where you have individuals who have — they’re inspired by an idea, they are inspired by understanding how they can make a difference in a community.

I have always found — and here is no different — that you have somebody who is a business leader but is also a civic leader who is engaged in the community — she has the intention of building a community garden next door.  She is hiring locally.  And that’s really part of the backbone of who we are as a country but also of — of our economy.

And the President and I believe very much in building a broad-based economy, and this is an example of how we do that: supporting small businesses.

And so, I know you want to know what I bought.  So, you want to know that I got the George Clinton doll.  Does everybody know who George Clinton is?  Do you know P-Funk? 

No?  Okay.  Well, there is lessons to be taught, like Bootsy Collins.  Anybody know who Bootsy Collins is? 

Okay.  So, there’s some education that needs to be done.  I can see that.

I got a Miles Davis album and then a couple of cards.

Now, as — you have now asked about the women of Alabama.  The decision by the court in Alabama is shocking and, at the same time, post the Dobbs decision, not surprising.  I talked about it from the beginning, when the Dobbs decision came down, that we were looking at what potentially would be the beginning of the erosion of so many fundamental rights — in particular, around reproductive freedom.

And so, we have seen that states around our country have taken everything from an individual’s ability to make decisions about their own body to access to reproductive healthcare, limiting how people can get access to reproductive healthcare in — in very substantial ways.  We’ve seen clinics close, things of that nature.  We have seen laws that would criminalize doctors and nurses, provide up to prison for life for administering reproductive healthcare.

And — and we knew that IVF was always very much on the table.  And so, what we have seen now Alabama is — sure enough, it has now been attacked, and the access to reproductive healthcare through IVF is being taken from countless individuals and families.

And this is about an individual’s right, but it also affects entire families.  And the irony of it all is that, on the one hand, these proponents are — are suggesting that an individual and a woman does not have the right to end an unwanted pregnancy and, on the other hand, does not have the right to become pregnant if that is her choice and her desire and her dream.

So, I think that everyone should understand we each have a responsibility and the ability to change this trajectory.  And elections matter. 

President Biden has been very clear: If Congress puts back in place the rights that the Court took away, that — which means putting back in place the protections of Roe v. Wade — Joe Biden will sign it. 

So, elections matter.

                          END                      4:32 P.M. EST

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Fountain Street Church
Grand Rapids, Michigan

2:11 P.M. EST

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, Governor.  (Applause.)  Thank you, thank you, thank you. 

Let me start by thanking the governor.  The last time I saw you, we were together at my home.  And your leadership in this state and your national leadership has been extraordinary.  And you and I have been talking about many issues over the years in our collective fight to secure the rights and the freedoms of the American people.

And you and your legislature — the Michigan legislature have been extraordinary and a real role model for the country about what leadership looks like on this and so many other issues.  So, it’s my honor and pleasure to be with you, Governor. 

I also want to recognize Senator Stabenow, who I had the great honor of working with in the United States Senate.  I think Michigan knows the senator well, but she really is extraordinary.  She is such a fighter.  I worked with her — I — everybody is laughing because they know her, right?  (Laughter.)  

Debbie Stabenow, I’m telling you, whether the cameras are on or whether they’re off, she’s the same person.  She cares so deeply about the working people of America, the women of America.  And you’ve been a dear friend to the President and me and such a courageous national leader, as well as a leader here in Michigan, Debbie.  So, thank you.  It’s great to be with you. 

And Representative Scholten, today is her birthday.  (Laughter and applause.)  I will not lead the press in singing “Happy Birthday” to you.  (Laughter.)  But I — I want to thank you as well for your courage in the United States Congress and the work you are doing on this and so many other issues. 

The congresswoman also, as we were — she — she honored me by driving in from the airport with me to — to be here at the church today, Reverend, and made a point of looking out the window and telling me everything that she would like to make sure that we are addressing from Washington, D.C.  (Laughter.)  So, she is definitely doing the people’s work. 

And — and to all the leaders who are here, I thank you, each of you.  The Administrator, I want to thank you always.

ADMINISTRATOR BROOKS-LASURE:  Yes, thank you.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Freedom is fundamental to the promise of America.  And what we saw over a year ago is the highest court in our land, the United States Supreme Court — the Court of Thurgood and RBG — took a constitutional right that had been recognized from the people of America, from the women of America. 

And since that ruling came down, we have seen states across our country — thankfully, not Michigan — but states across our country proposing and passing laws that criminalize doctors and nurses.  Some provide for prison for life for healthcare professionals providing reproductive care to their patients. 

We have seen laws being passed that make no exception even for rape and incest, which means these so-called leaders who are extremists are telling a survivor of a crime of violence to someone’s body — a survivor of a violation to their body that they — that survivor — have no right to make a decision about what happens to their body next, which, in my opinion, is immoral. 

We know that, on this issue, the American people — the majority of American people agree with the leaders at this table, by the way, which is that one does not have to give up or — or in any way abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling her what to do with her body.  If she chooses, she will consult with her priest, her pastor, her rabbi, her imam.  But it should not be the government telling people what to do with their bodies. 

And what we have seen on this issue is, over the course of now a year and almost a half, people who are suffering every day in our country as a result of this. 

So, not only is it about freedoms that have been taken and what that means in a country that prides itself on being a democracy that upholds and fights for freedoms and liberty.  It means that in states across our country, people have been suffering. 

And we must be explicit about what that is, because this is not a hypothetical point. 

Women have been giving — having miscarriages in toilets in our country, have been denied access to emergency care because of what has been happening. 

And then, as the governor said most recently, putting access to IVF at risk.  Think about that.  Individuals, couples who want to start a family are now being deprived of access to what can help them start a family. 

So, on the one hand, the proponents are saying that an individual doesn’t have a right to end an unwanted pregnancy and, on the other hand, the individual does not have a right to start a family. 

And the hypocrisy abounds on this issue when you also consider that in the top 10 states with maternal mortality, there are abortion bans.  I have often challenged the folks in those states who propose to say that an abortion ban is in the best interest of women and children.  Ask them why have they been so silent on an issue like maternal mortality, where, in our country, Black women are three to four times more likely to die in connection with childbirth than other women; Native women, twice as likely; women in rural America, similarly, more likely.

So, this is an issue that is about fundamental freedoms and liberty.  And it is an issue about harm — real harm that is happening to people every day in our country.  And one must then ask, “Well, okay, how did this happen?”  And I would say: Ask who’s to blame.  And I’ll answer that question. 

When you look at the fact that the previous President of the United States was clear in his intention to handpick three Supreme Court justices who would overturn the protections of Roe v. Wade, and he did it.  And that’s what got us to this point today.

And that same individual, the previous President of the United States, then openly talks about how he is proud of what has resulted.  Proud of the fact that doctors and nurses can be jailed for giving reproductive care?  Proud of the fact that women are being forced into situations where they could — literally, their life is at stake in terms of having a miscarriage and not being able to have the — the medically required treatment?  Proud of the fact that so many young women in America now have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers?

So, this is a very real issue.  And I thank, again, the governor and the Michigan legislature for all you have done. 

But do understand: The people of Michigan cannot sit back and take comfort without also understanding that elections matter and that there is a full-on, concerted effort to pass a national ban, which would mean the people of Michigan would not be as safe. 

And so, let’s understand the connection between all of these issues and the responsibility and the role that we each have to protect these fundamental freedoms and — and the people of America to be able to make decisions about their own lives and — and the future of their family.

And, with that, I want to thank everyone again.  And I’m going to turn it over to Representative Scholten to moderate our discussion.

END                 2:30 P.M. EST

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Fountain Street Church
Grand Rapids, Michigan

2:11 P.M. EST

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, Governor.  (Applause.)  Thank you, thank you, thank you. 

Let me start by thanking the governor.  The last time I saw you, we were together at my home.  And your leadership in this state and your national leadership has been extraordinary.  And you and I have been talking about many issues over the years in our collective fight to secure the rights and the freedoms of the American people.

And you and your legislature — the Michigan legislature have been extraordinary and a real role model for the country about what leadership looks like on this and so many other issues.  So, it’s my honor and pleasure to be with you, Governor. 

I also want to recognize Senator Stabenow, who I had the great honor of working with in the United States Senate.  I think Michigan knows the senator well, but she really is extraordinary.  She is such a fighter.  I worked with her — I — everybody is laughing because they know her, right?  (Laughter.)  

Debbie Stabenow, I’m telling you, whether the cameras are on or whether they’re off, she’s the same person.  She cares so deeply about the working people of America, the women of America.  And you’ve been a dear friend to the President and me and such a courageous national leader, as well as a leader here in Michigan, Debbie.  So, thank you.  It’s great to be with you. 

And Representative Scholten, today is her birthday.  (Laughter and applause.)  I will not lead the press in singing “Happy Birthday” to you.  (Laughter.)  But I — I want to thank you as well for your courage in the United States Congress and the work you are doing on this and so many other issues. 

The congresswoman also, as we were — she — she honored me by driving in from the airport with me to — to be here at the church today, Reverend, and made a point of looking out the window and telling me everything that she would like to make sure that we are addressing from Washington, D.C.  (Laughter.)  So, she is definitely doing the people’s work. 

And — and to all the leaders who are here, I thank you, each of you.  The Administrator, I want to thank you always.

ADMINISTRATOR BROOKS-LASURE:  Yes, thank you.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Freedom is fundamental to the promise of America.  And what we saw over a year ago is the highest court in our land, the United States Supreme Court — the Court of Thurgood and RBG — took a constitutional right that had been recognized from the people of America, from the women of America. 

And since that ruling came down, we have seen states across our country — thankfully, not Michigan — but states across our country proposing and passing laws that criminalize doctors and nurses.  Some provide for prison for life for healthcare professionals providing reproductive care to their patients. 

We have seen laws being passed that make no exception even for rape and incest, which means these so-called leaders who are extremists are telling a survivor of a crime of violence to someone’s body — a survivor of a violation to their body that they — that survivor — have no right to make a decision about what happens to their body next, which, in my opinion, is immoral. 

We know that, on this issue, the American people — the majority of American people agree with the leaders at this table, by the way, which is that one does not have to give up or — or in any way abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling her what to do with her body.  If she chooses, she will consult with her priest, her pastor, her rabbi, her imam.  But it should not be the government telling people what to do with their bodies. 

And what we have seen on this issue is, over the course of now a year and almost a half, people who are suffering every day in our country as a result of this. 

So, not only is it about freedoms that have been taken and what that means in a country that prides itself on being a democracy that upholds and fights for freedoms and liberty.  It means that in states across our country, people have been suffering. 

And we must be explicit about what that is, because this is not a hypothetical point. 

Women have been giving — having miscarriages in toilets in our country, have been denied access to emergency care because of what has been happening. 

And then, as the governor said most recently, putting access to IVF at risk.  Think about that.  Individuals, couples who want to start a family are now being deprived of access to what can help them start a family. 

So, on the one hand, the proponents are saying that an individual doesn’t have a right to end an unwanted pregnancy and, on the other hand, the individual does not have a right to start a family. 

And the hypocrisy abounds on this issue when you also consider that in the top 10 states with maternal mortality, there are abortion bans.  I have often challenged the folks in those states who propose to say that an abortion ban is in the best interest of women and children.  Ask them why have they been so silent on an issue like maternal mortality, where, in our country, Black women are three to four times more likely to die in connection with childbirth than other women; Native women, twice as likely; women in rural America, similarly, more likely.

So, this is an issue that is about fundamental freedoms and liberty.  And it is an issue about harm — real harm that is happening to people every day in our country.  And one must then ask, “Well, okay, how did this happen?”  And I would say: Ask who’s to blame.  And I’ll answer that question. 

When you look at the fact that the previous President of the United States was clear in his intention to handpick three Supreme Court justices who would overturn the protections of Roe v. Wade, and he did it.  And that’s what got us to this point today.

And that same individual, the previous President of the United States, then openly talks about how he is proud of what has resulted.  Proud of the fact that doctors and nurses can be jailed for giving reproductive care?  Proud of the fact that women are being forced into situations where they could — literally, their life is at stake in terms of having a miscarriage and not being able to have the — the medically required treatment?  Proud of the fact that so many young women in America now have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers?

So, this is a very real issue.  And I thank, again, the governor and the Michigan legislature for all you have done. 

But do understand: The people of Michigan cannot sit back and take comfort without also understanding that elections matter and that there is a full-on, concerted effort to pass a national ban, which would mean the people of Michigan would not be as safe. 

And so, let’s understand the connection between all of these issues and the responsibility and the role that we each have to protect these fundamental freedoms and — and the people of America to be able to make decisions about their own lives and — and the future of their family.

And, with that, I want to thank everyone again.  And I’m going to turn it over to Representative Scholten to moderate our discussion.

END                 2:30 P.M. EST

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National Security Council

Via Teleconference

1:39 P.M. EST

MODERATOR:  Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for today’s on-the-record news of the day gaggle.  I will turn it over to Kirby for a few opening words, and then we’ll go to questions.

MR. KIRBY:  Thank you, Sean.  And thanks, everybody. 

I’d like to top today by speaking briefly about Iran’s deepening military partnership with Russia, which is, of course, not only harmful to Ukraine but also to Iran’s neighbors in the region and to the international community. 

Iran has been providing Russia with significant numbers of drones, guided aerial bombs, and artillery ammunition, which Russia has been using to some effect to attack Ukraine. 

In addition, and as I warned last month from the White House podium, Russia negotiations — Russian negotiations to acquire close-range ballistic missiles from Iran have been actively advancing. 

Now, just yesterday, Reuters published a story indicating that Iran has provided Russia with hundreds of ballistic missiles.  This article appears to be based on comments from Iranian government officials who are bragging about providing Russia with missiles that can be used to kill Ukrainian civilians. 

While we have been monitoring this closely, we have not seen any confirmation that missiles have actually moved from Iran to Russia.  But in this press reporting, the Iranians are clearly indicating that they will ship ballistic missiles to Russia, and we have no reason to believe that they will not follow through.

If Iran proceeds with this provision of ballistic missiles, I can assure you that the response from the international community will be swift and it will be severe.  For our part, we will take this matter to the U.N. Security Council.  We will implement additional sanctions against Iran.  And we will coordinate further response options with our allies and partners in Europe and elsewhere. 

We have demonstrated our ability to take action in response to the military partnership between Russia and Iran in the past.  We will do so in the future. 

In response to Iran’s ongoing support for Russia’s brutal war, we will be imposing additional sanctions on Iran in the coming days.  And we are prepared to go further if Iran sells ballistic missiles to Russia.

I do think it’s important to keep this issue in some sense of perspective.  It comes at a time, without new security assistance deliveries from the United States, when Ukrainian forces are rationing out their bullets and artillery shells and when they are having to make difficult decisions on the battlefield just about holding on to key terrain. 

Consider what Ukraine is up against.  Russia is receiving arms and ammunition from Iran and North Korea.  We also remain concerned about the support that PRC companies are providing to the Russian defense industrial base.  Meanwhile, the U.S. House of Representatives is leaving Ukraine to fend for themselves. 

Do not think for a moment that Vladimir Putin isn’t capitalizing on all of this.  Yep, he’s been deepening his relationship with Iran now for many months, but the potential pursuit of ballistic missiles with a range and destructive power that they could bring is further evidence that he believes Congress will not act.  He clearly believes now is his best chance to bring Ukraine to its knees, that now is the time to strike deeper behind their lines, destroying military bases and military units and their defense industry.  He’s counting on the West giving up and on Ukraine being left to fend for itself.  And the regime in Tehran is only too happy to oblige. 

So the question for Congress is: What are we willing to oblige?  Are House Republicans willing to see Ukraine fall to Russia?  Are House Republicans willing to stand aside while Iran deepens its partnership with Russia and actively participates in the killing of Ukrainians and the further destruction of that country?  Are House Republicans willing to hand Putin and the Supreme Leader such a victory?  Because that’s what this comes down to.  You can’t say that you believe in American leadership and American strength and American national defense and then embolden two leaders who are actively working to undermine those things. 

We need the supplemental bill passed now.  With each passing day, the Ukrainian frontlines are growing thinner and our own national security is increasingly being threatened.  Iran stands with Russia.  We need to stand with Ukraine. 

And let’s be clear: Iran is not helping Russia for free.  In return for Iran’s support, Russia has been offering Tehran unprecedented defense cooperation.  So, in total, Iran is seeking billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment from Russia.  This will increase the threat posed by Iran not only to the United States, but to our partners throughout the Middle East region. 

And with that, I’m happy to take some questions.

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  We’ll go to Zeke Miller from the Associated Press.

Q    Thanks, John.  I was hoping you could provide us an update on Brett McGurk’s travels in Cairo and Israel today, potentially to Paris tomorrow.  Any deliverables or outcomes of that meeting?

Separately, do you have any details — has the NSC been briefed or in contact regarding these reported cell outages or any reason to believe that they may be the result of any sort of foreign malign activity?

And then lastly, I was hoping you might be able to address reports that Estonia has disrupted a plot of some — they claim to be Russian operatives who’ve tried to destabilize the situation there.  And is there any planned response on Russia as a result of that?  Thank you.

MR. KIRBY:  Thanks, Zeke.  There’s a lot there.

So, on Brett: Brett had a good couple of hours with counterparts in Cairo yesterday.  Today in Israel, he met

independently with Prime Minister Netanyahu.  He also met with Defense Minister Gallant, as well as other members of the war cabinet, including their leaders from Israel’s intelligence agency.

He is, as we speak, meeting with family members of the American hostages.  We have not gotten a full readout of his discussions yet.  He’s, obviously, actively engaged right now.  So he’s, again, doing a very important meeting with the hostage families. 

But the initial indications we’re getting from Brett are these discussions are going well.  They are constructive.  He is, obviously, keenly focused on trying to see if we can’t cement a hostage deal for an extended pause to get all of those hostages home where they belong and get a reduction in the violence so that we can get more humanitarian assistance. 

And obviously, nothing is done until everything is done, and not everything is done in that regard.  But Brett is working really hard on that.  And he’s also talking to the war cabinet, too, about their thinking on Rafah.

So, pretty substantive set of meetings for him, and they’re ongoing.  And that’s about the best I can give you for where we are right now. 

On the AT&T issue, or the cellular network issue: As I understand it, Zeke, the FCC has been in touch with AT&T, and those conversations are ongoing, and they’re trying to kind of figure out what exactly happened here.

I don’t think all networks have been restored, but as my understanding is that everybody but AT&T is back up and running completely right now.

I also can tell you that DHS and the FBI are looking into this as well, working with the tech industry, these network providers, to see what we can do from a federal perspective to lend hand to their investigative efforts to figure out what happened here. 

But the bottom line is, Zeke, we don’t have all the answers to that.  I mean, this just happened earlier today.  And so, we’re working very hard to see if we can get to ground truth of exactly what happened, not to mention I know folks in the industry are working hard to get restoration of services to those that are still without those services. 

You know, as you mentioned — Poland and Estonia.  They just recently announced the arrest of individuals that had been planning sabotage activities on what is believed to be on behalf of Russia’s security services.  And we’re certainly concerned by these activities.  But we obviously commend our Polish and Estonian law enforcement colleagues for taking these actions and for doing it swiftly and effectively. 

We believe that these arrests send a very clear message that individuals who participate in Russian sabotage activities inside Europe are going to be held to account.  And again, we applaud the work being done by law enforcement in both Poland and Estonia to get to that.

MODERATOR:  Next up, we’ll go to Gabe Gutierrez.  You should be able to unmute yourself.

Q    Hey there.  Thanks so much for doing this.  John, I have a few. 

First of all, I want to get your reaction to the Kremlin saying that President Biden was trying to appear as a “Hollywood cowboy” following his remarks last night calling Vladimir Putin a “crazy SOB.” 

And then, I also want to ask about Aleksey Navalny.  His mother now saying that Russian authorities are trying to blackmail her to avoid a large memorial service.  She says she saw her son’s body.  I want to get your reaction to that. 

And then, finally, on that dual national that is being detained in Russia, her boyfriend now says she went over there in early January.  Her employer says she donated $51 to a Ukrainian charity.  What is the NSC tracking regarding that case?  And is it acceptable that she’s being detained for treason?

MR. KIRBY:  Obviously, I’m limited, Gabe, as to what I can talk about when it comes to campaign comments.  But what I’ll say is — and you’ve heard this from — you’ve heard from the President throughout his trip — we have serious national security concerns, particularly where it comes — when it comes to Russia on a range of issues, from what they’re doing in Ukraine to, of course, this potential development of an anti-satellite capability, to this burgeoning relationship with Iran, which I just spent quite a bit of time in the opening statement talking about, and other efforts that they are effecting to try to undermine the international order that we and our allies built after World War Two. 

And the President is focused keenly on those national security interests.  And when he speaks about the threats and the challenges coming from Vladimir Putin and from Russia, he speaks not only from a visceral sense of the seriousness of the danger, but also from the perspective of a man who has been involved in foreign policy for the vast majority of his public service.  And he knows what he’s talking about.  He knows these leaders; he knows these challenges.  And he speaks about them plainly and directly, because that is exactly how we need to look at the threat posed by Russia: plainly, directly, transparently.  And that’s what he’s doing. 

And while he’s out there talking about the threats and challenges from Russia, the House Republicans are on recess.  While he’s out there talking about what we need to counter — what Russia is doing with Iran, what Russia is doing in Ukraine, what Russia is doing elsewhere, in cyberspace and in space — the House Republicans are doing nothing.  And that’s what we’re focused on. 

Now, I can’t confirm the reports of blackmail, that you mentioned, to the mother of Aleksey Navalny.  I mean, I’ve seen the reporting on that, but we’re not in a position to confirm that it’s true.  Nevertheless, this is the man’s mother.  It’s not enough that she gets to see the body of her son; she should be able to collect the body of her son so that she can properly memorialize her son and her son’s bravery and courage and service, and do all the things that any mother would want to do for a son lost in such a tragic way. 

The Russians need to give her back her son, and they need to answer for what befell — specifically what befell Mr. Navalny, and ato- — and acknowledge that they, in fact, are responsible for his demise.

I don’t have anything additional on the dual national that was arrested in Russia.  Again, we’re somewhat limited as to what we can talk about here, out of privacy concerns.  But I can tell you that we’re watching this very, very closely.  Our embassy in Moscow is working very hard to see what they can do in terms of getting more information here.  We are deeply concerned about this.  But again, because of privacy concerns, I’m limited to how much more I can offer.

MODERATOR:  Thanks.  Next up, we’ll go to Aurelia End.  You should be able to unmute yourself.

Q    Hi, thanks.  Thanks for taking my question.  John, can you confirm — first question — that the President is endorsing Mark Rutte as next boss of NATO?

And second question: If you could give us not a preview but tell us something about the major sanctions package that we’re awaiting tomorrow.  Thanks.

MR. KIRBY:  What I can tell you on Mr. Rutte is that the United States has made it clear to our Allies, our NATO Allies, that we believe Mr. Rutte would be an excellent Secretary General for NATO.

And I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to go into more detail about the sanctions package that you can expect us to announce tomorrow.  As you know, we never get ahead — it’s just policy that we never, for obvious reasons, get ahead of specific entities that are going to be sanctioned and/or individuals that will be included in that regime.

I would point you to the Treasury Department.  And I understand that they’ll have more to say about this.  But we’re not going to get ahead of that.

MODERATOR:  Next up, we’ll go to Michael Gordon.  You should be able to unmute yourself.

Q    John, my question is: Since, as you pointed out, North Korea is providing ballistic missiles to Russia for use in Ukraine, and Iran may be moving to do so, why has the Biden administration not decided to provide longer-range 300-kilometer unitary round ATACMs to Ukraine as a counter to the systems that you’re concerned about?  The Pentagon still has some drawdown authority, and it has over a thousand of these systems.  What’s the thinking behind that? 

And you talk about responding to such actions with sanctions, but why not respond with — why wouldn’t providing such ATACM systems be a useful counter?

MR. KIRBY:  Well, the first thing I’d say, Michael, is we have responded with a whole hell of a lot more than sanctions over the last two years.  The United States continues to lead the world in security assistance to Ukraine, although we are now not able to provide that security assistance without the supplemental funding.  But prior to Congress failing to do its job, we were leading the world in contributions across a range of systems — from short, medium, to long range — and of course, artillery ammunition, ground vehicles, armored vehicles, you name it. 

So I simply refuse to accept the premise that we’ve only relied on sanctions to increase the pressure on Russia in terms of their fighting on the ground in Ukraine. 

The second thing I’d say is: We have provided a version of ATACMs.  As you know, the APAMs have been provided to Ukraine, and they have used them to good effect. 

And the third thing I’d say is: We never took ATACMs off the table.  They are still part and parcel of the discussions that we’ve been having with Ukraine.  Ukraine does have the ability and has been provided similarly long-range capabilities by other countries, and we are still having conversations with the Ukrainians about the longer form — longer-range version of ATACMs.  Nobody has taken that off the table. 

And you mentioned the drawdown authority.  Yes, there’s existing drawdown authority.  But as I mentioned a couple of days ago, there’s no replenishment authority that goes with it.  And that’s critical for our own needs, for our own national security requirements.  That replenishment authority is not something to just be blown off.  It very much and should factor prominently in the drawdown packages that we have and hopefully will be able to provide Ukraine in the future, because it affects our own national security by the ability to replenish our own stocks. 

So I guess that’s where I’ll leave it.

Q    Okay.

MODERATOR:  Thanks.  Next up, we’ll go to the line of James Rosen.  You should be able to unmute yourself.

Q    Thank you.  Sean and Admiral Kirby, thank you both.  I have two questions.  One on Russia/Ukraine, the other on Israel/ Hamas. 

And to the delight of my listeners and my many critics, the second question will be much shorter than the first.

On Russia/Ukraine, this situation with the supplemental spending package brings to mind for me the words of the late Henry Kissinger, who once said of Chile, “I don’t see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its people.” 

For nearly six months now, President Biden and his top aides, you included, have warned that the security of the United States and its allies, indeed the stability of the global geopolitical order, will be severely compromised, perhaps irreparably damaged, if U.S. funding for Ukraine is not swiftly renewed. 

So if the consequences of such inaction pose such an existential threat to the safety and security of the United States and the Western alliance, why is President Biden, by his own account, standing by and allowing the irresponsibility of a small faction of the U.S. Congress to place the entire world order in such jeopardy?  Shouldn’t he be finding some other way, overt or covert, to get Ukraine what it needs?

MR. KIRBY:  Thanks.  I mean, I kind of addressed this before.  And this kind of gets a little bit to Michael Gordon’s question a little bit ago.  There’s no magic pot of money here.  You know, supporting Ukraine requires resources, resources that we do not have right now.  And we have helped support Ukraine to a fare-thee-well over the last two years.  We absolutely have to make sure that, in so doing, we don’t sacrifice our own national security and that we still have sufficient stocks and inventory of weapons and systems to defend global interests around the world. 

Now, that’s a tough balance to strike, and we’ve been striking it quite well over the last two years with the support of Congress.  We need Congress to act.  We cannot just wish this money into existence.  We cannot just find it under a couch cushion.  We absolutely need Congress to put forward legislative funding in order for us to continue to support Ukraine. 

And the idea — the notion that we’re just sitting back on our hands doing nothing is — simply flies in the face of the facts.  We have been working diligently with members of Congress, both sides of the aisle, both chambers, to try to get this funding through.  The President submitted that supplemental funding back in August, for crying out loud.  And here we are in February, and the House Republicans decided to go on vacation. 

So we’re working really, really hard.  We’re doing everything we can to get this over the finish line.  But ultimately, you know, it requires a co-equal branch of government, the legislature, Congress, to legislate this money so that we can spend it not only for Ukraine and for Ukrainian soldiers, but for our own national security. 

Q    So just as a follow-up on this quickly, before I advance to the Israel/Hamas question: I guess what you’re saying is we need for the American people to understand and we need our allies to understand that the President is willing to allow the legalities here to override the security exigencies.

MR. KIRBY:  The counter to what you’re suggesting is that we should somehow send a message to the American people and to our allies that we don’t believe in the rule of law, that we don’t believe in the importance of having appropriated funding to support our national security needs. 

I mean, my goodness, the Constitution is built on that whole foundation.  And the President believes in the power of the Constitution; he believes in the power of a co-equal branch of government, in the Congress.  And in working with the Congress, he’s got a lot of experience doing that. 

It matters how you do things, not just what you do.  And the President is going to continue to obey the law and to work with Congress on establishing law, legislation — funding, in this case — that meets our national security needs.

Q    On the Mideast: So that the context and the stakes should be sufficiently clear for all to see, is the war between Israel and Hamas properly viewed as one between the forces of good and the forces of evil?

MR. KIRBY:  I think there’s no question that Hamas is evil.  I don’t even think that that’s up for debate.  I mean, look at what they did on the 7th of October.  Read — please, go read.  I say this all the time, but I encourage — go read their 2017 manifesto and the one that they put out about 10 years before that.  You can’t read that manifesto and not think that this is a terrorist organization with truly genocidal inclinations against Israel and the Israeli people.  And what they did on the 7th of October, you cannot look at anything from that day and not come away believing that this group is evil.

MODERATOR:  Next up, we’ll go to the line of Laura Kelly.  You should be able to unmute yourself.

We don’t seem to have Laura.  We’ll go to the line of Trudy Rubin.

Q    Hi.  Thanks, John.  I just want to follow up on Michael Gordon’s question.  We not only have stocks of long-range ATACMs, but also Lockheed Martin has an active production line and exported 500 last year, including to places like Morocco. 

The Ukrainians feel that these weapons are essential right now, especially in the area where they’re having success in the Black Sea and Crimea. 

So, again, I want to ask, why are we still only keeping this issue on the table?  For the last year, there have been repeated stories that ATACMs were going to be sent, and then all that was sent was the shorter-range APAMs with cluster munitions warheads.

So what is the problem with sending Ukraine the weapon that it is even now consistently saying it desperately needs?

MR. KIRBY:  Well, first of all, Trudy, it’s great to hear your voice.  It’s been a long time since we spoke.  And I’m glad you jumped on the gaggle today.  It’s good to hear from you. 

And again, a fair question.  It was a fair question when Michael asked it. 

And what I can tell you is, again, we have had and will continue to have conversations with the Ukrainians about what they need.  Clearly, they need — right now, they need to focus on air defense systems, as Russia is trying to take advantage of this lull in Western support to overcome — to force the Ukrainians to use their air defense systems and also to target their defense industrial base. 

But we recognize that medium- and long-range capabilities are important to Ukraine.  As I said, they are getting some from other countries as well.  They did get a shorter version, APAMs, from us, as you rightly pointed out. 

And again, we’re actively talking to them about their needs going forward.  We have not taken ATACMs off the table, but I just don’t have a decision to speak to today or — and I certainly wouldn’t get into the decision-making process about that. 

Regardless, right now, we’re hamstrung.  We can’t even send Ukraine artillery shells.  So while we still talk to them about their needs — and as I said, ATACMs is not off the table from a philosophical perspective — we’re hamstrung about what we can send them writ large, anything, because we don’t have additional supplemental funding from Congress.

MODERATOR:  Next up, we’ll go to the line of Jennifer Jacobs.

Q    Hey, John.  Back on that cellphone outages again, can you say have any government communications been disrupted because of the outages? 

And then also, FirstNet was impacted.  So can you say if they can still do what it’s supposed to do at this point, which is sustain communications for first responders?

And then one other question on Navalny.  Is the President meeting with his family members today, can you say?  Thank you very much.

MR. KIRBY:  As I understand it, JJ, there was some impact to commerce, but I don’t know the extent of that.  I don’t think it was crippling, but there was some impact to commerce.  I don’t know about the Earthnet.

I’m sorry, and you had another question on this as well.

Q    On FirstNet, can it still do its mission, which is to sustain communications for first responders?

And then, on Navalny, did you say — is the President meeting with his wife and daughter today?

MR. KIRBY:  Okay.  Yeah, no, you said — I thought you said Earthnet.  But FirstNet.  So, FirstNet, which does come under Congress, was the only government equity that was impacted.  That’s what I was referring to.  I’m sorry.  I thought you said Earthnet.

And it’s our understanding that it has now been fully restored, FirstNet, as a nationwide public safety network.  So,

yes, it’s been — it was impacted, and it’s my understanding that — our understanding that it’s been fully restored. 

And as for the President, his schedule today, I don’t have anything to offer or confirm today.  Obviously, we continue to

urge Russia to do what’s right by the family, release his body, come clean on the specific manner of death, and hold themselves responsible.  We certainly hold them responsible. 

But I don’t have anything on the President’s schedule to speak to right now.

MODERATOR:  Thanks.  Next up, we’ll go to Humeyra.  You should be able to unmute yourself.

Q    Hello, hi.  Thank you, Admiral, for doing this.  You talked about Brett’s meetings.  And I’m wondering if the Israelis have presented their humanitarian and military strategy to you about — to him — about Rafah.  

And based on his meetings, can you confirm that — this Paris meeting tomorrow with Bill Burns, (inaudible) chiefs of Israel, Egypt, and Qatari prime minister on hostage talks?  Is that happening?

And again, based on Brett’s conversations, yesterday Benny Gantz talked about early promising signs in the hostage talks.  Do you share those promising signs?  Thank you.

MR. KIRBY:  Okay, lots there.

I know that Brett had a chance to meet with the war cabinet.  And as I said earlier, he absolutely was going to ask them about their plans for Rafah, where they were.  I am still, as I sit here with you today, not aware of any plan that’s been

shared with us, any specific plan that’s been shared with us.  But I know that Brett was absolutely going to talk to them about sort of where they were in the thinking on that. 

And nothing has changed about our view that any operation in Rafah, without due consideration and a credible, executable plan for the safety and security of the more than a million Palestinians that are seeking refuge in Rafah, would be a disaster.  We would not support that. 

But again, I don’t want to get ahead of where Brett’s conversations are.  As I said, he’s meeting with the families of American hostages right now.  And we just haven’t had a chance to check in with him and get, sort of, a full readout of

what he discussed in his meetings with the war cabinet. 

On the reports about a Paris meeting, I cannot confirm those reports other than to tell you that we remain fully committed to doing everything we can to get a hostage deal in place and an extended pause, a reduction in the violence, an increase in humanitarian assistance.  And that’s being worked, of course, by Brett, who is, again, in Israel today.  It has continually been a focus of our CIA Director, Bill Burns, and his efforts.  And he continues to have conversations with

interlocutors about that.  And obviously, it’s top of mind of President Biden and the entire National Security Council team. 

So I can’t confirm the specific reports about Paris, but I can absolutely reassure you that discussions are ongoing, they are active, and as I said earlier, we believe they’ve been constructive. 

And I think I missed another question in there.

Q    Hi.  Thanks for that.  No, it was — I was asking whether you share Benny Gantz’s comment that there were early promising signs about the hostage deal.  I’m asking this specifically because there is little time left for Ramadan, which is March the 10th.  So just wondering if the U.S. shares that optimism. 

MR. KIRBY:  I would just leave it the way I just did.  You know, talks have been ongoing, they’ve been active, and we believe they’ve been constructive.

MODERATOR:  We have time for a couple more.  Next up, we’ll go to Zolan Kanno-Youngs.  You should be able to unmute yourself.

Q    Hey, thanks for the opportunity to ask a question.  Thanks, John. 

I wanted to ask about this report that my colleagues just put out on this inquiry, that was eventually dropped, into potential ties between allies of President Andres Manuel López Obrador and cartel affiliates.  Did the White House know about this inquiry?  Has the administration reached out to Mexico to discuss this inquiry, either before the report today or after?

And then, just more broadly, these allegations about potential ties to the cartel, how will this impact the relationship between the Biden administration and the AMLO administration?  Thanks.

MR. KIRBY:  As I think the Department of Justice has already made clear, there is no investigation into President López Obrador.  And they at DOJ would have the responsibility to review any allegations.  So I’d have to point you to DOJ on that.

And then, separate and distinct from that discussion, obviously, we continue to work with Mr. López Obrador’s administration to do what we can to deal with this unprecedented migration in the hemisphere and the situation at the border, which continues to be a key focus for President Biden and for this administration.  Another reason why we were hopeful about that Senate deal to pass the supplemental funding, which included additional funds for security at the border. 

But again, I’d have to point you back to DOJ for anything specific.  And as they’ve already said on the record, there is no investigation into President López Obrador.

MODERATOR:  Next up for our last question, we’ll go to the line of Edward Lawrence.  You should be able to unmute yourself.

Q    Yeah.  Thanks, Sean.  Thanks, John, for doing this.  I just wanted to press you a little bit on the AT&T outage.  Was there any chatter going into this — or going after a cellphone or a cell service by state actors or non-state actors?  And any heightened awareness, and that’s the reason the FBI and DHS are looking into this?

MR. KIRBY:  And I truly don’t know the answer to that question.  I mean, I’m not aware of any chatter prior to the outage.  But again, that’s why DHS and the FBI want to look at this and see what exactly happened.  Again, it’s good that the vast majority of customers have had their service restored.  It’s good that FirstNet is back up and running.

But obviously, we got to do spadework to figure out what happened here.  But I just don’t have any intelligence to share today about any indications we had before it happened from actors external to the United States or to the government. 

We’re going to look at this really hard.  We’re going to work with industry to see what we can find out. 

But right now, we’re being told that AT&T has no reason to think that this was a cybersecurity incident.  But again, I want to be careful — we won’t know until an investigation has been completed.  And obviously, we’re going to work from the federal level to assist the network providers in doing that to the best that we can.

MODERATOR:  Thanks, everyone.  That’s all the time we have for today.  We’ll do this again soon.  Hope you have a good rest of your day.  Thanks. 

MR. KIRBY:  Thanks, everybody.

2:15 P.M. EST

The post On-the-Record Press Gaggle by White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby appeared first on The White House.

National Security Council

Via Teleconference

1:39 P.M. EST

MODERATOR:  Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for today’s on-the-record news of the day gaggle.  I will turn it over to Kirby for a few opening words, and then we’ll go to questions.

MR. KIRBY:  Thank you, Sean.  And thanks, everybody. 

I’d like to top today by speaking briefly about Iran’s deepening military partnership with Russia, which is, of course, not only harmful to Ukraine but also to Iran’s neighbors in the region and to the international community. 

Iran has been providing Russia with significant numbers of drones, guided aerial bombs, and artillery ammunition, which Russia has been using to some effect to attack Ukraine. 

In addition, and as I warned last month from the White House podium, Russia negotiations — Russian negotiations to acquire close-range ballistic missiles from Iran have been actively advancing. 

Now, just yesterday, Reuters published a story indicating that Iran has provided Russia with hundreds of ballistic missiles.  This article appears to be based on comments from Iranian government officials who are bragging about providing Russia with missiles that can be used to kill Ukrainian civilians. 

While we have been monitoring this closely, we have not seen any confirmation that missiles have actually moved from Iran to Russia.  But in this press reporting, the Iranians are clearly indicating that they will ship ballistic missiles to Russia, and we have no reason to believe that they will not follow through.

If Iran proceeds with this provision of ballistic missiles, I can assure you that the response from the international community will be swift and it will be severe.  For our part, we will take this matter to the U.N. Security Council.  We will implement additional sanctions against Iran.  And we will coordinate further response options with our allies and partners in Europe and elsewhere. 

We have demonstrated our ability to take action in response to the military partnership between Russia and Iran in the past.  We will do so in the future. 

In response to Iran’s ongoing support for Russia’s brutal war, we will be imposing additional sanctions on Iran in the coming days.  And we are prepared to go further if Iran sells ballistic missiles to Russia.

I do think it’s important to keep this issue in some sense of perspective.  It comes at a time, without new security assistance deliveries from the United States, when Ukrainian forces are rationing out their bullets and artillery shells and when they are having to make difficult decisions on the battlefield just about holding on to key terrain. 

Consider what Ukraine is up against.  Russia is receiving arms and ammunition from Iran and North Korea.  We also remain concerned about the support that PRC companies are providing to the Russian defense industrial base.  Meanwhile, the U.S. House of Representatives is leaving Ukraine to fend for themselves. 

Do not think for a moment that Vladimir Putin isn’t capitalizing on all of this.  Yep, he’s been deepening his relationship with Iran now for many months, but the potential pursuit of ballistic missiles with a range and destructive power that they could bring is further evidence that he believes Congress will not act.  He clearly believes now is his best chance to bring Ukraine to its knees, that now is the time to strike deeper behind their lines, destroying military bases and military units and their defense industry.  He’s counting on the West giving up and on Ukraine being left to fend for itself.  And the regime in Tehran is only too happy to oblige. 

So the question for Congress is: What are we willing to oblige?  Are House Republicans willing to see Ukraine fall to Russia?  Are House Republicans willing to stand aside while Iran deepens its partnership with Russia and actively participates in the killing of Ukrainians and the further destruction of that country?  Are House Republicans willing to hand Putin and the Supreme Leader such a victory?  Because that’s what this comes down to.  You can’t say that you believe in American leadership and American strength and American national defense and then embolden two leaders who are actively working to undermine those things. 

We need the supplemental bill passed now.  With each passing day, the Ukrainian frontlines are growing thinner and our own national security is increasingly being threatened.  Iran stands with Russia.  We need to stand with Ukraine. 

And let’s be clear: Iran is not helping Russia for free.  In return for Iran’s support, Russia has been offering Tehran unprecedented defense cooperation.  So, in total, Iran is seeking billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment from Russia.  This will increase the threat posed by Iran not only to the United States, but to our partners throughout the Middle East region. 

And with that, I’m happy to take some questions.

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  We’ll go to Zeke Miller from the Associated Press.

Q    Thanks, John.  I was hoping you could provide us an update on Brett McGurk’s travels in Cairo and Israel today, potentially to Paris tomorrow.  Any deliverables or outcomes of that meeting?

Separately, do you have any details — has the NSC been briefed or in contact regarding these reported cell outages or any reason to believe that they may be the result of any sort of foreign malign activity?

And then lastly, I was hoping you might be able to address reports that Estonia has disrupted a plot of some — they claim to be Russian operatives who’ve tried to destabilize the situation there.  And is there any planned response on Russia as a result of that?  Thank you.

MR. KIRBY:  Thanks, Zeke.  There’s a lot there.

So, on Brett: Brett had a good couple of hours with counterparts in Cairo yesterday.  Today in Israel, he met

independently with Prime Minister Netanyahu.  He also met with Defense Minister Gallant, as well as other members of the war cabinet, including their leaders from Israel’s intelligence agency.

He is, as we speak, meeting with family members of the American hostages.  We have not gotten a full readout of his discussions yet.  He’s, obviously, actively engaged right now.  So he’s, again, doing a very important meeting with the hostage families. 

But the initial indications we’re getting from Brett are these discussions are going well.  They are constructive.  He is, obviously, keenly focused on trying to see if we can’t cement a hostage deal for an extended pause to get all of those hostages home where they belong and get a reduction in the violence so that we can get more humanitarian assistance. 

And obviously, nothing is done until everything is done, and not everything is done in that regard.  But Brett is working really hard on that.  And he’s also talking to the war cabinet, too, about their thinking on Rafah.

So, pretty substantive set of meetings for him, and they’re ongoing.  And that’s about the best I can give you for where we are right now. 

On the AT&T issue, or the cellular network issue: As I understand it, Zeke, the FCC has been in touch with AT&T, and those conversations are ongoing, and they’re trying to kind of figure out what exactly happened here.

I don’t think all networks have been restored, but as my understanding is that everybody but AT&T is back up and running completely right now.

I also can tell you that DHS and the FBI are looking into this as well, working with the tech industry, these network providers, to see what we can do from a federal perspective to lend hand to their investigative efforts to figure out what happened here. 

But the bottom line is, Zeke, we don’t have all the answers to that.  I mean, this just happened earlier today.  And so, we’re working very hard to see if we can get to ground truth of exactly what happened, not to mention I know folks in the industry are working hard to get restoration of services to those that are still without those services. 

You know, as you mentioned — Poland and Estonia.  They just recently announced the arrest of individuals that had been planning sabotage activities on what is believed to be on behalf of Russia’s security services.  And we’re certainly concerned by these activities.  But we obviously commend our Polish and Estonian law enforcement colleagues for taking these actions and for doing it swiftly and effectively. 

We believe that these arrests send a very clear message that individuals who participate in Russian sabotage activities inside Europe are going to be held to account.  And again, we applaud the work being done by law enforcement in both Poland and Estonia to get to that.

MODERATOR:  Next up, we’ll go to Gabe Gutierrez.  You should be able to unmute yourself.

Q    Hey there.  Thanks so much for doing this.  John, I have a few. 

First of all, I want to get your reaction to the Kremlin saying that President Biden was trying to appear as a “Hollywood cowboy” following his remarks last night calling Vladimir Putin a “crazy SOB.” 

And then, I also want to ask about Aleksey Navalny.  His mother now saying that Russian authorities are trying to blackmail her to avoid a large memorial service.  She says she saw her son’s body.  I want to get your reaction to that. 

And then, finally, on that dual national that is being detained in Russia, her boyfriend now says she went over there in early January.  Her employer says she donated $51 to a Ukrainian charity.  What is the NSC tracking regarding that case?  And is it acceptable that she’s being detained for treason?

MR. KIRBY:  Obviously, I’m limited, Gabe, as to what I can talk about when it comes to campaign comments.  But what I’ll say is — and you’ve heard this from — you’ve heard from the President throughout his trip — we have serious national security concerns, particularly where it comes — when it comes to Russia on a range of issues, from what they’re doing in Ukraine to, of course, this potential development of an anti-satellite capability, to this burgeoning relationship with Iran, which I just spent quite a bit of time in the opening statement talking about, and other efforts that they are effecting to try to undermine the international order that we and our allies built after World War Two. 

And the President is focused keenly on those national security interests.  And when he speaks about the threats and the challenges coming from Vladimir Putin and from Russia, he speaks not only from a visceral sense of the seriousness of the danger, but also from the perspective of a man who has been involved in foreign policy for the vast majority of his public service.  And he knows what he’s talking about.  He knows these leaders; he knows these challenges.  And he speaks about them plainly and directly, because that is exactly how we need to look at the threat posed by Russia: plainly, directly, transparently.  And that’s what he’s doing. 

And while he’s out there talking about the threats and challenges from Russia, the House Republicans are on recess.  While he’s out there talking about what we need to counter — what Russia is doing with Iran, what Russia is doing in Ukraine, what Russia is doing elsewhere, in cyberspace and in space — the House Republicans are doing nothing.  And that’s what we’re focused on. 

Now, I can’t confirm the reports of blackmail, that you mentioned, to the mother of Aleksey Navalny.  I mean, I’ve seen the reporting on that, but we’re not in a position to confirm that it’s true.  Nevertheless, this is the man’s mother.  It’s not enough that she gets to see the body of her son; she should be able to collect the body of her son so that she can properly memorialize her son and her son’s bravery and courage and service, and do all the things that any mother would want to do for a son lost in such a tragic way. 

The Russians need to give her back her son, and they need to answer for what befell — specifically what befell Mr. Navalny, and ato- — and acknowledge that they, in fact, are responsible for his demise.

I don’t have anything additional on the dual national that was arrested in Russia.  Again, we’re somewhat limited as to what we can talk about here, out of privacy concerns.  But I can tell you that we’re watching this very, very closely.  Our embassy in Moscow is working very hard to see what they can do in terms of getting more information here.  We are deeply concerned about this.  But again, because of privacy concerns, I’m limited to how much more I can offer.

MODERATOR:  Thanks.  Next up, we’ll go to Aurelia End.  You should be able to unmute yourself.

Q    Hi, thanks.  Thanks for taking my question.  John, can you confirm — first question — that the President is endorsing Mark Rutte as next boss of NATO?

And second question: If you could give us not a preview but tell us something about the major sanctions package that we’re awaiting tomorrow.  Thanks.

MR. KIRBY:  What I can tell you on Mr. Rutte is that the United States has made it clear to our Allies, our NATO Allies, that we believe Mr. Rutte would be an excellent Secretary General for NATO.

And I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to go into more detail about the sanctions package that you can expect us to announce tomorrow.  As you know, we never get ahead — it’s just policy that we never, for obvious reasons, get ahead of specific entities that are going to be sanctioned and/or individuals that will be included in that regime.

I would point you to the Treasury Department.  And I understand that they’ll have more to say about this.  But we’re not going to get ahead of that.

MODERATOR:  Next up, we’ll go to Michael Gordon.  You should be able to unmute yourself.

Q    John, my question is: Since, as you pointed out, North Korea is providing ballistic missiles to Russia for use in Ukraine, and Iran may be moving to do so, why has the Biden administration not decided to provide longer-range 300-kilometer unitary round ATACMs to Ukraine as a counter to the systems that you’re concerned about?  The Pentagon still has some drawdown authority, and it has over a thousand of these systems.  What’s the thinking behind that? 

And you talk about responding to such actions with sanctions, but why not respond with — why wouldn’t providing such ATACM systems be a useful counter?

MR. KIRBY:  Well, the first thing I’d say, Michael, is we have responded with a whole hell of a lot more than sanctions over the last two years.  The United States continues to lead the world in security assistance to Ukraine, although we are now not able to provide that security assistance without the supplemental funding.  But prior to Congress failing to do its job, we were leading the world in contributions across a range of systems — from short, medium, to long range — and of course, artillery ammunition, ground vehicles, armored vehicles, you name it. 

So I simply refuse to accept the premise that we’ve only relied on sanctions to increase the pressure on Russia in terms of their fighting on the ground in Ukraine. 

The second thing I’d say is: We have provided a version of ATACMs.  As you know, the APAMs have been provided to Ukraine, and they have used them to good effect. 

And the third thing I’d say is: We never took ATACMs off the table.  They are still part and parcel of the discussions that we’ve been having with Ukraine.  Ukraine does have the ability and has been provided similarly long-range capabilities by other countries, and we are still having conversations with the Ukrainians about the longer form — longer-range version of ATACMs.  Nobody has taken that off the table. 

And you mentioned the drawdown authority.  Yes, there’s existing drawdown authority.  But as I mentioned a couple of days ago, there’s no replenishment authority that goes with it.  And that’s critical for our own needs, for our own national security requirements.  That replenishment authority is not something to just be blown off.  It very much and should factor prominently in the drawdown packages that we have and hopefully will be able to provide Ukraine in the future, because it affects our own national security by the ability to replenish our own stocks. 

So I guess that’s where I’ll leave it.

Q    Okay.

MODERATOR:  Thanks.  Next up, we’ll go to the line of James Rosen.  You should be able to unmute yourself.

Q    Thank you.  Sean and Admiral Kirby, thank you both.  I have two questions.  One on Russia/Ukraine, the other on Israel/ Hamas. 

And to the delight of my listeners and my many critics, the second question will be much shorter than the first.

On Russia/Ukraine, this situation with the supplemental spending package brings to mind for me the words of the late Henry Kissinger, who once said of Chile, “I don’t see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its people.” 

For nearly six months now, President Biden and his top aides, you included, have warned that the security of the United States and its allies, indeed the stability of the global geopolitical order, will be severely compromised, perhaps irreparably damaged, if U.S. funding for Ukraine is not swiftly renewed. 

So if the consequences of such inaction pose such an existential threat to the safety and security of the United States and the Western alliance, why is President Biden, by his own account, standing by and allowing the irresponsibility of a small faction of the U.S. Congress to place the entire world order in such jeopardy?  Shouldn’t he be finding some other way, overt or covert, to get Ukraine what it needs?

MR. KIRBY:  Thanks.  I mean, I kind of addressed this before.  And this kind of gets a little bit to Michael Gordon’s question a little bit ago.  There’s no magic pot of money here.  You know, supporting Ukraine requires resources, resources that we do not have right now.  And we have helped support Ukraine to a fare-thee-well over the last two years.  We absolutely have to make sure that, in so doing, we don’t sacrifice our own national security and that we still have sufficient stocks and inventory of weapons and systems to defend global interests around the world. 

Now, that’s a tough balance to strike, and we’ve been striking it quite well over the last two years with the support of Congress.  We need Congress to act.  We cannot just wish this money into existence.  We cannot just find it under a couch cushion.  We absolutely need Congress to put forward legislative funding in order for us to continue to support Ukraine. 

And the idea — the notion that we’re just sitting back on our hands doing nothing is — simply flies in the face of the facts.  We have been working diligently with members of Congress, both sides of the aisle, both chambers, to try to get this funding through.  The President submitted that supplemental funding back in August, for crying out loud.  And here we are in February, and the House Republicans decided to go on vacation. 

So we’re working really, really hard.  We’re doing everything we can to get this over the finish line.  But ultimately, you know, it requires a co-equal branch of government, the legislature, Congress, to legislate this money so that we can spend it not only for Ukraine and for Ukrainian soldiers, but for our own national security. 

Q    So just as a follow-up on this quickly, before I advance to the Israel/Hamas question: I guess what you’re saying is we need for the American people to understand and we need our allies to understand that the President is willing to allow the legalities here to override the security exigencies.

MR. KIRBY:  The counter to what you’re suggesting is that we should somehow send a message to the American people and to our allies that we don’t believe in the rule of law, that we don’t believe in the importance of having appropriated funding to support our national security needs. 

I mean, my goodness, the Constitution is built on that whole foundation.  And the President believes in the power of the Constitution; he believes in the power of a co-equal branch of government, in the Congress.  And in working with the Congress, he’s got a lot of experience doing that. 

It matters how you do things, not just what you do.  And the President is going to continue to obey the law and to work with Congress on establishing law, legislation — funding, in this case — that meets our national security needs.

Q    On the Mideast: So that the context and the stakes should be sufficiently clear for all to see, is the war between Israel and Hamas properly viewed as one between the forces of good and the forces of evil?

MR. KIRBY:  I think there’s no question that Hamas is evil.  I don’t even think that that’s up for debate.  I mean, look at what they did on the 7th of October.  Read — please, go read.  I say this all the time, but I encourage — go read their 2017 manifesto and the one that they put out about 10 years before that.  You can’t read that manifesto and not think that this is a terrorist organization with truly genocidal inclinations against Israel and the Israeli people.  And what they did on the 7th of October, you cannot look at anything from that day and not come away believing that this group is evil.

MODERATOR:  Next up, we’ll go to the line of Laura Kelly.  You should be able to unmute yourself.

We don’t seem to have Laura.  We’ll go to the line of Trudy Rubin.

Q    Hi.  Thanks, John.  I just want to follow up on Michael Gordon’s question.  We not only have stocks of long-range ATACMs, but also Lockheed Martin has an active production line and exported 500 last year, including to places like Morocco. 

The Ukrainians feel that these weapons are essential right now, especially in the area where they’re having success in the Black Sea and Crimea. 

So, again, I want to ask, why are we still only keeping this issue on the table?  For the last year, there have been repeated stories that ATACMs were going to be sent, and then all that was sent was the shorter-range APAMs with cluster munitions warheads.

So what is the problem with sending Ukraine the weapon that it is even now consistently saying it desperately needs?

MR. KIRBY:  Well, first of all, Trudy, it’s great to hear your voice.  It’s been a long time since we spoke.  And I’m glad you jumped on the gaggle today.  It’s good to hear from you. 

And again, a fair question.  It was a fair question when Michael asked it. 

And what I can tell you is, again, we have had and will continue to have conversations with the Ukrainians about what they need.  Clearly, they need — right now, they need to focus on air defense systems, as Russia is trying to take advantage of this lull in Western support to overcome — to force the Ukrainians to use their air defense systems and also to target their defense industrial base. 

But we recognize that medium- and long-range capabilities are important to Ukraine.  As I said, they are getting some from other countries as well.  They did get a shorter version, APAMs, from us, as you rightly pointed out. 

And again, we’re actively talking to them about their needs going forward.  We have not taken ATACMs off the table, but I just don’t have a decision to speak to today or — and I certainly wouldn’t get into the decision-making process about that. 

Regardless, right now, we’re hamstrung.  We can’t even send Ukraine artillery shells.  So while we still talk to them about their needs — and as I said, ATACMs is not off the table from a philosophical perspective — we’re hamstrung about what we can send them writ large, anything, because we don’t have additional supplemental funding from Congress.

MODERATOR:  Next up, we’ll go to the line of Jennifer Jacobs.

Q    Hey, John.  Back on that cellphone outages again, can you say have any government communications been disrupted because of the outages? 

And then also, FirstNet was impacted.  So can you say if they can still do what it’s supposed to do at this point, which is sustain communications for first responders?

And then one other question on Navalny.  Is the President meeting with his family members today, can you say?  Thank you very much.

MR. KIRBY:  As I understand it, JJ, there was some impact to commerce, but I don’t know the extent of that.  I don’t think it was crippling, but there was some impact to commerce.  I don’t know about the Earthnet.

I’m sorry, and you had another question on this as well.

Q    On FirstNet, can it still do its mission, which is to sustain communications for first responders?

And then, on Navalny, did you say — is the President meeting with his wife and daughter today?

MR. KIRBY:  Okay.  Yeah, no, you said — I thought you said Earthnet.  But FirstNet.  So, FirstNet, which does come under Congress, was the only government equity that was impacted.  That’s what I was referring to.  I’m sorry.  I thought you said Earthnet.

And it’s our understanding that it has now been fully restored, FirstNet, as a nationwide public safety network.  So,

yes, it’s been — it was impacted, and it’s my understanding that — our understanding that it’s been fully restored. 

And as for the President, his schedule today, I don’t have anything to offer or confirm today.  Obviously, we continue to

urge Russia to do what’s right by the family, release his body, come clean on the specific manner of death, and hold themselves responsible.  We certainly hold them responsible. 

But I don’t have anything on the President’s schedule to speak to right now.

MODERATOR:  Thanks.  Next up, we’ll go to Humeyra.  You should be able to unmute yourself.

Q    Hello, hi.  Thank you, Admiral, for doing this.  You talked about Brett’s meetings.  And I’m wondering if the Israelis have presented their humanitarian and military strategy to you about — to him — about Rafah.  

And based on his meetings, can you confirm that — this Paris meeting tomorrow with Bill Burns, (inaudible) chiefs of Israel, Egypt, and Qatari prime minister on hostage talks?  Is that happening?

And again, based on Brett’s conversations, yesterday Benny Gantz talked about early promising signs in the hostage talks.  Do you share those promising signs?  Thank you.

MR. KIRBY:  Okay, lots there.

I know that Brett had a chance to meet with the war cabinet.  And as I said earlier, he absolutely was going to ask them about their plans for Rafah, where they were.  I am still, as I sit here with you today, not aware of any plan that’s been

shared with us, any specific plan that’s been shared with us.  But I know that Brett was absolutely going to talk to them about sort of where they were in the thinking on that. 

And nothing has changed about our view that any operation in Rafah, without due consideration and a credible, executable plan for the safety and security of the more than a million Palestinians that are seeking refuge in Rafah, would be a disaster.  We would not support that. 

But again, I don’t want to get ahead of where Brett’s conversations are.  As I said, he’s meeting with the families of American hostages right now.  And we just haven’t had a chance to check in with him and get, sort of, a full readout of

what he discussed in his meetings with the war cabinet. 

On the reports about a Paris meeting, I cannot confirm those reports other than to tell you that we remain fully committed to doing everything we can to get a hostage deal in place and an extended pause, a reduction in the violence, an increase in humanitarian assistance.  And that’s being worked, of course, by Brett, who is, again, in Israel today.  It has continually been a focus of our CIA Director, Bill Burns, and his efforts.  And he continues to have conversations with

interlocutors about that.  And obviously, it’s top of mind of President Biden and the entire National Security Council team. 

So I can’t confirm the specific reports about Paris, but I can absolutely reassure you that discussions are ongoing, they are active, and as I said earlier, we believe they’ve been constructive. 

And I think I missed another question in there.

Q    Hi.  Thanks for that.  No, it was — I was asking whether you share Benny Gantz’s comment that there were early promising signs about the hostage deal.  I’m asking this specifically because there is little time left for Ramadan, which is March the 10th.  So just wondering if the U.S. shares that optimism. 

MR. KIRBY:  I would just leave it the way I just did.  You know, talks have been ongoing, they’ve been active, and we believe they’ve been constructive.

MODERATOR:  We have time for a couple more.  Next up, we’ll go to Zolan Kanno-Youngs.  You should be able to unmute yourself.

Q    Hey, thanks for the opportunity to ask a question.  Thanks, John. 

I wanted to ask about this report that my colleagues just put out on this inquiry, that was eventually dropped, into potential ties between allies of President Andres Manuel López Obrador and cartel affiliates.  Did the White House know about this inquiry?  Has the administration reached out to Mexico to discuss this inquiry, either before the report today or after?

And then, just more broadly, these allegations about potential ties to the cartel, how will this impact the relationship between the Biden administration and the AMLO administration?  Thanks.

MR. KIRBY:  As I think the Department of Justice has already made clear, there is no investigation into President López Obrador.  And they at DOJ would have the responsibility to review any allegations.  So I’d have to point you to DOJ on that.

And then, separate and distinct from that discussion, obviously, we continue to work with Mr. López Obrador’s administration to do what we can to deal with this unprecedented migration in the hemisphere and the situation at the border, which continues to be a key focus for President Biden and for this administration.  Another reason why we were hopeful about that Senate deal to pass the supplemental funding, which included additional funds for security at the border. 

But again, I’d have to point you back to DOJ for anything specific.  And as they’ve already said on the record, there is no investigation into President López Obrador.

MODERATOR:  Next up for our last question, we’ll go to the line of Edward Lawrence.  You should be able to unmute yourself.

Q    Yeah.  Thanks, Sean.  Thanks, John, for doing this.  I just wanted to press you a little bit on the AT&T outage.  Was there any chatter going into this — or going after a cellphone or a cell service by state actors or non-state actors?  And any heightened awareness, and that’s the reason the FBI and DHS are looking into this?

MR. KIRBY:  And I truly don’t know the answer to that question.  I mean, I’m not aware of any chatter prior to the outage.  But again, that’s why DHS and the FBI want to look at this and see what exactly happened.  Again, it’s good that the vast majority of customers have had their service restored.  It’s good that FirstNet is back up and running.

But obviously, we got to do spadework to figure out what happened here.  But I just don’t have any intelligence to share today about any indications we had before it happened from actors external to the United States or to the government. 

We’re going to look at this really hard.  We’re going to work with industry to see what we can find out. 

But right now, we’re being told that AT&T has no reason to think that this was a cybersecurity incident.  But again, I want to be careful — we won’t know until an investigation has been completed.  And obviously, we’re going to work from the federal level to assist the network providers in doing that to the best that we can.

MODERATOR:  Thanks, everyone.  That’s all the time we have for today.  We’ll do this again soon.  Hope you have a good rest of your day.  Thanks. 

MR. KIRBY:  Thanks, everybody.

2:15 P.M. EST

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President Biden met with Yulia and Dasha Navalnaya today in San Francisco to express his heartfelt condolences for their terrible loss following the death of Aleksey Navalny in a Russian prison.  The President expressed his admiration for Aleksey Navalny’s extraordinary courage and his legacy of fighting against corruption and for a free and democratic Russia in which the rule of law applies equally to everyone. The President emphasized that Aleksey’s legacy will carry on through people across Russia and around the world mourning his loss and fighting for freedom, democracy, and human rights. He affirmed that his Administration will announce major new sanctions against Russia tomorrow in response to Aleksey’s death, Russia’s repression and aggression, and its brutal and illegal war in Ukraine. 

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President Biden met with Yulia and Dasha Navalnaya today in San Francisco to express his heartfelt condolences for their terrible loss following the death of Aleksey Navalny in a Russian prison.  The President expressed his admiration for Aleksey Navalny’s extraordinary courage and his legacy of fighting against corruption and for a free and democratic Russia in which the rule of law applies equally to everyone. The President emphasized that Aleksey’s legacy will carry on through people across Russia and around the world mourning his loss and fighting for freedom, democracy, and human rights. He affirmed that his Administration will announce major new sanctions against Russia tomorrow in response to Aleksey’s death, Russia’s repression and aggression, and its brutal and illegal war in Ukraine. 

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Today, in 2024 in America, women are being turned away from emergency rooms and forced to travel hundreds of miles for health care, while doctors fear prosecution for providing an abortion. And now, a court in Alabama put access to some fertility treatments at risk for families who are desperately trying to get pregnant. The disregard for women’s ability to make these decisions for themselves and their families is outrageous and unacceptable.
 
Make no mistake: this is a direct result of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
 
I know that folks are worried about what they’re seeing happening to women all across America. I am too. I hear about it everywhere I go. My message is: The Vice President and I are fighting for your rights. We’re fighting for the freedom of women, for families, and for doctors who care for these women. And we won’t stop until we restore the protections of Roe v. Wade in federal law for all women in every state.

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Today, in 2024 in America, women are being turned away from emergency rooms and forced to travel hundreds of miles for health care, while doctors fear prosecution for providing an abortion. And now, a court in Alabama put access to some fertility treatments at risk for families who are desperately trying to get pregnant. The disregard for women’s ability to make these decisions for themselves and their families is outrageous and unacceptable.
 
Make no mistake: this is a direct result of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
 
I know that folks are worried about what they’re seeing happening to women all across America. I am too. I hear about it everywhere I go. My message is: The Vice President and I are fighting for your rights. We’re fighting for the freedom of women, for families, and for doctors who care for these women. And we won’t stop until we restore the protections of Roe v. Wade in federal law for all women in every state.

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