| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
|
unidentified
|
In a room where we've been working on a really hard decision discussing a big policy choice, and I have spoken up and said, you know, I don't know how we're going to go out, or I don't know how I'm going to go out and explain that to the press. | |
| It appears to be in contradiction of something we've said in the past or something we've done in the past. | ||
| And we have gone back to the drawing board based on that feedback loop to make sure that the decision that we make is one that we can actually stand behind and one that we can defend. | ||
| That is a process that produces better results for the American people, and it's one that only works because all of you are here to hold our feet to the fire. | ||
| So as I exit this podium for the last time, I do so in hopes that this tradition of the State Department spokesperson standing behind this lectern and taking your questions is one that will continue both into the next administration and beyond because our government is better for it, our country is better for it, and the world is better for it. | ||
| Thank you all. | ||
| I will take you immediately to the White House, where Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is speaking to reporters shortly after President Biden addressed the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. | ||
| This is her final White House briefing. | ||
| We joined it in progress. | ||
| And certainly we'll have more to share on that as well. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you for serving as Press Secretary and answering our questions for the last couple of years. | |
| A couple quick ones just to clarify some things, probably yes or no. | ||
| I know you have no readout of any calls between President Biden and President-elect Trump. | ||
| Just declaratively, can you say no, there has not been a call between them or in any of the last two weeks on this specific topic of Israel? | ||
| Look, I have not asked that question, so I don't want to get ahead of myself here. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes or no for anybody else. | |
| You always give me homework, Peter. | ||
| Every time I come, you always tell me, can you come back and tell me? | ||
| 24-7, 24-7, yeah. | ||
|
unidentified
|
If I can ask you briefly about tonight's address, if you can take us into that room, who is going to be in attendance? | |
| I trust the First Lady. | ||
| Will family members be there? | ||
| Who else will be there? | ||
| And is there anything else around the campaign? | ||
| It's a very good question. | ||
| We'll have more color for you later on in the evening. | ||
| What I can say is the President is certainly very much looking forward to this moment, speaking directly to the American people. | ||
| It's not every day you get to do an oval address. | ||
| He gets to do another oval address, obviously his last one, in prime time. | ||
| And so we will certainly have more color of who's going to be in the room and what that will look like as we get closer. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And then last question, I'll leave it to my colleagues: is it's tradition that at the end of the year the president would do a news conference in advance of departure. | |
| The president would take questions on a variety of different topics. | ||
| What was the decision making? | ||
| Why did this president decide not to do either of those before his departure? | ||
| I think the president, especially in the past couple of days, has been pretty much engaging with all of you, taking questions. | ||
| He did it today. | ||
| He himself wanted to stand up a moment to talk about the economy, but also take your questions just a couple of days ago. | ||
| That is something that he wanted to do. | ||
| And your colleagues took, wait, let me finish. | ||
| Your colleagues asked some really important questions that he was able to answer, an array of questions. | ||
| And what I can say is I don't have anything to preview at this time, but certainly he's going to continue to engage with all of you. | ||
| And, you know, we have been, you know, he's been very much involved in going back and forth with all of you in the past couple of days. | ||
| And that is something that he wanted to make sure that he did that. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Were there any concerns about his public performance in a setting like that? | |
| Well, I mean, I think The issue that I have with that question, Peter, is that he literally did a press conference with all of you days ago with some of your colleagues and took multiple. | ||
|
unidentified
|
It's different, you know, than an hour-long press conference. | |
| That's why I asked him. | ||
| I mean, look, but he took questions. | ||
| He took questions on an array of issues, went back and forth, and he took questions today. | ||
| He's been pretty consistent over the past couple of days in doing that. | ||
| And that shows his performance, that those are questions that he doesn't know what you guys are going to ask. | ||
| And he takes them and he answers them. | ||
| And I think that is something that is important to him. | ||
| This goes back to the freedom of the press, understanding how important you all are to our democracy, and understanding how having that continuation of a back and forth, even when we don't agree, is important. | ||
| And so I'm pretty sure you all will continue to hear from him in the last couple of days of his administration, and he certainly looks forward to it. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Corinne, we're sort of dancing around who gets to take credit for this deal. | |
| No one's dancing around here. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The State Department briefed our colleagues that President Trump was critical in getting this deal over the line. | |
| Do you not agree with that statement? | ||
| I mean, look, I'm not going to speak to a random person. | ||
| I don't know who this person is. | ||
| I'm not going to. | ||
| What I can say is, look, obviously Matt Miller will speak for himself. | ||
| What I can say is there are steps that were taken here that is really important and critical, and that started with this president starting a framework that was agreed upon by the world back in May. | ||
| And that was because of this president. | ||
| That was because he was able to lay out his thoughts, his thinking on how to move forward with this negotiation. | ||
| What I said before, this is someone who understands foreign policy as I'm talking about the president. | ||
| He understands how difficult it is, and this was not an easy one. | ||
| And so he has the experience, he was able to get that going, to get that started. | ||
| So this has been going on for some time. | ||
| It has. | ||
| I mean, that's just the reality of it. | ||
| That is just the facts of it. | ||
| Have we been coordinating and working closely with the Trump administration, the incoming Trump administration, their transition team? | ||
| Yes. | ||
| And we've been very forthcoming about that. | ||
| But the fact of the matter is, it took someone who has the experience that this president had to get this going, to get this moving, to understand what negotiations look like. | ||
| And that's what this president was able to bring to the table. | ||
| And it got done under his watch. | ||
| It got done today. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And then, secondly, obviously, this is a really big day on the foreign policy and national security front. | |
| This is your last briefing or the administration's last briefing. | ||
| Is there a reason why John Kirby isn't here to take our questions? | ||
| So look, I just mentioned that Brett McGurk is going to be holding a National Security Council is holding up a call. | ||
| I think that's going to be really important. | ||
| They will talk more about the implementation of this. | ||
| National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan was just here two days ago on Monday and I think kind of laid out a really good framework for all of this, the thinking process, how this was going to move forward. | ||
| And Brett McGurk is on the ground. | ||
| He has all of the information. | ||
| He has been there at the direction of this president, certainly with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan leading that effort. | ||
| And so he's going to have a lot more information than any of us here will have because he's been on the ground understanding, working with the negotiators and understanding how this process has worked. | ||
| So that's how this works. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
You said that you wish your successor luck. | |
| Have you had any extensive conversations with her about Java? | ||
| I have it. | ||
| I have it. | ||
| But I'm not the only White House press secretary or soon-to-be former White House Press Secretary out there. | ||
| So I'm sure there are many people for her to connect with and speak with, but I have not had a conversation with her. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thanks, Green. | |
| How many Americans are going to be in the first tranche and when will they start coming out? | ||
| It's a good question. | ||
| That's why Brett McGurk is going to be holding this National Security Council call. | ||
| He will have all of that information. | ||
| The president even said the same thing when he was asked a similar question that we will have more details to share. | ||
| And so the National Security Council, Brett McGurk, will share that with all of you, hopefully momentarily once this is done. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I'm confused from why we're having the last briefing of the administration on what's been one of the defining wars of this presidency without being able to answer those questions. | |
| I just said he's going to hold a press call and he'll take your questions on that. | ||
| I think that's important to hear directly from the person who's on the ground. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I think that's an important thing to do. | |
| We were under the impression that there were folks here in the building who had those answers who could tell us. | ||
| Well, National Security Council is holding up a call so that Brett McGurk can get on that call and take your questions. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Okay. | |
| Why is it that you seem unwilling to extend any credit to Trump for this deal? | ||
| Couldn't he just have said, you know, hold off until I'm in office? | ||
| What I will say is that what we know to be true, what we know this process, how it has moved over the past eight months, this is a deal that happened under the framework that this president put forward and was endorsed by the world. | ||
| And this is also an administration that has had certainly the support, the back of Israel that helped denigrate Hamas, their military severely, weaken them. | ||
| And we created, because of also being doing that, we created the conditions for this deal. |