| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
| at Taylor Popolars and at Spectrum News DC. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Mr. Popolars, thanks for your time. | |
| Thanks, Pedro. | ||
| Again, open forum. | ||
| If you want to participate, let's hear from Kim in New York. | ||
| Democrats line, thank you for waiting. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Go ahead. | |
| I can't even believe what I just heard from your, I'm sorry, I had a statement, but just listening to what your reporter just reported on proves exactly what this man's agenda has been all about from the day one. | ||
| His message has been completely clear what he wants to do. | ||
| He's all about dismantling and he's all about hate. | ||
| He's against the very marginalized people in this country. | ||
| He wants to devastate and destroy the very movement and growth of this country. | ||
| He wants to set us back to a time and a place where certain groups of people don't have a voice. | ||
| Even the lies and the misinformation that has been given throughout this world and what is happening, the people that he's brought on that actually wants to continue. | ||
| Thank you, sir. | ||
|
unidentified
|
All right. | |
| How are you doing? | ||
| Matt Lee. | ||
|
unidentified
|
How are you? | |
| Nice to see Andrea Mitchell here again. | ||
| Thank you, ma'am. | ||
| I'm here after a rather big trip. | ||
| All right. | ||
| So are we set? | ||
| Everybody good? | ||
| Great. | ||
| So I'm going to start with a little bit of a statement here today. | ||
| Welcome aboard, everyone. | ||
| Nadia, nice to see you. | ||
| During my first briefing, I said that under President Trump, peace through strength is back. | ||
| That was clear from day one. | ||
| Under this administration, the 11 days since my first briefing have further proven it. | ||
| In an important advancement for peace, America's top diplomat, Secretary Marco Rubio, and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz traveled to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to meet with the Ukrainian delegation. | ||
| As a result, Ukraine expressed readiness to accept the U.S. proposal to enact an immediate interim 30-day ceasefire to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. | ||
| The ball is now in Russia's court, and even more advances have been made after Envoy Witkoff's visit there as well. | ||
| Following this historic meeting, Secretary Rubio traveled to the G7 in Canada, where our partners expressed support for a swift end and a durable end to this conflict. | ||
| And as we pursued peace, our nation also showed strength. | ||
| Under the President's direction, this administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to initiate the removal of hundreds of dangerous members of the Etrende Roi, a vicious, violent foreign terrorist organization, which has been threatening our nation, conducting irregular warfare and terrorizing Americans. | ||
| We express our sincere gratitude to President Bukele of El Salvador for playing a pivotal role in this transfer. | ||
| As Secretary Rubio said, once again, President Bukele has shown he is not only the strongest security leader in our region, he's also a great friend of the United States. | ||
| In our fight against terrorists, President Trump ordered the launch of decisive and powerful U.S. military deterrence operations against the Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists in Yemen. | ||
| Following the strikes, Secretary Rubio noted that the President, quote, sent a powerful and clear message. | ||
| These attacks on U.S. vessels and global shipping must stop, and we will hold you accountable. | ||
| We will protect our people and freedom of navigation. | ||
| In furtherance of President Trump's maximum pressure policy on the Iranian regime, last week the State Department announced sanctions on Iran's oil minister and shadow fleet that facilitate Iran's illicit crude oil trade. | ||
| These actions were taken to stop the flow of revenue to the Iranian regime that uses to fuel conflict in the Middle East, advances its nuclear program, and supports its terrorist proxies. | ||
| In addition, the State Department will consider revoking the visas of foreigners who have supported Hamas and unleashed anti-Semitic harassment, intimidation, vandalism, and violence on America's college campuses. | ||
| As Secretary Rubio said on March 6th, those who support designated terrorist organizations, including Hamas, threaten U.S. national security. | ||
| And we intend to use the Department's broad authority to revoke visas when information comes to light indicating a visa holder may be inadmissible or ineligible under U.S. immigration law. | ||
| Here's the bottom line. | ||
| Secretary Rubio's State Department remains committed to advancing the national interests of the United States. | ||
| Peace through strength is back. | ||
| Not that we have a lot of things to discuss, and I see it all on your faces, but it is good to be back. | ||
| I've been away for, I don't know, 10 days now or so, but I'm looking forward to answering your questions. | ||
| We will begin again with Matt Lee. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Tammy. | |
| I had three process-y kind of questions, but for the sake of my colleagues, and I know there's a lot to ask. | ||
| I'll break it down to two. | ||
| They'll be very brief. | ||
| One, on the South African ambassador, who the Secretary declared PNG on Friday, the South Africans seem to be a little bit miffed that they learned about this from an ex-host. | ||
| And I understand there was a meeting at which a formal diplomatic note explaining this was handed over. | ||
| What day was that, the meeting? | ||
| Well, it was the same day of the announcement, yes. | ||
| So after Secretary Rubio made his decision, our senior-level diplomats convoked the South African embassy staff for an in-person meeting at the State Department. | ||
| At this meeting, our officials delivered the official notification of Ambassador Rasul's persona non-grata status, and it was done. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Okay. | |
| And I understand that his privileges and immunities expire today, and then he has to leave by Friday? | ||
| That's right. | ||
| So he has, for these three days that passed, he's had his privileges, but those did expire today. | ||
| And he has, technically, it's a week from the notice, and so that expires now on Friday. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Okay. | |
| He'll need to be out of the country. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Okay. | |
| And then my second one is what you mentioned before on the AEA, the Alien Enemies Act. | ||
| As you know, as this building certainly knows, there are several provisions that have to, or several criteria that have to be met in order to invoke this. | ||
| One is there being a declaration of war with the country in which this force is from, or that the invasion or incursion, or however you want to call it, is being orchestrated or influenced by a sovereign state. | ||
| Does the U.S. now regard Nicolas Maduro as the legitimate head of state of Venezuela? | ||
| And secondly, if you do, or even if you don't, are Maduro and the state of Venezuela now covered by the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act? | ||
| You know, just before I came up here, my colleague, Caroline Levitt, had a great deal to say about this. | ||
| This belongs at the White House. | ||
| This is a dynamic that's happening out of the White House. | ||
| Well, but I also, in addition to that fact of referring you back to the White House and to DHS regarding this, this is in the courts. | ||
| And as you know, I'm not going to pontificate on or guess or muse about what's going on with the courts at this point. | ||
| So clearly, the White House has been very transparent. | ||
| Caroline was very clear this afternoon about their approach. | ||
| Clearly, they feel that this is something they want to litigate and they're going to. | ||
| And for the good of the American public, it's an important thing to do. | ||
| Everything we know that the Trump administration is doing, certainly President Trump himself and his team, is in the interests of the United States. | ||
| I understand. | ||
| And that's why he was elected. | ||
| People are excited about the nature of the actions that we're taking swiftly, and this is one of them. | ||
| And we will see it play out in court, and that's the extent of what I'll say. | ||
|
unidentified
|
My question is not about. | |
| So now there's a third section. | ||
| I thought you said you were going to forego the third part. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I'd just like to have an answer to the first question. | |
| Does the U.S. consider Nicolas Maduro to be the right to be able to do it? | ||
| I'm not going to discuss with you again a national issue that belongs both with the White House and the Secretary himself, so I'm not going to be able to remark on that. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Based on the same dynamic here, I guess for the Americas, the situation, Andrea Mitchell, please. | ||
|
unidentified
|
This is related to the issue and peace through strength. | |
| Sure. | ||
| Does Secretary Rubio believe that if Afghanistan is among the countries that are on a list, a draft list to be banned, that legitimate SIVs who were approved by the State Department during the fall of Afghanistan and its withdrawal should be a carve-out and that these people who helped the State Department, | ||
| the CIA, the DOD, can come and have refugee status? | ||
| I do have a problem. | ||
| Well, first of all, there is no list. | ||
| What people are looking at over these last several days is not a list that exists here that is being acted on. | ||
| There is a review, as we know through the President's executive order, for us to look at the nature of what's going to help keep America safer in dealing with the issue of visas and who's allowed into the country. | ||
| But what has been touted as something that is an item through the State Department, it just simply isn't the case. | ||
| So the premise, I have to say, I certainly can't speak to because it's not accurate. | ||
| When it comes to the nature of Afghanistan and those who have helped us, the arrangements we've made already in the past, getting as many people from that conflict here, certainly those who have assisted us and worked with us, that's been a policy and a dynamic that we've worked on from certainly even the previous administration working to try to get that happening. | ||
| So that's not something that is, certainly I can talk about regarding something that doesn't exist, but certainly when that review is done, we'll have something that we can discuss. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Okay, then let me ask you also about your view, the Secretary's view, about the legality of a foreign country holding an American citizen from Iowa who has not been charged with any crime and holding his passport and not permitting him to return home in the case of what's happening in Punta Cana and the Dominican Republic, | |
| where this young man and his family and his lawyers say that he has not been permitted to leave the Dominican Republic, that he has been a cooperating witness. | ||
| He's not charged with any crime. | ||
| Does the State Department have any view about the rights of that U.S. citizen? | ||
| Well, I think what's appropriate here is for me to not, this is unfortunately the nature of the State Department and what we do. | ||
| When it comes to diplomatic efforts, whether they exist or not, the nature of legal frameworks for individuals, the privacy issues involved, that's not something I can get into any detail about. | ||
|
unidentified
|
He has spoken publicly, and his family have. | |
| Does he have consular action? | ||
| Well, that's his. | ||
| I think all of us have a right to speak and to be known, but we have a standard and a protocol here that we won't discuss a private situation, a private case, certainly when it comes to diplomacy, diplomatic relationships between one country and another. | ||
| I'm not going to go into those details. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Sean. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thanks. | |
| Can I go back to South Africa? | ||
| The ambassador. | ||
| Sure. | ||
| The Secretary, of course, his ex-post suit on Friday. | ||
| Could you explain a little bit the reasons? | ||
| It's quite an extraordinary step. | ||
| I was looking back, if I'm not mistaken, even in the height of tensions with Russia, there was no expulsion of the ambassador and no BNG there. | ||
| What is it? | ||
| I mean, essentially, this is remarks that the ambassador made at a think tank or at a conference that were critical. | ||
| What I'm getting is, should other ambassadors be on alert? | ||
| Can they not criticize President Trump without fear of being expelled? | ||
| Well, I think it's not about criticism. | ||
| This was the equation of the President and the country with white supremacy. | ||
| It was an allegation that casts such an awful light on the nature of the country, on individuals. | ||
| It is, I mean, if we don't have a standard about the nature of someone who is in this country who is supposed to be a diplomat to help facilitate the relationship between two countries, and that this is the standard of it, you know, we deserve better. | ||
| We want, we've had a decent level of diplomacy with South Africa. | ||
| There are some challenges. | ||
| But you want people in each embassy who can actually facilitate a relationship. | ||
| And these remarks were unacceptable to the United States, not just to the President, but to every American. | ||
| They were pretty much obscene when it came to the nature of what was alleged. | ||
| And so that is, I think, at the very least, what we should expect is a standard of some respect, basic, low-level respect, if you're in a position that is going to help facilitate any kind of diplomatic relationship with another country. | ||
| This particular individual certainly didn't meet that standard, and it is a message to people of what America expects, what the President expects, what the Secretary of State expects, what this whole administration expects when it comes to treatment of the nation itself and as a result of the people in this country. | ||
| And so that's why it was done. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Just expand on that. | |
| South Africa today said that it wants to have a better relationship with the United States. | ||
| Are you open to that? | ||
| I mean, there's another, the Secretary of State away from the G20. | ||
| Are you of the view that South Africa can be part of the relationship despite the criticism that's come from this building? | ||
| Well, I think both the President and the Secretary of State have made it clear what the problems are and what they have an issue with when it comes to South Africa. | ||
| The unjust land expropriation law, as well as its growing relationship with countries like Russia and Iran, that's what prompted the serious review of our South Africa policy, which continues to be underway. | ||
| They have taken also the South African government aggressive positions toward the United States and its allies, including accusing Israel, not Hamas, of genocide in the International Court of Justice and reinvigorating its relationship with Iran to develop commercial, military, and nuclear arrangements. | ||
| So this isn't one just of demeanor or decorum, however they add into it. | ||
| This is a matter of a nation that is, we've, again, made it very clear, taking steps that are not in the interest, the best interest of providing a safe, secure, more prosperous America, let alone world, when it comes to the decisions they're making. | ||
| So all of this is under review, but obviously part of it is, within the diplomacy of it, is to encourage a change in policy and posture. | ||
| Of course that would be the point. | ||
| The point is to encourage a change. | ||
| What I've seen with the trips we've made with the diplomatic adventures, of course, as well as the G7 summit in Canada, is the nature of the Secretary of State is to make things better for people. | ||
| It is not to punish or to target people or countries. | ||
| It's a nature of changing policy and creating better environments for all of us. | ||
| And I've seen that in motion in every dynamic. | ||
| And that's the case here with South Africa as well. | ||
| Nadia, yes. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you so much, Tani, good to see you. | |
| I have a couple of questions. | ||
| On Yemen first, what is the U.S. strategy regarding Yemen? | ||
| Is it degrading the capabilities of the Houthis that they don't pose a threat to U.S. interests? | ||
| Or is it destroying them completely? | ||
| Because there's conflicting statements from U.S. officials saying, like, we're not going to interfere with the civil war in Yemen. | ||
| Well, what we've seen, of course, in the past when it comes to the Houthis, it was a tit-for-tat strike. | ||
| If the Houthis would be sending missiles or attacking both commercial and military ships, what the previous administration did is they would do one strike as a tit-for-tat dynamic. | ||
| What's happening now is a complete shift when it comes to the nature of why it's going on, which is to stop the assault on the maritime traffic in that area. | ||
| And up to this point, there's about 174 attacks on American naval ships, which is an extraordinary number of attacks. | ||
| And this isn't a situation that should be managed. | ||
| It has to stop. | ||
| So the message to the Houthis is if, you know, this will end when you end the attack on both commercial and military ships in that region. | ||
| So it's a maritime issue, and it's meant to completely change the posture of the Houthis, and of course, in conjunction in that dynamic with Iran, that the days of pinprick responses where we allow that to occur is over. | ||
| That's, I think, a pretty clear statement from the administration as a whole as well. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The visa thing, just a minute. | |
| The visa, sure. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Is the area clear when it comes to revoking visas for foreign students? | |
| Are you revoking visas for students who clearly support Hamas and show literature that's supporting Hamas? | ||
| Or is it also include students who support Palestine or the free, they say the freedom of the Palestinians or showing sympathy with civilians in Gaza? | ||
| Is that area very clear? | ||
| Well, what Secretary Rubio has been saying on a number of different interviews is that this is about, if you were, when you think about someone applying to come into the country to get a visa, if you were to say everything that he ended up doing would be his goal upon entering the country, we would never have issued the visa. | ||
| So you have a dynamic, whereas if there's going to be certain kinds of actions that you're going to undertake, that we don't accept that. | ||
| Every country has a right to control its borders and to determine who's going to come into the country. | ||
| So in this particular instance, there's also, I know, a freedom of speech argument. | ||
| But this is not about speech. | ||
| It's about actions. | ||
| It's about things that were done. | ||
| And of course, I don't want to go further because also this is within a court dynamic. | ||
| America's got the best court system in the world, and there will be arguments on both sides, no doubt, regarding this. | ||
| But it has to be argued, it has to be litigated. | ||
| But the actions that we take and the decisions we make are not about content. | ||
| It's about actions that are occurring, and certainly in that particular case. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes. | |
| Go ahead. | ||
| Hi, Sami. | ||
| Hi. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Just to follow up on the HUSI's question. | ||
| So President Trump said every shot fired by the Hussis will be looked upon as a shot fired by Iran. | ||
| So we're wondering if HUSI is going to back down. | ||
| Is the United States prepared to attack Iran or give Israel to do so? | ||
| I think you're referring to President Trump's Truth Social tweet. | ||
| And I'm sure you all have it on your phones. | ||
| You should. | ||
| Because I'm going to refer you right back to that tweet. | ||
| It speaks for itself. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Just to follow up on a different topic in that case. | |
| So Voice of America and Radio Free Asia is one of the outlets under Voice of America. | ||
| They have written extensively on the oppression of Uyghur Muslims by Chinese authorities. | ||
| Actually, their reports have raised awareness about the plight of Uyghurs. | ||
| And this is a topic that the Secretary feels strongly about as well. | ||
| We've just seen him last week impose sanctions on Thai officials over deportation of Uyghurs to China. | ||
| What does he think about the shutdown of this outlet? | ||
| Does he support this decision? | ||
| Well, what you're referring to, I think, is the VOA and some other outlets involved with the current some budgetary changes and actions that have been taken. | ||
| What I can tell you, like, with all the aspects that are happening in this shift, is that it's a fluid situation. | ||
| And I look forward to watching it unfold, as you do. | ||
| I know you're all reporters, and some reporters here in the bullpen have been affected. | ||
| But the fact of the matter is, this is serious business. | ||
| It's the business of government using taxpayer dollars. | ||
| So the same standard applies here. | ||
| And of course, it's just happened. | ||
| Kerry Lake, as essentially the envoy within this framework, is someone that Americans know and trust. | ||
| And I look forward to seeing how this unfolds. | ||
| But right now, it's new. | ||
| It's a fluid situation. | ||
| And we'll have more for you as it unfolds. | ||
|
unidentified
|
When you say fluid, can it be overturned? | |
| Go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Can I just follow up on Yemen and your assessment of civilian casualties? | |
| Because you'll know there have been reports of several. | ||
| What's your assessment on that? | ||
| On civilian casualties? | ||
| Well, you know, under no situation does anyone want that. | ||
| This is a horrible dynamic. | ||
| At the same time, the Houthis are pirates who have commandeered an entire country, in addition to attempting to commandeer and threaten and harass shipping in the maritime area there. | ||
| So when we think about this dynamic, we certainly America seeks to avoid that situation, but we're now in a position where it has become untenable. | ||
| And That America's position in this kind of a regard, it's an unfortunate framework of war and of tensions and conflict like this. | ||
| But of course, we lament, I think, this country of all countries and what we've done and what we've accomplished. | ||
| We lament the loss of life. | ||
| That's the aspect. | ||
| Because I think this is part of the real story. | ||
| All of the aspects of what the Trump administration, what Secretary Rubio and everyone now in this new administration is focused on, and maybe it surprised people, it shouldn't have, is peace, is to stop the wholesale slaughter of people, is to stop the chaos that reigns through certain regions, is to make sure, especially with certainly Ukraine and Russia, is to make sure in every place where there's conflict that the people that are alive today might be alive tomorrow. | ||
| And it's imperfect, it's not something that any of us can sometimes predict the end result of. | ||
| But this is an administration and a president and a secretary of state who's made it clear that this, if there is a hallmark, the hallmark is fighting for peace and an end to this kind of chaos that has destroyed Yemenis' lives and it destroys obviously too many lives around the world. | ||
| Now, yes, sir, you've been waiting patiently. | ||
| Yes, sir. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Two quick questions on the Palestinian issue. | |
| One pertaining to Gaza. | ||
| Aid has not been allowed in since the 2nd of March. | ||
| The situation is very dire. | ||
| I was wondering if you are really concerned about this, especially, you know, this coincided with the beginning of Ramadan as well, where people need food and water and so on. | ||
| I mean, is, you know, starvation used as a method to pressure people? | ||
| Isn't that a war crime of some sort? | ||
| Well, you know, for the horrible suffering of the Gazan people, we know where that sits. | ||
| It sits with Hamas. | ||
| We know that within the ceasefire and why we fight for the ceasefire and want it to continue is in fact to allow to make sure that food and aid is moved into that region. | ||
| The United States has led the way in that regard. | ||
| We also know that at this point, when it comes to the nature of what Envoy Witkoff has worked on and what all of us still focus on, is in fact what your concern is. | ||
| Making sure that there's a situation on the ground that allows food to get to the people who need it, that allows aid to move through to the people who have been suffering because of the choices that Hamas has made throughout the years. | ||
| And that is what we continue to work on. | ||
| So everyone, certainly it's a concern, and that is why we continue to work to make sure that aid can get to the people who need it. | ||
| Yes, sir. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Question on Syria. | |
| The Syrian Interim Authority last Thursday approved a new constitution. | ||
| It has granted likely no rights for the minority like Kurds and Jews in Syria and has been rejected by these minorities, labeling it's against the democracy. | ||
| What's the U.S. view on that constitution? | ||
| And does anyone in this department connect it with the new Syrian interim authority? | ||
| Do you have an engagement with them? | ||
| You know, again, when it comes to diplomatic engagements, situations as fluid and as situational like that one, that's not something I'm going to be able to answer. | ||
| But I'll see what we can do when it comes to the specifics of what you've asked for. | ||
| Yes. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I have another question on Iraq. | |
| All right. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah. | |
| This administration, including Secretary Rebio himself, has called the Iraqi government to resume the Iraqi Kurdistan oil export and solve the U.S. oil companies issue that are working in Iraq. | ||
| But this hasn't happened. | ||
| What's the U.S. view on that? | ||
| Are you urging the Iraqi government to resume the oil export? | ||
| Again, I'm not, at this press briefing, I'm not going to go into international negotiations or diplomatic negotiations or thoughts that might be held by the Secretary of State. | ||
| But we'll see. | ||
| When it comes to actions on that, it'll be, I think, abundantly clear. | ||
| Yes, ma'am. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Tami. | |
| So Syria's new government, along with regional countries such as Turkey, Jordan, Qatar, and others, have been calling on the U.S. to lift the sanctions that was put in place during the Assad regime. | ||
| And many view these sanctions as a significant barrier to stabilizing and rebuilding the country. | ||
| Is the administration considering removing or maybe easing these sanctions? | ||
| Well, again, when we think about the administration, I think of President Trump and their posture and point of view regarding Syria, and the fact that when it comes to the State Department and the Secretary, these are things that would be negotiations that would have to be contemplated. | ||
| And I'm not going to do that right here from this podium. | ||
| Yes, sir. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thanks so much, Tammy. | |
| I appreciate the giving the question. | ||
| Over the weekend. | ||
| It depends on what the question is, but go for it. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Over the weekend, the U.S. deported a Lebanese citizen who was a doctor at Brown University. | |
| I was wondering if you might be able to elaborate why. | ||
| That, I would say, when it comes to that kind of action on everything we might discuss, that's the Department of Homeland Security. | ||
| So that would be them. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And on violence, escalating violence in the West Bank, I guess, are there any concerns at the State Department over what we're seeing in terms of Israeli actions in the north, in Jenin, in Tulkarim? | |
| Well, the United States position, certainly the State Department, is that we stand steadfastly with Israel. | ||
| Israel has seen certain security concerns that they have, and they're taking actions regarding those security concerns. | ||
| And we stand with those decisions and what the Israelis choose to do in that framework. | ||
| Yes, sir. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Two questions. | ||
| Changing subject to South Asia. | ||
| A few days before the elections, President Trump, then as a candidate, had spoken about, expressed concern about attacks on the Hindus in Bangladesh. | ||
| Now that Secretary has been here for about 60 days, what is his assessment about the situation of Hindus in Bangladesh and what steps he's taking to address? | ||
| President Trump? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Secretary? | |
| No, Mr. Secretary Rubio. | ||
| Well, again, you're talking about President Trump and certain aspects about how the nation and how his administration views the nature of what's happening in another country. | ||
| And Secretary Rubio, of course, follows through with his vision and the nature of the choices that are made in that regard. | ||
| But when it comes to, again, negotiations, diplomatic considerations, and the conversations that those involve and what might happen, I don't want to have a, I don't want to presume here what the outcome will be. | ||
| don't want me to either uh i think that the best thing to do would be to i'm sorry Can I reframe the question? | ||
| Well, no, no, because what I'm not going to answer is diplomatic considerations from government to government or attitudes and approaches when it comes to what's happening in a certain country that belong within a diplomatic kind of conversation that clearly I can't speak on or would I hypothesize about what might happen. | ||
| So, yes. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Second question. | |
| Go ahead. | ||
| I have one more question. | ||
| Thank you, Nari. | ||
| Just to follow up quickly on what Hamaya was saying about USAGM, Radio Free Asia, news broadcasters, because I think you're going to get a lot of questions about this. | ||
| I expect it. | ||
| I just got back into the country over the weekend. | ||
| I thought, well, this will be discussed. | ||
|
unidentified
|
You mentioned it's affected colleagues we know in the bullpen. | |
| Yes. | ||
| Can you just clarify when you say that you're watching this unfold, do you know if this is something that could be reversed in terms of what they're doing with the USA? | ||
| You want me to speculate. | ||
| And I know you know I can't. | ||
| And I know I come from a background where that's mostly what I did for a very long time. | ||
| That I can't do here. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Okay, so my next question is about something different. | |
| The State Department, according to some reporting by the New Republic, terminated a contract to the Yale School of Public Health's humanitarian research lab. | ||
| They were tracking evidence of Ukrainian children that have been abducted by Russia since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. | ||
| Some of that evidence was about to be, from their work, it was about to be transferred to European law enforcement officials. | ||
| Can you comment at all on whether it is true that this grant was terminated and whether you have any other comment? | ||
| Well, I can't confirm that, but obviously I'll take it back and I'll get back to you so we can get some details in that regard. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Yes, sir. | ||
|
unidentified
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I also have a question on Russia. | |
| Before that, let me follow up on Radio Free Europe quickly, from a different angle. | ||
| This administration last month secured one of the reporters jailed in Belarus was working for Radio Free Europe. | ||
| And I won't give you credit for that. | ||
| But given how strongly you feel about their cases, can you assure us that you will continue securing the release of Radio Free Europe reporters for the Minister of Azerbaijan and other countries, even if you end up defunding them? | ||
| Well, that's not something I can answer here, again, when it comes to the nature of the choices that will be made. | ||
| But what I can tell you is that this is a country that has led the way from the very start of radio of making sure that voices are heard everywhere. | ||
| That this is something this country can be proud of. | ||
| And it sits within the framework of what matters to us. | ||
| At the same time, this nation has to look, and I don't think it's anything to be ashamed of, look to the nature of how America is going to be able to remain strong and safe and secure and more prosperous so that we can continue to move through with foreign aid, with facilitating voices that normally other parts of the world would not hear. | ||
| It is a part of democracy. | ||
| And of course, you want every nation to have that kind of commitment as well when it comes to who's able to be heard. | ||
| So that's a commitment that stands. | ||
| It is the heart of this nation. | ||
| And certainly that's not going to be ending. | ||
| The framework of certain things might change or how we facilitate them, but certainly not that commitment. | ||
| And I think we've done a good job of that, and we should all be proud of it as well. | ||
|
unidentified
|
That was my original question. | |
| clearly lost the bucket of issues here as we've gone from a few things back but go ahead on reports that the united states pulled back from uh international group investigating russian crimes what is the strategy today and what message are you sending to russia who continues actually committing crimes as we speak Yeah, look, this is we're going to be looking into a number of different things. | ||
| That's anecdotal, the nature. | ||
| I'm not familiar with the nature of what happened, so I'm not going to be able to speak to that. | ||
| Yes, right down the middle here. | ||
| Yes, sir. | ||
|
unidentified
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Thank you so much. | |
| I think, yeah, the gentleman in front of you, sir. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Go ahead. | |
| Thank you, Tammy. | ||
| Daniel Kumpataniro for LH7, Italian TV and Primetime Media. | ||
| So we both were at the G7 last week, and the focus was Ukraine. | ||
| So today in Europe, there was European Council, they met the foreign minister, and they discussed about Ukraine and the European Union proposals. | ||
| So it seems like there are Europe is very divided right now. | ||
| Like Italy, Spain, Ukraine, I mean Hungaria and Slovakia are more aligned to Trump proposal. | ||
| It's no proposal, but like plan. | ||
| And the other ones, more lefties, are like want to keep giving aids, military aids. | ||
| So what is the, what is, what do you, as a State Department, how do you guys interact with the European right now? | ||
| Are we going to go for the Trump plans or the European ones? | ||
| I think we're going to go with the Marco Rubio approach, which is to talk to everybody, which is to put out the new ideas, which is to argue for them on the merits of those ideas. | ||
| That's what happened at the G7. | ||
| What happened at the G7 was a collection of people who have very different points of view, some big disagreements, but a direct specific decision mentioned by the Canadian Foreign Minister, Jolie, that we're going to focus on what we do have in common, what we can get done together, and really the importance of the gathering itself and what we can do together. | ||
| There's a lot of people, I think, that would prefer us to be distracted by the disagreements. | ||
| But what I've seen Secretary Rubio accomplish is remarkable and in different environments. | ||
| Environments where there's negotiations between countries attempting to stop war. | ||
| A minister's meeting where they're all aligned in some fashion or another and want to work together but have disagreements. | ||
| I can say this, fortunately, having been there, is that it's been his voice, and I'm proud as an American that it happens to be the American Secretary of State. | ||
| It's his voice that has brought conversations together, that has brought groups of people together. | ||
| And we know this is why you need a State Department and why you need diplomats, because everybody's going to have different ideas. | ||
| Everybody's going to think there's a better way, and we all have investments in the nature of the outcome. | ||
| America is the strongest country in the world for a reason. | ||
| All the combination of things we do, but mostly because we are a nation of merit and arguments and speech and the ability for people to be heard and for all of us to have an open mind. | ||
| That is what Marco Rubio brings to this debate, especially in Europe where there are disagreements. | ||
| We will, and he expects to, win people over based on the merits of the arguments that we continue to make every day. | ||
| And I'm going to leave it there, everyone. | ||
| I'll see you Wednesday and Friday this week if you didn't get enough. | ||
| There'll be more to talk about. | ||
| Thank you, everyone. | ||
| appreciate it. | ||
|
unidentified
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Well, this afternoon, President Trump is planning to visit the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center in Washington, D.C. to meet its board of trustees. | |
| Last month, the President was unanimously elected as the chair of the board after removing several of its members. | ||
| We'll bring you the President's visit to the Kennedy Center live at about 3 p.m. Eastern on C-SPAN. | ||
| You can also watch on the free C-SPAN Now app or online at C-SPAN.org. | ||
| This week, tune in for C-SPAN's New Members of Congress series, where we talk to both Republicans and Democrats about their early lives, their previous careers, their families, and why they decided to run for office. | ||
| Watch New Members of Congress all week beginning at 9.30 p.m. Eastern on C-SPAN. | ||
| Here's a preview. | ||
| Well, I graduated from West Point, as you said, with a degree in nuclear engineering and ended up moving to Georgia and Alaska before coming to North Carolina at Fort Bragg back in 2013 when I joined the Special Forces. | ||
| Ended up doing another tour to Afghanistan after I made it through the Special Forces qualification course. | ||
| And then ultimately, my wife and I, we decided to settle on the other side of the state. | ||
| We had started a business and bought a commercial property about an hour northwest of Charlotte and settled in Hickory. | ||
| I practiced communications law and then I worked in the international satellite field as an executive and did an international regulatory and then worked for many years with a nonprofit called Common Sense Media, which is how media impacts kids' health and well-being and helped start a whole digital literacy and program for kids and putting bumpers and safeguards on big tech. | ||
|
unidentified
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Right out of high school, I enlisted in the Army. | |
| I actually signed my contract my senior year of high school on Christmas break, had to wait about six more months till I graduated and then took the very first airplane ride of my life to basic training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. | ||
| I was an artillery forward observer scout in the field artillery that I was trained for. | ||
| I went to my very first duty assignment over in South Korea and was actually there when 9-11 happened in Korea during a training exercise. | ||
| Finished out my tour in Korea and came home and ended up serving, you know, an additional 20 years after that in the Army. | ||
|
unidentified
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So what started out as an initial two-year enlistment obligation turned into 22 years before I had retired. | |
| My mother was an activist and she forced me to canvas for the ERA and abortion rights my whole childhood. | ||
| And after that, I said I was never going to be involved in politics and I definitely was not going to go to law school, which was always her dream. | ||
|
unidentified
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So I studied film in college in upstate New York. | |
| And then I started working in film in New York, got a job at Paramount Pictures in 1992 and moved to Los Angeles and then slowly got involved in things locally. | ||
|
unidentified
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And the next thing I know, here I am. | |
| This week, C-SPAN continues our new members of Congress series, where we speak with Republicans and Democrats about their early lives, previous careers, families, and why they ran for office. | ||
| Tonight, at 9:30 p.m. Eastern, our interviews include Arizona Democrat Yasemin Ansari, the Democratic freshman class president. | ||
| I am the proud daughter of two Iranian immigrants. | ||
| So my parents came here in the 70s. | ||
| My dad came to go study civil engineering at the University of Oregon, always with the intention of going back home. | ||
| My mom has a little bit different of a story. | ||
| When the revolution hit Iran in 1979, they had grown up in a monarchy in Iran, but with more freedoms. | ||
| A theocratic regime, the Islamic Republic, took over and my mom's family was at risk. | ||
| Her father was imprisoned for supporting the prior government and being anti-the new regime. | ||
| And so she fled Iran by herself and was able to come to the United States. | ||
| Watch new members of Congress all this week, starting at 9:30 p.m. Eastern on C-SPAN. | ||
| And on Friday, starting at 8 a.m. Eastern, join us on C-SPAN 2 for a special 24-hour marathon featuring more than 60 of our exclusive interviews with the newest members of the 119th Congress. |