Press Gaggle by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, Representative Debbie Dingell, Campaign Communications Director Michael Tyler, and AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler en Route Detroit, MI
Aboard Air Force One
En Route Detroit, Michigan
3:18 P.M. EDT
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I have friends. I have friends. I have friends.
Q Oh, wow.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Hi, everybody. I have more friends. Here we go. Watch your —
MR. TYLER: I’m just going to stand behind you.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Watch — come on in.
Okay. Justin Sink.
Q Hey, Karine.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Hi. Your “big boy” press conference came to fruition. Ten reporters, 19 questions. Not bad.
Q We were very excited —
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: (Laughs.)
Q — that the president saw the value of an extended press conference, and we hope it happens again soon.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: All right.
Q Next week? Same time next week? (Laughter.)
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: All right. All right.
Okay. So, last night you heard directly from President Biden during an hour-long press conference. Several of you here had the opportunity to ask him questions. And you had deep, substantive policy exchanges about his work to strengthen NATO, build a more secure world, and deliver for working families here at home.
The president demonstrated his understanding of the biggest challenges facing our nation and why he’s the most qualified person to build on the results his administration has delivered.
You heard similar sentiments from our leading — our leading allies too.
UK Prime Minister Starmer said President Biden has “shown incredible leadership.”
Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau said, “We are the” — “We are lucky on the world stage to have Joe Biden leading here at NATO, on the — on the G7, in some extraordinarily consequential times.”
And German Chancellor Scholz warned against underestimating Joe Biden.
Today, families in Detroit will hear directly from the president.
He’s going to remain laser-focused on delivering for working families and building on the historic progress we made.
As the president said last night, “I have… to finish this job because there’s so much at stake.”
This week, we got a lot more evidence that President Biden’s economic plan is delivering for the middle class and working families.
As you heard from the president last night, inflation is — has fall- — has fallen to 3 percent and overall prices fell last month, and wages are rising faster than prices for 16 months in a row. And a new report found communities left behind by the previous administration are making a “remarkable comeback,” creating jobs five times faster under President Biden.
Earlier in the week, the president announced an agreement with Mexico to protect American steel and aluminum workers. He also made a historic investment to ensure the future of the auto industry is made in America by American union — union workers. We made the largest-ever investments in registered apprenticeships. And the administration announced the recovery of $1 billion in unpaid taxes from millionaires thanks to the president’s Inflation Reduction Act.
Still, President Biden knows there is more to do to — to many families are still — too many families are still struggling to make ends meet.
As he said yesterday, he’s going to keep fighting to take on corporate greed and make pri- — and take — and bring prices down. You’ll hear more from him on that in the coming days.
Now, as you all know and can see right behind me, I have Michael Tyler from the campaign and some other guests on Air Force One who’s traveling with us.
And with that, Michael —
MR. TYLER: Thank you.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: — go ahead.
MR. TYLER: I’m also going to do a quick topper.
So, obviously, we’re headed to Michigan today, following the strong press conference where the president gave answers to a wide range of questions, reminding Americans that he is the best leader to continue to move our country forward and the best candidate to beat Donald Trump.
So, here’s where we’re at in the race as we head into Detroit today.
Since last night, we’re seeing strong support across our coalition. But most importantly, we’re seeing it with our grassroots base. We have close to 40,000 donations last night alone. Donations exploded during the president’s press conference. In fact, we hit seven times our average during the press conference.
As it relates to polls, polling continues to show the same race we’ve been seeing — right? — one that is close, not affected by the debate.
President Biden has enduring strength with high propensity voters while Donald Trump demonstrates a low ceiling and unable to expand his support.
If you look at the Marist Poll out today, it continues to show a tight race, right? The president leading 50-48. Reath- — reaffirms our theory. The president picking up a point since the last time they polled. Two thirds of voters are more concerned about a president who lies than one who is old.
The bottom line is that voters do not support Trump. They do not support his agenda, and they’re scared as hell about Project 2025.
This comes alongside a slate of polls coming after the debate that shows this as a dead-heat match.
That’s an opportunity for us to grow if we focus on the work, if we focus on the choice, and we focus on the threat posed by Donald Trump.
So, that’s what we’re doing here today as we fly into Detroit and what the president will continue to do in the coming weeks. As we approach the Republican National Convention, we’ll be focusing all of our attention on defining the choice in this election. You heard the president do that last night when he warned of the threat of Donald Trump’s Project 2025 and he talked about his own vision to keep making people’s lives better. And you’ll hear him talk about that again today in Detroit.
Donald Trump knows he has a Project 2025 problem. In fact, if you look at a lot of the metrics over the course of the last week, we are now at a moment in time when more searches on Google are for Project 2025 than we have for Taylor Swift or the National Football League.
You can expect to continue to see that trend pick up the pace next week as we head into the Republican convention in Milwaukee.
This campaign, the Democratic Party, Democrats across the country are going to be laser-focused on making sure that people understand the stakes of this election between Joe Biden, who is fighting for the American people, and Donald Trump, who is running a campaign as a convicted felon based upon revenge, based upon retribution, based upon his disastrous Project 2025 agenda.
So, today, you’ll see the president standing with the mission-critical coalition here in the state of Michigan — labor leaders, reproductive rights advocates, local elected officials, congressional officials.
Next week, he’ll do the same thing as we head to Texas, to Nevada for the NAACP and Unidos. We’re going to present a stark contrast again in Milwaukee between Donald Trump and his extreme MAGA base, their Project 2025 agenda and the president.
So, we urge, at this moment in time, every Democrat to get behind this effort, present a clear choice in this election, because we have one singular mission moving forward, and that’s to beat Donald Trump.
So, with that, I am proud to have two guests here who are traveling with the president today: Congresswoman Dingell, Liz Shuler of the AFL-CIO. I’m going to pass it off to the congresswoman very quickly as well.
REPRESENTATIVE DINGELL: Hi, everybody. Go Blue! You’re coming to Michigan territory. (Laughter.) I keep trying to tell the Democrats that should be our theme this year.
I’m really glad the president is coming today, because Michigan is a battleground state, which I don’t bullshit any of you on.
But I warned you all, at this point, we were going to lose Michigan in 2015 and 2016, and nobody believed me. I knew at this point, we were going to win in 2020. And right now, I’m going to look all of you in the eye and say this state is competitive and nobody better write it off.
We are going to work — and the president knows it. The first we talk- — the first thing he said to me today was he knows Michigan is a battleground state. But I’m going to tell you that we are going to work our tails off and make sure that everybody knows about Trump’s Project 2025.
And we — the women of Michigan know how to win Michigan, just in case you haven’t noticed. And we’re going to make sure that women know that the Project Trump 2025 will take away their right to make their own health care decisions. We’re going to make sure that workers know they don’t want to pay overtime. We are going to make sure that parents know they don’t want to believe in school programs.
I could keep going, but we have a long edu- — and, by the way, every senior, seniors are going to win this election. And when they know that Donald Trump wants to reduce or eliminate their Medicare, their Medicaid, Social Security — and I want to promise you all I will personally be everywhere in the state of Michigan. We’re going to educate them.
And I want to say that nobody believed me in 2015, 2016. Nobody listened to me. They get tired of my yelling at them, but they listen.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: All right. Zeke, you want to — you have any —
MR. TYLER: No, sorry —
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Oh, I’m sorry, Liz. Go ahead.
MS. SHULER: Liz Shuler, AFL-CIO president. I’m bringing the voices of 12 and a half million working people, 60 labor unions to Detroit because Detroit is a working-class town. It is the bedrock of the American labor movement. And we are standing strong with President Biden and Vice President Harris because they’ve stood strong with us.
We know the record of the most pro-union president in our lifetimes, who has delivered for working people over and over again, whether it’s the investments that have been creating new, good high-road jobs clean energy; bringing manufacturing back to our country; whole new industries like the semiconductor industry; training and apprenticeship you were talking about. The list goes on and on.
And so, we want to see the — the Biden-Harris record, the deli- — things they’ve delivered for working people continue into the next term, and we are the difference makers. You look at a state like Michigan, it’s the labor movement that can deliver those marginal votes in the communities that will make a difference. And we have the grassroots operation to make it happen.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Awesome. Go ahead, Zeke.
Q Thanks, Mike. In your topper there, you s- — appealed to Democrats to unite behind the president against Donald Trump, except your seeing more defections, including some more this morning. And last count before we took off, I believe, was 18 House Democrats. There may be more now.
Does the campaign, does the president believe that every House Democrat or House — or Senate Democrat or po- — or celebrity that is defecting from his campaign is — is making it more likely that Donald Trump wins in November?
MR. TYLER: Well, listen, I think, again, it’s important to state — reiterate the facts — right? — which is — which is what the president has said repeatedly. He is in this race to win it. He is the Democratic nominee. And we are going to defeat Donald Trump in November because Democrats are going to become — are going to be united in taking on the threat posed by Donald Trump in the Project 2025 agenda.
Democratic voters understand that. That’s why you’ve seen throughout the polling after the debate, there’s been no fundamental shift in this race. We continue to re- — this is going to be a very close, competitive race. That is what the Marist Poll has showed. That’s what all the polling has showed since the debate.
And so, what this campaign and this president understands right now is that we’re going to continue to go out and put a — put in the work. The president, as he did last night during the NATO press conference, was not only leading on the world stage was — but was demonstrating that he is the best person to continue to lead this country right now but is the best person to take on Donald Trump and defeat him at the ballot box as he did in 2020.
So, as we hit the stump today in Detroit, as the president hits the stump next week in Texas and Nevada, across the country, we’re going to continue to present a clear choice to the American people between the president, who’s fighting every single day for them, and Donald Trump, who poses a fundamental threat to the American people.
His Project 2025 agenda would gut checks and balances; allow him to rule as a dictator on day one, as he promises to do out on the stump every single day; would allow him to ban abortion without Congress. And so, that is what the president is laser-focused on communicating to the Demo- — to Democratic voters and voters across the country who understand the fundamental stakes of this election.
The president understands that there’s still some anxiety on the Hill; I think we all understand that. And that’s why he’s laser-focused on demonstrating that he is the best person to take on Donald Trump and d- — and defeat him in November. And that’s what this campaign is going to remain focused on over the course of the summer.
Q Can you run us through the events today? You know, who is the president trying to talk to, who is — who is he trying to reach with this event tonight?
MR. TYLER: Yeah, tonight in — in Detroit you’re going to see the Democratic coalition come together to talk about the stakes of this election. That’s why we’re bringing together labor leaders, reproductive rights —
Q But I mean, where is he going?
MR. TYLER: That’s — we’ll — we’ll provide more details on the exact specifics when we hit the ground here. But we are going to remain laser-focused on bringing this coalition together in presenting a clear choice between working people
across this country who understand that they have a fighter in Joe Biden who is working every single day to improve their lives and that we are running against Donald Trump, who in this Project 2025 agenda is going to tear down the very fabric of our democracy and who’s going to roll back all the economic progress that we have made.
You’ve seen Moody’s talk about the fact that everything that Donald Trump is talking about doing from an economic standpoint is going to cause another recession in 2025.
Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal, just yesterday, saying that Donald Trump’s economic agenda is going to blow up inflation.
That is the fundamental choice that we’re going to present today in Detroit and that we’re going to continue to present as we crisscross the country.
Q I have a question for all three of you. Briefly, Reuters reported yesterday that the UAW’s Shawn Fain is having doubts about whether President Biden can win and is looking at their options. Are you confident that you’re going to keep that endorsement? And what options are you concerned that he may be looking to take?
MS. SHULER: Yeah, I think we, as the labor movement —
Q Liz Shuler, right?
MS. SHULER: Liz Shuler.
We came together two days ago; we had our version of a family meeting, and we had our conversations and came out completely unified in a vote — actually, unanimous support — for reaffirming our endorsement for the president. So, that included Shawn Fain of the UAW. It included all the labor leaders speaking with one voice.
REPRESENTATIVE DINGELL: And I’m going to say that you’re going to be in Detroit today, and it’s gr- — but you’re going to see a group that’s from all around Southeast Michigan. My district actually has more Democratic votes than any district in the state of Michigan, and a number of my constituents are going, from all the stakeholder groups. You’re going to see environmentalists there. You’re going to see the union workers there. You’re going to see seniors there. So, I want to make that clear.
And among the people that you are going to see there are a couple of members of the executive committee of the UAW that I’ll be happy to point out to you when we get there.
Q Pl- — please do.
MS. SHULER: And the president has done more for autoworkers. He actually joined them on the picket line — the first president in history to walk a union picket line. He has brought back more manufacturing jobs. He has actually juiced up the electric vehicle industry to make those high-road, high-wage union jobs.
So, the president walks the picket line; Donald Trump crosses picket lines. We have an actual photograph of him crossing a picket line.
REPRESENTATIVE DINGELL: (Inaudible) picket line.
MS. SHULER: Yeah. So, we know the difference. And I think UAW members know the difference between these two candidates. We’ve seen the president, his investments. He wakes up every morning thinking about working people. He — throughout the agencies, the regulatory proof, the Cabinet members that he has appointed, health and safety policies around investments in — in infrastructure — all affecting working people, compared to — we’ve seen this movie before with Donald Trump, right? We know he wants to tear down working people.
He has Project 2025 that would essentially gut public-sector unions, eliminate them from existence. So, we see the stark contrast. We know that dystopian future, and so do working people.
Q I remember Shawn Fain — Fa- — being at the — the picket line, but he’s not going to be there today. Why not?
REPRESENTATIVE DINGELL: Because he did — I know where he is. He’s speaking to Netroots in Baltimore.
MS. SHULER: Shawn is in demand.
REPRESENTATIVE DINGELL: Yeah. But I mean —
MS. SHULER: He’s actually doing —
REPRESENTATIVE DINGELL: Netroots, in —
MS. SHULER: — I think, Netroots —
REPRESENTATIVE DINGELL: Yeah.
MS. SHULER: — in Baltimore. Yeah.
REPRESENTATIVE DINGELL: But other — I mean, there are going to be UAW leaders at this event today, and I personally talked to him. So, don’t —
MS. SHULER: He can’t be everywhere.
REPRESENTATIVE DINGELL: Let’s just be clear.
Q I’m just asking.
REPRESENTATIVE DINGELL: I’m just answering. (Laughter.)
Q Yeah.
REPRESENTATIVE DINGELL: Hey, you guys, it’s me. You know how I get feisty. (Laughter.)
Q Can I —
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: All right. Go ahead, Rob.
Q Can I ask about a —
Q For — for the campaign. We’ve heard from the president a couple of times about the heavy workload he’s under, events starting too late. I wonder how you’re going to accommodate those concerns in the future.
MR. TYLER: Listen, nobody is going to work harder to beat Donald Trump than the president of the United States, Joe Biden. That’s what this swing is about right now, as we kick it off in Detroit. We’re going to leave Detroit. Next week, the president is going to Texas; we’re going to Nevada. He is going to not only continue to be out on the stump as he is today, we’re going to get out in communities, as you saw him do in Pennsylvania over the course of the last weekend.
We’re going to continue to sit down for interviews, s- — as he did last week, as we’re doing on Monday, as we — as we’re doing today, as well.
We’re going to continue to make sure that the American people get to see the fighter that they have in Joe Biden. We are not going to relent. We’re not going to let up because there is too much at stake, and nobody understands that more than Joe Biden.
Q But the president himself said some events are starting too late. I mean, are you not going to take notice of that?
MR. TYLER: We are going to continue to make sure that we use every single tool at o- — at our disposal to reach the voters. That means the president putting in the work as a candidate day in and day out, and it means this campaign using every tool at — at its disposal to reach the voters.
That is why we have now over 11,000 staff across all the battleground states. We have over 300 offices open because we are communicating with voters everywh- — in every community where they are. It’s why we continue to run ads: $50 million in paid advertising in the month of July building off what we did in the month of June to make sure that we are reaching the Biden-Harris coalition and all voters where and when they are — they are consuming their media.
This campaign is going to use every tool at its disposal between now until November to communicate the fundamental choice in this election between Joe Biden, who is fighting for the American people, and Donald Trump, who is a convicted felon fighting for himself in an attempt to enact his extreme and dangerous Project 2025 agenda.
Q M.T., can I — can I ask just about a couple what sounded like tough conversations with the president — between the president and lawmakers this morning — or late last night and this morning?
Leader Jefferies brought up again the path forward, according to his readout, even after the president obviously has reiterated repeatedly that he’s going to stay in the race. It sounded like Congressman Levin, in the CHC call today, explicitly to the president’s face called on him to resign.
What was the president’s message back to — to both of these sort of critical allies who seem to continue to urge him to — to be considering his decision?
MR. TYLER: Yeah, a couple of things. So, I’m not going to read out private conversations between the president and congressional leaders. I will say that I think Leader Jeffries and others have made clear they continue to stand with the president and they will stand with the president.
They understand that the president is running, is the Democratic nominee, and that the choice in this election is going to be between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
And so, as we move forward in the month of July and as we approach the Republican convention, that is where our focus is going to be now moving forward — between the fundamental choice in this election.
Joe Biden is going to be the Democratic nominee. Donald Trump is going to be the Republican nominee.
Joe Biden is running to restore Roe, to make sure billionaires pay their fair share in taxes, to make sure that we have better eldercare and childcare in a second term.
Donald Trump is running to ban abortion nationwide; give tax cuts to the wealthy, to corporations; to tear down the very fabric of our democracy.
That is what this campaign, what this president is going to continue to focus on as we move forward.
Does there continue to be anxiety? Yes, we understand that. The president understands that. That’s why he’s going to continue to engage with folks on the Hill. That’s why we’ve engaged with governors, with mayors across the country, the vast majority of whom are firmly behind Joe Biden and understand the stakes in this election, understand that Joe Biden is the candidate who is prepared to take on Donald Trump and beat him at the ballot box in November.
Q In terms of that engagement, can you kind of walk through the next couple days? I — I know that there’s reporting that he might meet with progressive lawmakers, but — but who are the kind of li- — the lineup is of folks that he is going to be —
MR. TYLER: Yeah. I don’t have anything —
Q — (inaudible)?
MR. TYLER: I don’t have anything further to read out on private conversations.
Q Congresswoman, you said Michigan this year is very competitive. Obviously, even before the debate, there were challenges in Michigan, including the Arab and Muslim vote there, you — people who have said they’re not going to vote for the president because of Gaza.
What do you think the president needs to do over the next few months? What do you see as his possible path in Michigan to winning the state?
REPRESENTATIVE DINGELL: I think there are a lot of issues. We got to turn out the voters. It’s getting your base energized. And I talked about those issues.
First of all, one of the issue — the issue that really matters to many, many people is the right of a woman to choose. That — that is one of the issues.
But you — pe- — the seniors care deeply about Medicare and cuts to Social Security. And Project — Trump’s Project 2025 spells out what they’re going to do.
We got to get in the union halls. We know that; we talk about it. They’ve changed their whole union program. They’re going to worksites. They’re — they’re doing that worker-to-worker program so people know what he has done for the worker.
And when they start hearing what they want to do to workers in their Project 2025, they — they know how much he has done for the workers, how he’s trying to create jobs for union workers, how salaries are going up.
And people are worried about the economy. We got to talk about the economy.
But I want to thank the Republicans for making the first day of their convention’s theme “Make America Wealthy Again.” All that does is reinforce Donald Trump wants to give his billionaire friends a cut and doesn’t give a damn about working men and women in this country.
And our job — my job as one of the Michigan leaders is to make sure we are communicating with absolutely every voter in Michigan defining what the choice is. And I am meeting with many.
I — look, I lived in Dearborn for 40 years. That was my — I’m now in Ann Arbor, but I got constituents there. I would — I have been talking to many of them. They’re still — they’re hurt, but a lot of them are now focused on what he wants to do and how he wants to deport them. And they know.
A very prominent leader said to me yesterday, “We are in high danger if Donald Trump gets elected again.”
Q And, Michael, I’m wondering if you can comment on the reports that millions of dollars are being withheld from the president and potentially being redirected to House and Senate races, because some donors don’t want him on the ballot or are waiting to see if he’s going to remain the Democratic nominee.
MR. TYLER: Yeah, listen, I — I think I read out at the beginning of this call — or this gaggle that we had nearly 40,000 donations during the president’s press conference. The June — or, excuse me, July has been — the start of July has been the best start of any grassroots fundraising month that we’ve had in this campaign.
And we’re confident that as we move — move forward here and return the concentration and the conversation to the fundamental choice in this election, between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, that this campaign is going to have the resources it needs to continue to build upon the infrastructure that is already our competitive advantage in a very close and competitive election, to do the work that we need to do to beat Donald Trump in November.
Q And do you feel like you could move forward without the big donors if they did continue to withhold those donations?
MR. TYLER: We are confident that donors — both grassroots, major donors, and everybody within the Biden-Harris coalition — is going to understand the fundamental stakes of this election as we move forward and put in all the work that we know that we connect — collectively need to do to defeat Donald Trump in November.
Q You three had face time with the president today. How is he feeling about his performance last night, especially the two gaffes that he made — calling President Zelenskyy “Putin” — and the fact that, for many Americans, not just his detractors, those are what stick out? How are you guys going to campaign against that?
MR. TYLER: Yeah, Joe Biden has been making gaffes for 40 years. He made a couple last night. He will probably continue to do so.
Our opponent is somebody who every single day out on the stump is calling for a “bloodbath” if he loses. He was pledging the rule as a dictator on day one and is pledging to ban abortion nationwide across the country.
The voters of this country are smart. The voters watched the in — totality of that press conference. They saw a president lead on the global stage, talk about complex issues, the ways in which he’s uniting the West around Putin’s aggression, the ways in which he is working on securing a ceasefire framework in the Middle East, and they saw him present a clear choice against the opponent in Donald Trump, who I just laid out all the fundamental threats that he poses to the American people. We are confident that the American people are smart enough to understand the fundamental choice in this election.
And if — as we and the president continues to campaign relentlessly across all the battleground states, the only answer to that choice is going to be Joe Biden.
Q Congresswoman?
REPRESENTATIVE DINGELL: Why don’t people look at Donald Trump’s rants?
MS. SHULER: I know.
REPRESENTATIVE DINGELL: The things that he says in these rants are absolutely crazy.
And I — I mean, they’re — he never does a rant that he doesn’t go after electric vehicles. And he doesn’t know what he’s talking about when it comes to EVs.
I — we are competing in a global marketplace. I need to know that we’re going to have a president that’s going to make sure that my industry stays competitive in a global marketplace.
But he also says some of the most devastating, horrific, hateful, divisive things every time he rants. And I wish people would write about that. And he also makes a lot of mistakes.
MS. SHULER: We want a president that’s going to talk about what working people are experiencing every day, which we know workers are still making ends meet and they’re worried about how they’re going to put food on the table, versus someone like Trump who’s talking about water pressure and how overweight Chris Christie is. I mean, we want someone who we can take seriously — right? — that is going to wake up every morning thinking about working people.
And so, I would say that as — as Michael said, yeah, there have been a — there’s gaffes. Right? That’s happened throughout his whole career. But what we look at is what he’s delivered on, and that’s manufacturing jobs and infrastructure and making sure that working people can make a decent living and provide for their families.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I’m going to try to wrap this up.
Go ahead, Zeke.
Q Over the last 15 days, the national political conversation — it was like the number-one story outside of politics, too — has been the president’s mental capacity and will he, won’t he stay in this race. How urgent do you feel the need to change the national conversation heading into the Republican National Convention — that if the conversation for the next 100 days is about the president’s mental capacity; his fitness for office; will he, won’t he remain the Democratic nominee that you don’t have the chance, and that you’re trying to redirect the conversation to Trump now?
MR. TYLER: Yeah. Well, Joe Biden is, in fact, the Democratic nominee. He is running —
Q Yeah.
MR. TYLER: He is — he is the presumptive Democratic nominee. He will be the Democratic nominee. And he’s going to be the one taking on Donald Trump.
So, that is what we are focused on right now as a campaign is focusing our attention on the fundamental choice in this election. That is what the campaign is focused on today as we hit the ground in Detroit, and it’s what we will be focused on as the president crisscrosses the country next week, while Donald Trump is putting on a showcase for MAGA extremism and Project 2025.
We are confident that if we focus our attention on the fundamental choice that we will be successful in November.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: All right.
MR. TYLER: All right?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Okay. Thanks.
MS. SHULER: Thanks.
MR. TYLER: Thanks, y’all. I’ll see — I’ll see you on the ground.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Okay. Thanks, everybody.
REPRESENTATIVE DINGELL: Thanks, everybody.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Thank you.
Q Can you talk to us about the AT&T hack?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: What — sorry. (Laughs.)
Q Whether the president has been briefed on that, who you think the culprit is? And, also, as you know, a lot of federal employees have AT&T phones. Were any of the administration officials’ phones compromised?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, I’m going to be — I’m going to be really careful here. I need to go back to the team and get an assessment of — of what you’re asking me.
But, obviously, this is something that we’ve taken seriously for the last two, three years, about making sure that we’re working with these corporations and making sure that they — they take heed to our recommendation on protecting — right? — protecting, you know, their businesses. And so, that’s something that we’ll continue to do.
As it relates to the president, I have to check in. I’m sure the president has been briefed, but I just — I don’t want to confirm that right now. But I have to check in on that — on that piece of it.
Q Do — do we have time for a quick Gaza question?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: A quick what?
Q A Ga- — a Gaza question.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Oh, sure.
Q The White House has said in the past that journalists have a responsibility and a right to report from Gaza. Does that extend to international correspondents? And do you support their campaign for independent access?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I mean, look, the U.S. has always been very steadfast and forceful and strong about making sure that we support the critical work that journalists do around the world — not just here, obviously, but around — around the world.
And that includes those reporting the conflict in Gaza. We understand how important it is for journalists to do their job there.
So, what I can say is that, of course, the importance of media freedom is one of them. Right? We have issued statements expressing our alarm and deepen — deep concern with reporters who — who have been killed in — in this conflict, be- — because it is imperative that reporters be able to gather information to inform the world safety. And that is — certainly be able to do that without personal risk. And so, that is something that we’re certainly committed to.
Q But is it acceptable that Israel is not allowing in independent international correspondents?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, look, I’m — we’re continuing — we’re always going to have diplomatic conversations with Israel about issues, including like this one. I certainly don’t have anything else to — to read out when it relates to that — that diplomat- — those diplomatic conversations.
But we believe it is important for that — for journalists to be protected, for journalists to be able to do their jobs not just here in this country, but, obviously, around the world. And we’ve been pretty consistent with that. And so, we’re going to continue to be very clear about that.
Q But just to be clear —
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah.
Q — in those conversations, have you asked Israel to allow in independent —
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I — I am not — and what I’m trying to say is I’m not going to — we talk about a range of issues. I’m not going to share our — our private diplomatic conversations.
But I think we have led in the world when we talk about protection of journalists, the important — that they have — you know, that they are able to do their jobs freely, unimpacted, and make sure that there is no personal risk to them as they’re doing that job.
And so, we’re going to continue to be very clear about that — very, very clear. I’m just not going to get into diplomatic conversations.
Q Karine, has the president had any conversation with former President Obama since that debate? And we saw that tweet from the former president, Obama, but have they had any interactions?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, I can’t speak to any interaction of late — of recent, in, like, the last couple of days.
What I can say — look, obviously, the — this president was the vice president to the former president for eight years. They have a respectful, very close relationship. And the president is, you know, very proud to have that relationship.
So, I can’t speak to a conversation of late, of recent. And I know they — they speak often, but I can’t speak of a current, a recent conversation.
Q Karine, the president tweeted today that there was an agreement —
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: This president? (Laughter.)
Q Yes. An agreement — or a framework agreement in Israel.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: (Inaudible.)
Q Was there ac- — is there any actual change? Is that —
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So —
Q — does the ball move forward any today?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, look, the president laid out the framework — the ceasefire framework last night in his topper right ahead of — before taking questions from all of you, your colleagues, certainly.
I don’t have anything new to share beyond what the president laid out in detail.
When I can say — think you’ve — you’ve heard us say this over — throughout the week: Brett McGurk is in Cairo, so those conversations are continuing to happen. The president and his team has been working 24/7 to get this hostage deal, to get to a ceasefire. And that’s what we’re going to continue to do.
But I would certainly refer you to the president’s statement, as he laid out himself what the framework was going to be.
Q Quickly, does he ne- — does he intend to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu when he visits in later July?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, I talked about this ear- — earlier this week. So, I — I — we believe that they will have some engagement. I just don’t have anything to announce at this time.
Q And when he’s in Texas next week, will he visit Houston after the — the fl- — the devastating storm damage?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, obviously, the president has a — has moved forward with the declaration after receiving that request from the lieutenant governor a couple of days ago. On this particular trip, nothing has changed. We’re going to go to Austin, so nothing has changed about this particular trip.
Any- — anything beyond that, I don’t have anything to change.
Q Why not? Does this not meet the standard —
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Well —
Q — the level?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Well, I probably should have said that there’s a lot going on on the ground. We try to not take away from the — from — from the assistance that’s needed on the ground and from, obviously, all of the — all of the help that the people of Houston need. And so, we try to make sure — the president, as you all know, has a very big footprint, so we just want to be mindful of that.
And still — we’re still very much in the early days, and so nothing has changed on this trip. And if anything — if a trip in the future comes up, we certainly will share that with you.
But the President continues — and FEMA is on the ground, offering assistance to the people of Houston and working with the city — and city and local affect- — local electeds.
Q Thanks, Karine.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: All right, thank you, guys.
3:49 P.M. EDT
