Karine Jean-Pierre White House Press Briefing on 8/12/24

… France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom to discuss the situation in the Middle East and ongoing efforts to de-escalate tensions and reach a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza. And as I was walking out, I believe that readout, the joint readout should be in your inbox, so obviously you’ll have that for all to review.

(00:21)
Tomorrow the president and the first lady will travel to New Orleans where they will deliver remarks at a Biden Cancer Moonshot event. On Thursday, the president and the vice president will travel to Prince George’s County, Maryland, to deliver remarks on the progress they are making to lower costs for the American people. And on Friday, the president will head to Camp David for the weekend. We will definitely have more to share on this week’s schedule in the days ahead.

(00:48)
And one thing that I wanted to say, because we’ve all been watching these last two weeks, today we want to send a heartfelt congratulations to all the American athletes who made us so damn proud, as the president said, at this year’s Olympics, bringing home an impressive 126 medals including 40 gold medals. From the president on down, we have all been cheering you on here at the White House, and the first lady and the second gentleman were proud to represent the United States and root for our athletes in Paris.

(01:24)
The president also personally called Olympians last week to congratulate them and thank them for representing our nation on the world stage. As the first lady said, and I quote, “Our athletes carry more than just our flag. They carry our nation’s heart and our hopes with them too.” From basketball and soccer to gymnastics and swimming, our nation’s greatest athletes gave us their all and showed us that truly nothing is beyond our capacity when we do it together. Sports help us unite and the Olympics remind us that despite our differences, we can come together to achieve greatness. While we are sad that the Olympics Games they’re over and we’re very sad about that, it’s come to an end. We are very excited to host them here in the United States in 2028. And we have the Paralympic Games to look forward to later this month, and you can bet we will be cheering just as hard for Team USA.

(02:28)
Today, President Biden and Vice President Harris launched Time Is Money, a new government-wide effort to crack down on all the ways that corporations and unnecessary headaches and hassles to our lives, wasting precious time and money from excessive paperwork and unreasonable hold times to the endless hurdles some companies make you jump through to cancel subscriptions. We’ve all been there and know how aggravating these unnecessary delays can be. Today and in the coming months, the Biden-Harris administration will take wide-ranging action to crack down on these unfair practices and save Americans time and money, including making it easier to cancel subscriptions and memberships, ensuring that consumers calling customer service can talk to a real person by pressing a single button and allowing Americans to submit health claims online.

(03:25)
And this is just the beginning. We are calling for Americans to share their ideas through an online portal on the White House website and to tell us directly how federal action can give them their time back. Americans are tired of being played for suckers and President Biden and Vice President Harris will continue to use every tool available to protect Americans from corporate greed and practices that hit people in their pocketbooks. With that, Zeke, what you got?

Thanks, Karine. Over the weekend, the vice president said … She followed former President Donald Trump in saying she would support a proposal that would not tax tipped wages. If a similar bill made its way to the president of the United States, President Biden, would he sign that? That’s not something he’s [inaudible 00:04:15] before.

Oh, absolutely. Look, this is something that the president supports. He supports eliminating taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers while also raising minimum wage and preventing the wealthy from gaining the system. And if you think about what the president has talked about the last three-and-a-half years, making sure that we have an economy that works for all, not leaving anybody behind, an economy that’s built from the bottom up, middle out. The president has been fighting and the vice president is fighting to do just that.

(04:45)
Think about raising the minimum wage, which the Trump administration, they blocked. Cut taxes for workers and families, after Trump gave a $2 trillion tax cut skewed to billionaires and big corporations. Defend overtime protections for millions of workers whom the Trump administration left behind. Ensure workers have the freedom to join a union, which the Trump administration undermined. We hear talk about MAGAnomics and what the GOP is for, therefore, giving tax breaks from billionaires and corporation. They want price gouging. That’s what they want to see. They don’t want to protect American workers. They give again, more tax to billionaires and corporations. That’s what they’ve been talking about over and over and over, raising taxes for working people. That’s not what we’re about, and we’re going to continue to do just that in the next five months.

[inaudible 00:05:34] the topic, the VP’s team has also said she’s going to be rolling out some additional policy this week. Given the president’s endorsement of her, is it safe to say that anything that she would put forward along these lines, that also would have the backing of the president?

You can certainly say, or I can say that they are partners in this. So, they believe, and certainly on the same page when we think about the economy, when we think about healthcare, they have to work through what their policies, ideas are. But the last three-and-a-half years they’ve been in sync. They have been certainly on the same page and I presume that that will continue from here.

And just on a [inaudible 00:06:13] note, a week from today the Democratic Convention gets going in Chicago. That was supposed to be where the president was going to be the star of the show there accepting the renomination of his party. That’s not the case anymore. What is his involvement going to be in that convention? How much time does he plan to spend in Chicago? When does he plan to speak?

So, look, I’m not going to get ahead of the Democratic National Convention to make their announcements on speakers next week. I think Americans will be very excited. I think he will have his moment as well. They’ll be very excited to see him. And so, he’s certainly looking forward to that. I’ll let the DNC convention obviously make the announcement. The president will indeed speak next week. Again, he’s looking forward to it. He’s looking forward to, as he tends to do, speak directly to the American people, talk about the moment that we’re at, the stakes, what’s at stake, and continue to talk about an issue that is incredibly important to him, which is unity, making sure that we’re unified and we continue to do the work that the president has been successful in doing in the past three-and-a-half years.

Will he be there when the vice president accepts the nomination?

I don’t have anything else to share about his schedule next week. He will certainly speak at the DNC convention and I think there’ll be a lot of excitement and I think folks are going to be, again, excited to see the president next week. [inaudible 00:07:37].

Thanks, Karine. Just to bounce off on the previous question, Trump was the first to endorse eliminating taxes on tips. He’s accusing Vice President Harris of stealing his idea. So, did she get this idea from Trump?

Look, I am not going to respond to a presidential candidate. I think their campaign could speak to that directly. What I can say is this president, this vice president, have always had the backs of the working people, always. And you see that in the policies that they put forward. Everything that we have put forward, historic pieces of legislation that are obviously now laws, are helping middle-class workers, are helping people in different communities that are normally, again, left behind. If you think about tax cuts for workers and middle-class families, instead of billionaires and big corporations getting that tax break, raising minimum wage, that is something that we have talked about and done. Ensuring workers can join a union. This is something that Republican officials themselves, they oppose, they have opposed.

(08:35)
So, I think the question really is if Republican officials … Why didn’t they join the president and the vice president to support working families? They didn’t. They didn’t. And so, I think our record shows that, what we’ve done under this term, under this administration, the Biden-Harris administration, we have put working people at the center of every policy that we’ve moved forward with as it relates to the economy, healthcare, even climate change. And so, that is something that we’re going to continue to do.

This is one of the first specific policy endorsements that we’ve heard from the vice president. Is there anything you can explain about how she came to this endorsement and how she’ll address the criticism from economists?

I mean, that was said in a campaign context, so I would have to refer you to the campaign. I’m sure they can speak more to that. It is not unusual, right? When a campaign moves forward that they put forth their policy agenda for the American people to see for themselves.

(09:33)
What I can speak to is what this president and this vice president have been aligned on and what they’ve done together, working together and delivering for the American people, that will not stop. And obviously, as it was stated in a question to me by Zeke, the president certainly supports the vice president as she moves forward.

What’s the White House’s reaction to the former president pushing this false conspiracy theory that the vice president had used artificial intelligence to create images of the crowd?

Look, I’m going to be mindful in speaking about a campaign comment. What I will say is that this president and this vice president, I think what you see from both of them is optimism and a belief in this country, the future of this country. They believe that there’s a lot at stake. And what I will say is it’s clear, it’s clear that that message has broken through and majority of Americans see and feel that optimism and certainly supports what we’ve been working on, the agenda that we’ve been working on the last three-and-a-half years. So, I’ll leave it there. Okay. Hey, Kelly, I haven’t seen you in a while.

Hi, there.

Hi.

I’ve been around, just maybe not [inaudible 00:10:47]. Is there a inter-agency policy review type approach to the Harris portfolio with President Biden’s portfolio? So, is he in touch with, is there a process where there is a checking of what she’s going to put out and how it matches or may change or ways in which she can build on what he’s done? Is there a coordination of that?

So, I can’t speak to an inter-agency kind of process in doing just that, trying to measure up or line up where they both are. What I can speak to is the last three-and-a-half years, right? We have less than six months now of this administration. And how much the vice president was a critical partner in getting a lot of the big pieces, historic pieces done, the heavy lifting. She was part of that, whether it’s the Inflation Reduction Act, the first piece of policy, which is the American Rescue Plan, which helped lower crime, for example. We’ve seen the lowest in crime in more than 50 years. The last administration, we saw the highest numbers of murder in the Trump administration.

(11:55)
There’s been a lot of ways that we’ve been able to move in a historic way. And so, she’s been part of that. She’s been part that. Obviously, again, as I was just stated, she’s going to lay out her vision. But again, they’ve been aligned. They’ve been aligned for the last three-and-a-half years. There’s not been any daylight.

Does the president expect that she might want to move in some new directions? As sitting vice presidents have always had this issue, but does he expect that she might move in some new directions?

So, what I expect, again, being super careful here, because her campaign are going to make their own announcement is she’s going to build, going to build on the successes that they’ve had, going to build on the unprecedented successes, the historic successes that they’ve had. That’s another reason why the president passed a torch, if you will, right? And understanding that they worked together very closely in the last three-and-a-half years. And that was going to continue and she was the best person to move forward. This is someone who’s been a vice president for almost four years, a senator, attorney general.

… role. She is incredibly qualified and understands where the majority of the American people are, and that’s what we can expect. Go ahead, Lucy.

Thanks, Karine. I wanted to clarify something the president said in the CBS interview over the weekend.

Sure.

When he was asked about his decision to step aside from the campaign, one of the things he said was that when he ran the first time, he thought of himself as a transition president. But then he said, “But things got moving so quickly, it didn’t happen.” Did he initially plan to serve one term and at some point changed his mind? I don’t know what to make of this.

I mean I honestly don’t have much to say. I think his speech to the nation that he gave in the Oval Office laid that out. Talked about being a transition president, talked about passing the torch. You heard directly from him where his heart was, how he was thinking through this process and his reasoning. I would say his answer certainly speak for itself for me, and I think I can speak for many of my colleagues who work with me day in and day out on behalf of this country, on behalf of this administration, is that we are so proud of this president and what he’s been able to accomplish on behalf of the American people.

(14:16)
You think about the economy, the strongest economy leading the world. You think how we’ve been able to beat big pharma. That’s nothing to laugh at. That’s been something that many presidents have tried to do, were not able to get that done. You think about what he’s been able to do with our allies and partners around the world and build, rebuild that relationship, climate change, passing one of the most important, largest, biggest historic pieces of legislation that’s going to deal with one of our major crises right now that we face in this country, in the world, the Inflation Reduction Act.

(14:52)
So we could not be prouder of this president and, of course, this vice president as they work together on this. But I think his oval address lays out very clearly how he saw his presidency.

Any update on when we’ll see him do a campaign event, Karine?

No update for you from here. Certainly the campaign will have more to share on that. Hey, Weijia.

Hey, Karine. How are you?

I’m doing great. How are you?

Thanks. So following up on eliminating taxes on tips, is that an idea that the Biden administration considered at any point in the past three and a half years?

What I can say is the president supports it and what I can say is obviously the president and the vice president, very much how I answered the earlier question, is that we have always put at front and center making it easier giving American families a little bit more breathing room, something the president says very often, and we’ve shown that. We’ve shown that in the policies that we’ve laid out.

(15:53)
Not going to go into what the former president said, but if Republicans truly cared about that, truly cared about hardworking Americans, they would’ve joined us on a lot of these proposals that we put forward. The American Rescue Plan turned the economy around, put shots in arms, checks in pockets. They didn’t support that. The Inflation Reduction Act, big pharma, it’s going to help lower costs, lower healthcare costs for Americans, lower energy costs for Americans. They didn’t support that.

(16:23)
And so, this is a president and a vice president that is always going to have the backs of working people. He supports what she put forward recently, obviously, when she spoke recently at a campaign rally, and we’re going to continue to do the work to raise minimum wage and make sure that we put working class people at the front and center.

So it’s a new idea?

Obviously it’s a new idea. I’m just saying that we support it, but we have been doing the work for hardworking Americans, to lower cost, and that is something … You’re going to see that on Thursday with both the president and the vice president, when they make an announcement on other ways or other additional ways to lower costs.

Then speaking of click to cancel, can you talk about how it will be enforced and whether there’s an existing mechanism that would force businesses to comply?

So I’ll be able to get more information for you from that from our policy folks. I don’t have anything to lay out on how the specifics that will work out.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Hi, Karine.

Hi.

I have a legacy-related question. Biden’s talking about the Cancer Moonshot tomorrow, talking about lowering costs on Thursday. This morning, there were talks on the Middle East. Has the president communicated, in the next five months, what his priorities will be when it comes to things that he can accomplish over the remainder of his presidency?

I mean I would say a few … Obviously you guys have reported and paid close attention over the last two weeks. You’ve seen some ways that the president wants to move forward in the next five months when you think about the SCOTUS reform. He went to Austin, Texas, at LBJ Library, and talked about that, laid out his plan. You think about the announcement today, as you just stated, that was a very important announcement, and I think it’s going to have a huge effect and be really important to Americans. That’s certainly what they want to see. Time is money obviously is an important majority of Americans want to see. You’ll hear from this president about lowering costs, and the vice president on Thursday other ways to lower costs. I won’t get ahead of that. Then tomorrow, the Cancer Moonshot.

(18:38)
I mean those are initiatives that have been a key part … Made up key parts of his platform and how he wants to deliver for the American people. That hasn’t changed, the economy, healthcare, as you just stated, foreign policy, to me. And so, you’ll hear more from this president as time goes by. The American people, that’s what’s at the center of everything that he does, making sure we deliver for them, give them a little bit breathing room, and deal with issues that matter to them. That’s what we have been doing. All of the things that I’ve talked about, not just today, many times behind this lectern are issues that are, incredibly, majority of Americans care about it. Majority of Americans care about it. And so, that’s where we’re going to be, where a majority of Americans are. Go ahead, Jared. Oh, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry.

I have one more.

Okay.

Elon Musk is slated to interview Donald Trump tonight on X. I don’t know if the president is going today … Feel free to say if he is or not. But I think that misinformation on Twitter is not just a campaign issue, it’s an America issue. What role does the White House or the president have in stopping that or stopping the spread of that or intervening in that? Some of that was about campaign misinformation, but it’s a wider thing, right?

Yeah, no, and you’ve heard us talk about this many times from here about the responsibilities that social media platforms have when it comes to misinformation, disinformation. Don’t have anything to read out from here about specific ways that we’re working on it, but we believe that, that they have the responsibility. These are private companies, so we’re also mindful of that, too.

(20:29)
But, look, I think it is incredibly important to call that out as you’re doing. I just don’t have any specifics on what we have been doing internally as it relates to the interviews. Not something that I’m tracking, and I’m sure the president’s not tracking it either. Go ahead, Jared.

Just curious about the Thursday event with the vice president. The president and vice president are doing it. Can we expect … Because that’s an official event. That’s a policy event.

Yup.

Can we expect to see more of those joint administration events between the president and vice president?

Stay tuned. Stay tuned. But I think Thursday’s announcement is going to be really important. You’re right, it’s about lowering cost for the American people. It really builds on what this president and the vice president has been trying to do over the last three and a half years as it relates to the American people. Stay tuned. We certainly will have more to share about his schedule, their schedule together, in the upcoming days and weeks.

I only ask because we haven’t seen a lot of those sort of joint events. Usually they branch out, flank out, and do those events separately. So what is the thinking behind them?

I think there’s been a couple of times over the three and a half years that the president and the vice president have had joint events. I think very early on, the first several months, I remember them going to Georgia together. Obviously they went there for an awful event that happened on the ground, a shooting. But they have appeared together many times. I know when it comes to Roe v. Wade, for example, they’ve appeared together for that. There’s been other times as well. I would expect that that will be continuing in the last several months of this administration. Remember, yes, they do their own events and they crisscross the country, but they’re partners in this, and they’ll continue to do just that. Go ahead.

Thanks, Karine. We know a president’s most valuable commodity is his time. I wonder how is the White House, how is the president thinking about how he spends that time now that he’s no longer running for reelection?

I mean, look, SCOTUS. He went to Texas and talked about SCOTUS reform. That was an important way to spend his time. Tomorrow, Cancer Moonshot. This is an issue both the president and the first lady care about deeply, obviously for important personal reasons to them. And so, they’re going to be together in New Orleans. You’re going to see them to continue to talk about him talk about lower cost.

(22:51)
And so, there is a map out there, I think, if you guys take a look at how he has been moving in the past couple of weeks. Let’s not forget, he’s had several calls with heads of states in the Middle East region, and I talked about at the top of my briefing about to reach a ceasefire deal in the Middle East and also a ceasefire, hostage release deal, obviously, but also deescalating the tensions. He spent his time doing that over the past two weeks and having those very important diplomatic conversations with those heads of states.

(23:26)
So I think if you just look at what he’s been doing, it’s very clear what this president cares about, is focusing on, and it’s all at the center of that, as I answered … My answer to one of your colleagues, is certainly the American people. Whether it’s national security, domestic, the center of it is the American people.

On the DNC, how is he viewing his role next week?

Look, it’s going … I’m going to be mindful because it’s a political event, but it’s an event that he views as very important. It’s an opportunity to talk about the issues that he cares about. It’s an opportunity to talk about unity. It’s an opportunity to be in front of millions of Americans to talk about what we’ve done in the last three and a half years. I’m going to be mindful because it is a political event, but the president’s looking forward to it. He sees this as an important moment, and especially as we move forward to the last several months. Go ahead, Michael. Michael?

Oh, yeah, I’m sorry. Actually, I was going to ask a very similar question. I’m just curious if you could talk a little bit about what’s going to be like for the president to be giving this speech, knowing that if things have gone a little bit differently, he would be giving an acceptance speech for a second term.

I mean, look, I’m just going to go back to the Oval Office address, because I think that address really laid out a very thoughtful, even personal way of how this president saw this moment. It was a selfless act. It wasn’t about him, it was about the country. He said this. He thought it was important moment.

(25:10)
But this is a president that is proud of what he’s been able to build. I’ve talked about the strongest economy leading the world in the modern administration, and we’re going to continue to fight to deliver results for the American people. That doesn’t end. That is something that he is certainly very focused on. The middle class, middle-class families. Let’s not forget where this president came from. He grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He understands what it’s like to sit around that kitchen table and make really difficult decisions for your family, whether it’s student loans, whether it’s paying rent, mortgage, whatever it is. He understands how hard that is.

(25:47)
Let’s not forget, when he stepped in as president, this country was paralyzed because the economy was falling and because of COVID. He turned that around. He turned that around

Because of the American rescue plan, because of policies that he’s put forth. And so I think that’s important to note. And so he sees a lot more work to be done in the next several months, and his thought process and how he sees his decision certainly is in the Oval Office address that he made. And I think it’s telling. I think it gives you a little bit of insight of what he thought personally.

(26:24)
Go ahead, Molly.

Thanks, Karine. Has the president started hearing these remarks? Does he know what he wants his message to focus on? Is he going to work on them at Camp David?

I think you could expect this president to focus on these remarks in the next several days leading up to Monday. I think you can expect this president to take this moment. He understands this is an incredible, important moment that he will have next week at the Democratic National Convention. He’s still very much the leader of the party, and he takes that very seriously, and he’s also very proud of his vice president.

(27:04)
Go ahead.

Thank you, Karine. How mad is President Biden at Nancy Pelosi?

You guys keep asking me this question. I think I’ve answered this question multiple times.

Well, he has admitted now for the first time in this interview that Pelosi is one of the Democrats who squeezed him out of the race. She thought he was going to sink the whole ticket. So how mad is he at her for that?

The president respects his good friend, former Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, and I think it’s mutual. And she also gave interviews, and I know you followed closely as well over the weekend. She made statements like “preeminent president” among the top few to have served in this office. And I think that says a lot coming from the former speaker.

So no hard feelings?

He respects his good friend, Speaker Pelosi.

I asked if there were any hard feelings.

No hard feelings. He respects her and I think it’s mutual, but I will let the president speak for himself, obviously.

And how long have you guys known that Vice President Harris does not think President Biden is doing a good job at the border?

Wait, say that one more time.

Well, she’s now promising to hire thousands more border agents than there are now under President Biden.

Wait, but start your question again.

How long have you guys known that Vice President Harris does not think that President Biden is effective with his border policy?

I mean, you’re making a huge jump. She did not say this. This is something that you are assuming. I don’t understand why you would assume that. It’s not true.

She has a campaign ad where she is saying they need more border patrol agents. If President Biden’s doing such a good job, why do they need any more border agents?

They both believe that. The president does want more border patrol agents. You know who’s getting in the way? You know who’s getting in the way? Republicans in Congress. They’re getting in the way. You know who else is getting in the way? The former president Donald Trump; he’s getting in the way. There’s no daylight here. I’m not understanding the question because there’s no daylight. The president believes that as well, and he’s worked towards doing that. There’s a bipartisan; I know you guys probably get sick of me saying this, but there was. There was a bipartisan agreement that was on the table that the president worked through for a couple of months with Republicans in the Senate and Democrats; they were told not to move forward because it would help Joe Biden by the former president. That’s their decision.

And there’s one more thing that came out over the weekend. There’s this new Las Vegas police radio traffic that’s published by The Daily Beast where officers were racing to secure a hospital emergency room on July 17th. They were under the impression that President Biden was having a medical emergency. What was it?

He was not. As you know, the president, when we were in Vegas, tested positive for COVID. We let you all know, and then we flew back here. Outside of that, there was no medical emergency. People are still testing positive for COVID, but because of this president, he was able to put forth a comprehensive way to move forward with this pandemic. And now we have vaccines, and now we are in a different place with this pandemic. It is behind us, and that’s because of this president and what he was able to do.

(30:15)
Go ahead. Well, I haven’t seen you in a while. Hey, how are you?

Thank you, ma’am. Sorry, I wasn’t sure who you were pointing at.

Oh, gosh, ma’am. Sir. I’m just teasing. I’m just teasing. It’s good to see you. I was just saying I hadn’t seen you in a while. It’s good to see you.

Okay, this is a bit of a throwback, but the vice president has said that she was the last person in the room with President Biden ahead of his decision to order U.S. troops to pull out of Afghanistan. Was the vice president in full support of his decision to order that withdrawal and in full support of the way that it was implemented?

I mean, she answered that question herself. I don’t have anything else to add. It sounds like she answered the question herself, right?

She said that she was in the room previously.

But didn’t she also said she was in support?

No, I’m asking you if the president believes that the vice president was in full support of his decision.

I believe, and as you have seen them in the past three and a half years, they’ve been partners, critical partners. It doesn’t matter if it’s domestic issues, also foreign policy issues. And that has been the case from day one and continues to be the case. I don’t have anything else to add.

The second one quickly. You’ve noted how the vice president has been a partner in all of the heavy lifts over these last three and a half years. Given that they’ve worked so closely together in that time, what does the president see as the vice president’s biggest achievement during their time in office together?

So, look, because they’ve been partners, those achievements have been done, certainly, those historic, unprecedented achievements have been done together. I’ll say this, the president believes in the vice president’s leadership, her temperament, her experience, and he has said this himself. One of the proudest decisions that he made in 2020 was selecting her as vice president because he believed that she can go on day one. And you’ve seen them do that together on day one of this administration. That doesn’t change. I’m not going to parse out anything from here. They have been partners. She’s been a critical partner for this president during this term and will continue to do so. You will see them together on Thursday in Maryland, where they would talk about their next announcement on lowering costs for the American people.

So there’s not a specific policy achievement, it’s a comprehensive hold.

I would say it’s a comprehensive hold. Our accomplishments here, the Biden-Harris accomplishments are the Biden-Harris accomplishments. She’s played a role, whether it is being on the floor of the Senate, getting really important legislations to pass through, or being in the room with the president on trying to figure out how to move forward strategically with the policy or how to make tough decisions on behalf of the American people. She’s been there; she has been there. And we’ve had, as you know, important moments, historic moments, and she’s been a critical partner.

Thank you, Karine.

Go ahead, [inaudible 00:33:16].

Thank you. Two questions. One on Bangladesh and the other one on India. On Bangladesh, the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has reported to us that she was forced to be out of power because the US wanted to have one of the islands given to them, one of the Bangladeshi islands given to the United States of America. And because they didn’t agree to it, she was forced to resign in turn of the disturbance within the country.

So, I’m sorry, what’s the question?

Question is what’s the reaction to the allegations?

So we have had no involvement at all. Any reports or rumors that the United States government was involved in these events is simply, simply false. That is not true. This is a choice for and by the Bangladeshi people. We believe that the Bangladeshi people should determine the future of the Bangladeshi government, and that’s where we stand. Any allegations, certainly we will continue to say, and I have said here is simply untrue.

Second, over the weekend several Hindu-American groups held a protest march in front of the White House, urging the president that he should be taking some steps to stop the atrocities against Hindus in Bangladesh, and also two of the Hindu lawmakers, Raja Krishnamoorthi and Shri Thanedar, who both are from the Democratic Party. They have also written letters to the administration seeking their help in stopping atrocities against Hindus in Bangladesh and other minority groups.

So, look, we’re going to certainly to monitor the situation. I don’t have anything else to say beyond that. But when it comes to any type of human rights issues here, the president always has been very consistent and speaking loud and clear in public and also privately, and he’ll continue to do that, but don’t have any specific engagement to speak to at this time.

One question on India. As the president plans for the next six months, what are the unfinished agenda on the India-US relationship and also on Quad?

So the president views our relationship; the United States’ relationship with India is one of the most consequential in the world. And so we work closely with India on our most vital priorities, including through the Quad and the US-India initiative on this critical and emerging technology. And so we look forward to continuing to expand our critically important partnership and how it’s going to benefit the American people. And we want to create more prosperous and secure Indo-Pacific and the world. And so that is going to continue to be our focus as we move forward. Okay. All right.

(36:06)
Go ahead.

Thank you. You mentioned earlier the president’s push to reform the Supreme Court term limits and ethics requirements. Can you talk about what the plan is to achieve that once Congress comes back? Are you laying the groundwork in any way at this point or otherwise trying to get that across the finish line?

So the president laid out three ways that he wants to see that moving forward, and he did that in his Washington Post op-ed and certainly when he was in Austin, Texas, about three weeks ago. And so we laid out our ideas and our thoughts. Some of them, if you think about term limits, you’ve seen conservative experts also agree with us on that, how there should be term limits.

(36:48)
And so what we’re going to do is have a conversation with Congress when they get back and figure out ways how we can actually get this done because it is important. The President believes no one is above the law, and that is something that he has continued to talk about and will do so. And that includes the highest court in the land. And what we have seen from the highest court in the land is not normal. You heard the president say that it is not normal. And so we’re going to work with Congress, come up with some ways to deal with this to really address SCOTUS reform, and he wants to see it done in a bipartisan way. We think it’s possible.

Is he at all doing anything to lay the groundwork now before Congress comes back? Looking for allies in Congress or otherwise taking any concrete steps.

So nothing to read out. Obviously, we do keep any conversations private, but what we want to do is certainly see legislation to deal with what we’ve been seeing, which is what I just said, which is it’s not normal from SCOTUS. And so we certainly will have, his team, we’ll have conversations with congressional members on how to best move forward. Don’t have any meetings or anything to read out at this time.

Thank you.

Go ahead in the back. Go ahead. Yep.

Thanks. The Trump campaign said over the weekend that it’s been hacked. Is the White House concerned about election integrity, and do you have any response or reports that Iran was the source of the hack?

So, look, I would have to refer you to the Department of Justice and the FBI on that particular question. We’ve said many times that this administration strongly condemns any foreign government or entity who attempts to interfere in our electoral process or seeks to undermine confidence in our democratic institution. And so we take this type of reports of such activity extremely seriously. And so again, we do not tolerate, we do not tolerate anything like this, influence or interference efforts. And so we have made that very clear with foreign actors that such influence or interference is unacceptable. And our efforts to protect our elections have grown significantly over the years, even as the threat

… threat landscape has become increasingly complicated. But for this particular question, I would have to refer you to the Department of Justice and FBI. I cannot comment on the veracity of the claims that Iran was involved.

Okay, thanks. And one more. As a member of the administration, can we expect the vice president to come out here and speak to the American people in the briefing room at some point?

The president and the vice president speaks to the American people regularly, and that’s where I’ll leave that. Go ahead, sir. Right there.

Thank you. What is the U.S., the administration is doing in regards to Iran planning to deliver hundreds of ballistic missiles to Russia? I mean, what mechanism are you using to stop that? And then I have another question on Venezuela.

So, look, the White House has repeatedly warned of the deepening security partnership between Russia and Iran since the outset of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. We’ve also warned both parties about further strengthening this partnership. This partnership threatens European security and illustrate how Iran’s destabilizing influence reaches beyond the Middle East but also around the world. As we and our partners have made clear to the world both at the G7 and NATO summits this summer, together, we are prepared to deliver a swift and severe response if Iran were to move forward with such transfers, which would represent a dramatic escalation in Iran’s support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. During his campaign, the Iranian president claimed he wanted to moderate Iran’s policies and engage with the world. Destabaling actions like this fly in the face, certainly, of that rhetoric.

On Venezuela. There’s a report by Wall Street Journal that the U.S. has offered Maduro and his close allies an amnesty in exchange for them leaving power. Is that something you would confirm?

So, since the July 28 elections, we have not made any specific offers of amnesty to Maduro or others.

Can I follow up, Karine?

Sure.

How about before the election?

What I can say-

Because there are information that this offer started last year, this discussion of amnesty.

What I can speak to is, since the election, we have just not made that type of offer.

And another one on Venezuela. And then I have one on the Middle East, very quick one.

Sure.

What is the view of the two statements from Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico asking Maduro regime to release the voting data? Is this enough, or you would like to see these three countries doing more?

I mean, look, it’s been two weeks after the elections in Venezuela. It is abundantly clear to the majority of Venezuelan people, the United States, and growing number of countries, as you just listed, that Edmundo won the most votes in the July 28th presidential election. And Maduro must recognize it. We’ve said that, and we’ll continue to say that. More than 80 percent of the voting tally sheets published by civil society and opposition, corroborated by independent observers. And so, we think Maduro must recognize it.

Is a statement helpful? Is it a good step?

I mean, look, we certainly are going to continue to be very clear here that Maduro must recognize it. Countries are going to do what they feel is the right way to move forward. So, we’ll let them speak to that. But we’ve been very clear. Maduro must recognize it.

Another one, a last one about the Middle East. Because earlier, John Kirby said that Iran could attack Israel this week. Does the White House believe an attack is inevitable?

I’m not going to get into our intelligence from here or what another country is going to do. That is not something that I’m going to do from this podium. You heard from NSC, so I will leave it to them to speak to that and what my colleague John Kirby said. I just don’t have anything else to add. Go ahead, Ed.

Thanks, Karine. I want to follow up first on what you told Phil. So, you said the vice president owns the successes of this president over the past three and a half years. Does she also own the struggles that this president has seen, like the prices up 19 percent since the month they came into office?

They are partners in how they’ve been able to turn around the economy. This economy was in a downfall when the president took office. The former administration did not have a plan to deal with the pandemic, a comprehensive plan. This president put that forward with the help of the vice president, and we were able to deliver on that. The American Rescue Plan made a difference in bringing our economy back on its feet, made a difference on opening small businesses, on opening schools. Republicans didn’t vote for it.

(43:54)
We have to remember what the president inherited from the last administration when he took it over with the vice president. And when you think about inflation, inflation is down by 2.5 percent and wages have risen. We have more than 16 million jobs created in the last almost four years. I know that you’re laying out the negative parts of what you foresee, what you see in the economy, but there is some data here that has shown because of the work that this president has done, it’s mattered. Unemployment is still low, 4.3 percent. You think about manufacturing jobs that have come back to this country. You think about how the GDP grew by 2.8 percent last quarter. Those are that data. And we understand. We understand that American people are still feeling it, and that’s why we’re going to make more announcements about how we’re going to continue to lower costs.

And one more, I want to try one more time on the taxes on tips. So, why, then, have the president and vice president not talked about this over the past three and a half years?

So, again, the president supports eliminating taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers. And at the same time, what this president and this vice president has been able to do is help raising minimum wage. There are things that the president and this vice president has done over the three and a half years that has helped hard-working people that Republicans in Congress have opposed. I didn’t even talk about them wanting to cut Social Security and Medicare. I mean, these are things that they have said that will hurt hard-working people. So, the president supports it. This is part of the vice president’s policy. This is something that we want to see happen. But we have done the work to make sure that hard-working people are not forgotten. Where were the Republicans on this?

But-

But where were Republicans on this? And if they were so interested, if Republicans are now talking about this, Republican elected officials are so interested in getting it done, why didn’t they pass it during the last administration? Why? Why not?

So, the IRS last month released their report saying, “Hey, this is how, if you have an extension for taxes, you can file taxes on your tips.” The president’s budget relies on the taxes from tips. So, when did this idea come about?

I don’t have a timeline for you. What I can say is the president supports this. What I can say, even if you put this to the side, which is, again, the president supports this; the vice president supports this. The president, the vice president has done the work to try to make sure that we put working people first. They have had the backs of the working people: tax cuts for workers, making sure that middle-class families are put first, not billionaires and corporations. That is something that they’ve been very clear about. Ensuring workers join a union, something that Republican officials oppose. And we’ve been very clear here. And why haven’t Republicans joined us? They just haven’t. They have not. Matter of fact, they opposed a lot of the policies that we put forth that would do just this. They opposed it. American Rescue Plan, Inflation Reduction Act, they opposed it.

(47:10)
All right. Everybody, thank you so much. I’ll see you tomorrow.

Thanks, Karine.

No, not tomorrow. We’re traveling. I’ll see you on the road tomorrow.