Press Release
☷Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre and NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby
White House ( By Press Release office)
Jan 11,2024
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Hey everyone , it ' s Ms . Jean - Pierre . Good to see you all still here . So , across the country , we ' re dealing with some crazy weather , from blizzards out west to heavy rain and wind in the east . Some states have even declared a state of emergency . And here in D . C . , a lot of schools are sending kids home early , including mine . So , just a reminder to stay alert and listen to local officials . You can also download the FEMA app for real - time weather alerts . We ' re here to support communities if needed . Now , let ' s talk about the President ' s week . On Friday , he ' s heading to Allentown , Pennsylvania , to talk about how Bidenomics and his Investing in America agenda are helping communities thrive . It ' s creating jobs , boosting local economies , and making life more affordable for families . And now , let ' s hear from Admiral John Kirby about the international response to Russia ' s use of North Korean munitions . Thank you . MS . JEAN - PIERRE: Go ahead , Josh . Q So , the President has known for about five days now that Secretary Austin was in the hospital , but he wasn ' t told why? MR . KIRBY: Nobody at the White House knew about Secretary Austin ' s prostate cancer until this morning , and the President was immediately informed after we found out . Q Is that because the White House knew and didn ' t tell the President , or did Secretary Austin choose not to share that information? But let me be clear , the best way to respond to Russia ' s missile and UAV attacks is by providing Ukraine with the air defense capabilities and military equipment it needs to protect itself , its land , infrastructure , and people . To make that happen , we need Congress to approve our supplemental funding request for Ukraine without any further delay . Russia is seeking help from countries like North Korea and Iran , but Ukraine needs our support . We urge Congress to help us meet this need and rise to the occasion . MS . JEAN - PIERRE: Go ahead , Nancy . Q Okay . MR . KIRBY: He was informed by the Chief of Staff earlier this morning , and I won ' t give any more details than that . Q Thanks , John , for doing this . On the news of the day , when did President Biden find out about the Defense Secretary ' s cancer diagnosis? MR . KIRBY: The President was not informed until last Friday that Secretary Austin was in the hospital . He was not informed until this morning that the reason for the hospitalization was prostate cancer . Q Any details on how he reacted? MR . KIRBY: He was told today . Last week , we found out that Jake Sullivan , I think , learned about Secretary Austin being hospitalized on Thursday morning . So , just to clarify: Are you saying the President found out a day later than the NSC did? No , Jake was informed by our National Security Advisor that Secretary Austin was in the hospital and had been for a while . He found out late Thursday afternoon . And he and the Chief of Staff , Mr . Zients , informed the President later that evening . Not long after they found out , they told the President directly . Okay . We also learned today that when Secretary Austin went to the hospital for the first time on December 22nd , he knew he would be under general anesthesia and spending the night , so he transferred authority to his Deputy Secretary . Was the White House informed about the transfer of authority then? No . Is that what ' s supposed to happen? There are delegations of authority that can happen , not regularly , but it ' s not uncommon for the Secretary of Defense to delegate authority to the deputy , sometimes for a short period of time . But one of the things we want to learn from this is the notification process for that delegation of authority . Is there an expectation that the White House will be notified when a Secretary is indisposed or hospitalized and has to transfer authority? I ' ll actually let Karine take this one because it relates to the memo Mr . Zients issued . And I think I ' ll let Karine explain . Sure , sure . So , as you all know , a memo was released today from the Chief of Staff . The memo was sent to the President ' s Cabinet , outlining protocols for a delegation of authority . The memo has two main points . First , it asks every Cabinet agency to submit their current protocols for a delegation of authority for review by the White House Office of Cabinet Affairs and the Chief of Staff by this Friday , January 12th . And second , in the meantime , the memo directs Cabinet agencies to follow a set of robust protocols in the event of a delegation of authority . So , that ' s what the memo says , those two important points . Again , we ' ve been saying that the President believes we need strong protocols and procedures in place across the Cabinet . And this is what you ' re seeing from this memo . So , finally , who does the President hold responsible for this lapse: Secretary Austin , his aides , the Chairman of Joint Chiefs who clearly knew about this the day after the Secretary was hospitalized? Well , I will say this . Secretary Austin put out a statement and he took full responsibility for this . So , I would refer you back to the statement . And Secretary Austin was very clear , and we appreciate that he has taken responsibility for this . But I also want to say that we certainly hope that he fully recovers and also gets back to the Pentagon . And so , I ' ll leave it there . But his statement was very clear the other day . Go ahead . Thank you , Karine . Walter Reed said that he was diagnosed with the cancer last month . So , just to confirm , the President did not know the diagnosis or that he was hospitalized? No , he did - — he was informed — the President was informed — as the Admiral just stated , the President was informed today about the prostate cancer . So , is there a lack of trust between the Pentagon and the White House? Why did the Secretary of Defense feel that he didn ' t need to inform the President immediately , the White House immediately about the diagnosis or the procedure? So , look , we have complete confidence in the Secretary . That is something that we have said . The President has complete confidence in the Secretary . Obviously , the — there is a review that — that the Pentagon is doing . They announced that yesterday . They ' re going to take a review of the — of — of how this process went , and we ' ll let that review process move forward . But , again , the President has full confidence in the — in the Secretary . Admiral Kirby , when you talked to your former — former Pentagon colleagues , what did they tell you in terms of why Austin didn ' t immediately inform higher - level officials here? Well , again , I ' d refer you to them to speak to that . That — but as Karine said , the Secretary ' s statement was — was very clear . He takes full responsibility for the decisions he made with respect to this procedure . And that includes the decisions about — about how that — that procedure was communicated . Does that decision mean he had specifically communicated to his close staff not to more widely tell people about what — We don ' t have that kind of level of granularity here . That ' s something that only they can speak to . Go ahead , St - — oh . What was the President ' s reaction today when he found out? His first reaction is , as Karine rightly said , we all want to wish him the very best . I mean , sadly , this is a disease that affects a lot of American men , especially at that stage in life . And the important thing is to catch it early , you know , through early screening . I think we ' re all going to learn a lot from this past week . One lesson I hope everyone takes away is the value of early screening . And just to confirm , there was about a month between when the diagnosis was discovered in early December and when the President found out today . Is that what you ' re asking? Well , the Pentagon already talked about when the Secretary was diagnosed , which was early December . In consultation with his doctors , he chose to have the procedure later in the month to coincide with the holidays . The President didn ' t find out about the diagnosis until this morning , but his reaction is that he wishes the Secretary a speedy recovery . Go ahead , Steve . Did the President or the White House tell Secretary Austin to disclose this today? No . Okay . Does the President plan to keep Secretary Austin for the rest of his term? Yes . Okay . Go ahead , M . J . Has the President spoken with Secretary Austin since their conversation on Saturday? No . We now know that Secretary Austin was under anesthesia on December 22nd , and the White House didn ' t know at the time . What would have happened if there was a national security emergency and the President needed to reach Secretary Austin on that day? Well , it ' s a hypothetical and speculative , but it ' s important to remember that there ' s a process for delegation of authority . Just like on a warship , there ' s a captain and a second - in - command who can take over if needed . In this case , Deputy Secretary Kathleen Hicks had the authority delegated to her and was fully capable of being the Acting Secretary of Defense during that time . But I hate getting into hypotheticals . But let ' s just say , if the Commander - in - Chief needed to task the Defense Department or get clarity on a specific issue , Deputy Secretary Hicks would have been able to handle it . Right . But in that hypothetical scenario , the White House would have realized they couldn ' t reach Secretary Austin and understood the need for delegation of authority . I mean , I can ' t prove that would be the case , but it didn ' t happen . But she had complete authority to run the Defense Department . And another thing , now that it ' s been revealed that Secretary Austin had surgery for prostate cancer , does the White House and the President think that he should have had the privacy to not disclose the specifics of the medical treatment? The President believes that transparency with the American people is important , but he also understands the need for privacy . As a Cabinet official , there is an obligation to be transparent about personal situations if it affects their duties . So , does he think Secretary Austin should have been able to keep this specific detail private? I can ' t speak for the President on that , but he is concerned about Secretary Austin ' s health and has full faith in his ability to lead the Defense Department . The President hopes for a speedy recovery and steps are being taken to prevent this from happening again . The President gets it , that ' s why he wants the Chief of Staff to look at processes across the administration and agencies . DOD is also reviewing their own procedures to prevent it from happening again . The Pentagon called the surgery "elective , " but I ' m not a medical expert . The doctors at Walter Reed used that phrase , so they should explain what it means . The President was still in command during the time the Defense Secretary was in the hospital . Military action was taken and approved by the President . The national security decision - making process doesn ' t require Cabinet - level officials to be the sole decision - makers . If you can stick with me for a moment , because I think your question really brings up a bigger problem , and I just want to quickly go through the timeline here to give you some context . So , on December 31st , which was a Sunday , Jake Sullivan had a long phone call with General Kurilla from Central Command to talk about various issues in the Middle East . And there ' s a lot to that . The next day , on January 1st , President Biden had a phone conference with Mr . Sullivan , Secretary Austin , General Brown , Secretary Blinken , the DNI , the CIA director , and other team members . They discussed what ' s happening in the Middle East . President Biden told the NSC , Department of Defense , and the State Department to speed up their work with allies and partners to release a joint statement on the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea , and it had to be done by Wednesday as per the President ' s instruction . And we did that . I came to the podium and read it out . From January 1st to January 3rd , the National Security Advisor , his deputy , Middle East Coordinator Brett McGurk , had multiple conversations with their counterparts in other countries to get support for that joint statement . Senior NSC officials also worked closely with senior Pentagon officials to make calls and get support from foreign partners . The President finally approved that statement shortly after . And as you know , it was issued on January 3rd . Also on the 3rd , there was a meeting on Haiti , and Secretary Austin and General Brown couldn ' t attend , so their deputies represented them . That ' s not unusual at a meeting like that . So , thank you for all the details , but more generally , why should we trust anything this administration says from now on? I think we all understand , and the Pentagon has been very honest with themselves about the credibility challenge that arose from what happened here and how difficult it was for them to be completely transparent with the American people . We all acknowledge that . And give me a second , I know you have another question , but we all recognize that things didn ' t go as they should have on many levels , not just in terms of notifying higher - ups , but also in terms of transparency . We all acknowledge that . And I think we all want to make sure we learn from this . I mean , it ' s really up to you and your colleagues and the American people to decide how much they ' re gonna attribute what happened here to our credibility on everything . But , like , Secretary Austin has been an amazing Defense Secretary in every way . The Commander - in - Chief still has complete faith and confidence in him . He ' s been leading the Department during a super dangerous time for our national security , as well as our allies and partners . But , like , if the administration is gonna try so hard to keep secrets about the Defense Secretary ' s health , how can anyone be sure they wouldn ' t do the same for President Biden ' s health? I mean , he ' s 81 years old . Hold on a sec , just give me a moment , dude . If the administration was secretly trying to hide stuff in some sneaky way , then your question would have some merit , ya know? But that ' s not what happened here , Peter . The Secretary of Defense just didn ' t share that info for some reason . It wasn ' t widely known in the department and definitely not with the interagency . You guys didn ' t know either . That ' s not good , obviously . We wanna learn from this and make sure it doesn ' t happen again . Okay , we gotta move on . Jared , go ahead . So yeah , this wasn ' t ideal , but the President respects that Secretary Austin took full responsibility for it . That matters . And he also appreciates all the work Secretary Austin has done on various issues since becoming Defense Secretary . Like , it was his idea to create the Ukraine Contact Group and he ' s been supporting Israel and helping out in the Indo - Pacific . I mean , it ' s not a coincidence that the Philippines agreed to give the US military more access to their bases . That ' s all thanks to the Defense Secretary ' s hard work . I could keep going on and on . He ' s confident in Secretary Austin ' s ability to lead in the future because he ' s seen how well he ' s led in the past . MS . JEAN - PIERRE: Go ahead , Asma . Q Yeah , about the Secretary , I have a question . You just said earlier that you don ' t know why the information wasn ' t relayed . Has anyone privately told you why it wasn ' t relayed MR . KIRBY: We ' ve made it clear that we want to know more about the information flow process . Q And have you received any clarification MR . KIRBY: I can ' t share any details . I don ' t think we ' ve been provided with any information on why the information was so isolated . But we ' ve expressed our interest in learning more . Q And then , on a different subject , in the Middle East . Israel ' s Supreme Court denied a request from international news outlets to allow foreign journalists . Many of us here in the newsroom have colleagues who wanted to go . The request was denied . I ' m wondering if during your conversations with Israeli officials , has there ever been a request for media access and has it been denied MR . KIRBY: That ' s a great question and I don ' t have an answer . But I ' ll go back and check . I ' m not aware of any requests made by outlets and denied by the Israeli government to enter Gaza . Is that what you ' re saying Q By the Israeli Supreme Court . And there was a coalition of international news organizations . MR . KIRBY: They said no . Q Okay . Let me go back and do some research on that , if you don ' t mind . Q Okay . And can I ask one more question I know Secretary Blinken had a series of meetings in Israel today . Did they achieve any noticeable results from the Secretary ' s meetings today The readouts provided very little information . MR . KIRBY: Readouts actually provide no information . Q Yeah . So , can you give us any idea of tangible results Well , I guess this has resulted in the fact that my colleagues on the ground reported that the death toll in Israel over the last 24 hours was one of the highest . So considering that and the Secretary ' s visit , and I know civilian casualties were part of this , do you feel like you ' ve achieved any noticeable results MR . KIRBY: Secretary Blinken is still on the trip , so we ' ll let him finish his trip . I ' m sure he ' ll give us a thorough report on what he discussed and learned . We ' ll look forward to that report when he returns to Washington , D . C . Q ( Inaudible . ) And now a question about China . Today , China launched a satellite over Taiwan ' s airspace , and yesterday they sent aircraft , ships , and balloons . What message does the White House have for China , especially considering the upcoming election in Taiwan? MR . KIRBY: None of your questions have been about the Defense Secretary . Q I have another question not related to the Defense Secretary , if you ' re open to it . Q Thank you . Burundi ' s president recently called for stoning gay people to death . In light of the administration ' s actions against Uganda for similar laws , are you considering any actions against the government of Burundi for these hateful statements? MR . KIRBY: Our view hasn ' t changed . We don ' t support a ceasefire right now because we believe it only benefits Hamas . However , we do support humanitarian pauses . The President ' s statement didn ' t indicate any change . He has consistently held this view since the conflict began . MR . KIRBY: These actions make us wonder about their intentions . The timing does raise an interesting question about their goals and whether it relates to the election . While we don ' t have proof , we believe in respecting Taiwan ' s democratic institutions . We want to see a fair and transparent election , and we ' re ready to work with whoever the people of Taiwan elect . But I don ' t want to interfere or cause any problems while he ' s still in the area . And honestly , it would be better to ask my colleague at the State Department about this . MS . JEAN - PIERRE: We need to wrap it up soon . Go ahead , Anita . Q Thank you , John . Let ' s start with Israel and President Biden ' s recent statement about "quietly working" with Israel . Is he hinting at a possible ceasefire? And does the administration still agree with Israel that a ceasefire can only happen if Hamas is eliminated? MR . KIRBY: I don ' t have any decisions to announce today . But it ' s clear that such actions would be horrific and unjust . We take civil and human rights very seriously , and this should be evident to the government of Burundi and all across Africa . MS . JEAN - PIERRE: Go ahead . Q Yeah . So , like , over 100 journalists have been killed in Gaza by Israel . Isn ' t it kinda contradictory or bad for the U . S . to keep giving money and weapons to Israel when they ' re doing these crimes against journalists? MR . KIRBY: Your question assumes that they ' re intentionally and maliciously targeting journalists . And , like , we haven ' t seen any evidence of that . We still believe in protecting journalists wherever they are , especially in conflict zones . But we gotta make sure their safety and ability to report is safeguarded .
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