Press Release
☷Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre and Spokesman for the White House Counsel s Office Ian Sams February 9 2024
White House ( By Press Release office)
Feb 11,2024
| 12| 0
Hey everyone , it ' s 1:40 PM and I ' ve got a few things to share before I hand it over to our guest . Today , the Vice President and the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention are hosting community violence intervention leaders from all over the country to recognize their efforts in reducing and preventing violence . We ' ve had a whole week of activities for Community Violence Awareness Week , and these programs have been shown to reduce violence by up to 50% . That ' s why the Biden - Harris administration is investing heavily in community violence intervention and other proven solutions to tackle gun violence . The President ' s American Rescue Plan provided over $15 billion for crime prevention and public safety , and the Bipartisan Safer Community Act is giving $250 million for community - based violence prevention initiatives . These actions are making a difference , with homicides and gun violence rates going down in 2023 . We ' ll keep working to protect American communities from this senseless violence and urge Congress to take action on common - sense gun safety measures . On another note , senior U . S . officials recently visited Guyana , Colombia , and Mexico . They met with President Ali and Caribbean Community Secretary - General Dr . Carla Barnett in Guyana to show support for their sovereignty and discuss economic and security cooperation . In Colombia , they discussed financing for sustainable infrastructure and ongoing cooperation on security and migration . They also reaffirmed support for fair elections in Venezuela and the implementation of the Barbados Agreement . Finer thanked Colombia for their ongoing efforts to promote dialogue and emphasized the importance of supporting a fair electoral process without harassment or intimidation , where all candidates can participate . Now let ' s shift gears to Mexico . Dr . Sherwood - Randall , the White House Homeland Security Advisor , led a delegation to Mexico on February 6th and 7th . She had extensive discussions with President AMLO and our delegation also met with Mexico ' s security cabinet . The focus was on bilateral and regional issues , including cooperation on migration and efforts to promote economic development in the Americas . During the fourth meeting of the Trilateral Fentanyl Committee , the United States , Mexico , and Canada agreed on 10 joint actions to combat the trafficking of synthetic drugs like fentanyl and firearms in North America . These actions are outlined in our joint statement released yesterday . On February 7th , the Treasury designated one of Ecuador ' s most violent gangs and its leader for fueling the recent surge of violence in the country . These sanctions are part of the significant assistance we are providing to Ecuador to combat organized crime and narcotics . Lastly , I want to express our condolences to the people of Chile as they mourn the loss of former President Sebastián Piñera . Our thoughts are also with those affected by the wildfires , and we are supporting firefighters by providing technical staff , satellite imagery , and funding for firefighting equipment . Thank you for your patience . Now , I ' ll pass it over to my colleague , Ian Sams , from the White House Counsel ' s Office . I want to read you something from Ken Starr , who you might remember as the independent counsel who investigated President Clinton . After the investigation , he said to Congress , "Basically , no criminal charges would be brought . That ' s it , end of story . " And that ' s still true today . The Special Counsel report talks a lot about how the President cooperated fully . Let me share a few important things about that . First , when classified documents were found , the President made sure they were returned right away . He takes classified information seriously and never intended to keep them . He never tried to obstruct anything . Second , he did everything he could to help the special counsel . He allowed FBI searches in his homes , sat for interviews , and answered follow - up questions in writing . Third , he didn ' t hide anything . He didn ' t use executive privilege to keep anything secret . He was transparent because he had nothing to hide . Now , let ' s put this in context . Former Vice President Pence had a similar incident happen to him , and the case was closed quickly . But in this case , there was a 15 - month investigation , 150 witnesses interviewed , and millions of documents reviewed . They spent a lot of taxpayer money exploring every theory , but in the end , they found no case . It ' s important to remember that this is the first special counsel investigation that didn ' t indict anyone . They looked at every possible theory , but the facts and evidence didn ' t support any of them . So , they concluded that there was no case . In that reality , we also gotta talk about the environment we ' re in . Lately , Republicans in Congress and elsewhere have been going after prosecutors who don ' t align with their political agenda . They ' ve been claiming there ' s a double standard in justice between Republicans and Democrats . Basically , they ' ve been disrespecting the rule of law for their own political gain . It ' s a messed up situation . And in this high - pressure political climate , where the facts and evidence don ' t support any charges , it ' s confusing why this report wastes time criticizing the President for no reason . In the past day , legal experts and former prosecutors have come forward with their analysis . Former Attorney General Eric Holder said this report has too many unnecessary remarks and goes against DOJ traditions . The former Acting FBI Director , who ' s dealt with cases like this before , said you need explicit evidence of intentionally keeping those documents , which isn ' t present here . The former FBI General Counsel , who was also the lead prosecutor in the Mueller investigation , said this report is exactly what you ' re not supposed to do , using political bias . These are professionals with deep experience at the Department of Justice . Unfortunately , the attention - grabbing remarks that the former Attorney General mentioned are misleading and just plain wrong . They overshadow a simple truth that I want to emphasize again , because I know it ' s hard to get through 400 pages . One , the report provides countless examples of the President not knowingly mishandling classified documents . Two , the report shows the President didn ' t share classified information with anyone . Three , the report states there ' s a lack of evidence supporting the claim that the President intentionally retained materials . It ' s buried on page 215 , long after all the noise . Bottom line , this case is closed because the facts and evidence don ' t back up these theories . The unnecessary comments made by respected experts are out of line and shouldn ' t distract from the fact that the case is closed and the facts and evidence led to the right conclusion . So yeah , fire away with any questions you ' ve got . MS . JEAN - PIERRE: Aamer , go ahead . Just a couple of things to clarify . When and who did the President find out about the report ' s contents from? Mr . Sams: His lawyers briefed him . And also , do you think the President still trusts Merrick Garland after appointing Hur? Mr . Sams: The President addressed that last night . One of you asked him about his thoughts on the special counsel ' s appointment and he answered thoughtfully and convincingly . I don ' t have much more to add to what the President said . And finally , does the President support releasing the full transcript of his interview to address some of the overlooked things? Mr . Sams: That ' s a fair question . We have to consider that we ' re dealing with classified material here . There are classification issues involved . I don ' t have any updates on releasing anything today . But it ' s a valid question , and we ' ll have to figure it out once we can work through the classified parts . So , if we can redact certain parts , would the President support its release , as long as we can keep the necessary secrets? Mr . Sams: We ' ll have to look into that and make a decision . Ms . Jean - Pierre: Go ahead , Justin . Q: Thanks , Ian . Two questions . First , you mentioned that the President takes classified information seriously , but the special counsel ' s report mentioned three instances where he discussed it with his ghostwriter . The President said he never discussed it with anyone . How do you reconcile these statements? Mr . Sams: If you read the full report , it explains those three instances . Justin correctly points out that we ' re talking about three instances out of a 250 - page report that criticizes various aspects . It ' s important to look at those three examples . Two of them were his personal notes in his diary that he shared with his ghostwriter for a memoir about his life after his son Beau passed away . He made it clear in the report that the information was sensitive and should be handled with care . None of those passages ended up in the book , and there is no classified information in it . So , I just want to make that point . Q: Are you saying that because the President rewrote classified material in his own words and shared it with someone without security clearance , it was okay?Biden willingly shared national defense information with his writing assistant . It ' s in the report . That ' s the conclusion they came to based on the evidence . And there ' s something else I want to mention about this because it ' s been a back - and - forth . On page 1 of the report , it says , "The President knowingly kept classified documents about Afghanistan . " But on page 215 , it says , "There ' s actually not enough evidence on these points . " On page 5 , it says , "Mr . Biden ' s memory was pretty limited . " But there ' s another part in the report where it says , "We expect the evidence of Mr . Biden ' s state of mind to be convincing , " referring to his clear and forceful testimony . That ' s what he said about his state of mind later in the report . So , it ' s important to consider the whole report and understand that the facts and evidence contradict the theories that are being discussed . I guess we might disagree on whether he should have used the word "willfully" last night . But there ' s something else I wanted to ask about , which is that his lawyers said they ' re going to work on a process to prevent this from happening again . Yeah . Obviously , there ' s a possibility that this administration has less than a year left . So , could you explain what the timeline is for that and what you guys are considering for that kind of process? That ' s a great question . I think what this issue a year ago showed us is that unfortunately , this is a common thing in our country . The National Archives has talked about how in the last decade or so , 80 different libraries and collections have called and said , "Oops , we found classified documents in these papers . " And they have a process for returning them . But then , you know , we had the issue with President Biden , and right after that , we had the issue with Vice President Pence . So , it ' s important to understand that this happens a lot , and the President believes we should fix it . Like , he gave back all those documents . He knew they shouldn ' t be in the hands of the government . So , here ' s the plan: the President is gonna appoint a task force to look into how transitions handle classified material . They wanna make sure there are better processes in place so that when staff is hurriedly packing up during a transition , they can do it more smoothly . They ' re gonna make recommendations to fix any issues . And they ' re gonna pick a senior government leader to lead the task force . We ' ll have more info on that soon . And I think it ' s important to understand that the criticisms you ' re hearing about the unnecessary comments in the report - which are totally wrong , by the way - are coming from people at the Justice Department who really know their stuff . On the subject of memory , those criticisms seemed to really make the President and his supporters angry . Is anything being done to address that ongoing issue? Counsel did ask for some things to be removed , and Robert Hur might have to testify before Congress . Is the administration taking any steps to address that specific issue? Is it related to the President ' s overall medical report or other things that show problems with his memory and his ability to serve? I have a lot of problems with that question , to be honest . Karine has already talked about the President ' s transparency with his medical records and his physical health . I ' ll let her handle that . But I will say this , I just read you a quote from the report that says they expect the evidence of Biden ' s state of mind to be compelling , pointing to his clear and forceful testimony . I can ' t explain why the report is all over the place on this issue . I can just tell you that the Vice President , members of Congress , and even Congressman Goldman have talked about their recent interactions with the President , including a detailed conversation about what was happening in Israel . We reject the idea that the report is true and it raises questions about why those unnecessary comments are in there . Go ahead , Weijia . Thank you , Karine , and thank you , Ian . So , you ' re questioning some of the findings in this report . You ' re questioning some of the observations of President Biden . So , why should the American public believe that charges weren ' t warranted? I ' m not sure I understand exactly what you ' re asking . What I ' m saying is , you ' re saying that a lot of the report is inaccurate . So , why are you so confident that the conclusion is correct? It seems like you ' re just picking and choosing what to believe . The conclusion has been obvious from the very beginning . It was a really long and kind of all over the place investigation that came to the conclusion that everyone already knew: that it was an accident and not intentional . As soon as they were found , the President said to give them back and cooperate fully . So , the inevitable conclusion was reached because it ' s the truth . The way the investigation was conducted and the unnecessary comments in the report are concerning and inappropriate . But I think the finding was obvious because it ' s the truth . MR . SAMS: We are concerned about the impact of these unnecessary comments and how they may affect public perception of the President . Q: President Biden mostly blamed his staff for mishandling documents and where they ended up . Does the President think he did everything right when it comes to handling classified material? MS . JEAN - PIERRE: We need to move on . Go ahead , Tam . Q: What about the things he mentioned being in his home in filing cabinets that were either locked or could be locked? What stuff was he talking about? Classified materials? MR . SAMS: Well , the report goes into detail about this . I would encourage you to read it . He mentioned having personal diaries in his home , which is expected . The documents that were taken were mixed up in boxes and found accidentally in various places . That ' s what happened . Q: Thank you . How worried is the President and the team here that the unnecessary comments will harm him and the public ' s perception of him? MR . SAMS: Well , just look at the report . I know it ' s long , but it explains that the evidence suggests that the staff probably packed these things up during movements and transitions . So , it ' s not an accusation by the President , it ' s just true . We all know that you guys work with White House staff all the time . Our job is to support the principal and the principal relies on their staff for help . The President mentioned last night that he wishes he had been more involved in the packing process to ensure things were done correctly . And the most important thing to remember is that once it was realized that something went wrong , he did everything right to fix the problem . MR . SAMS: We received the report yesterday from the Justice Department officially . The President ' s lawyers were doing the privilege review , which we informed everyone about and disclosed when it was completed . So , I think they briefed him on the material as the client , as is typical in a legal case . And then we received the full report yesterday . The President has been really busy . Q If the 7th and 8th were really busy days for the President , where he was overwhelmed and taking calls in the middle of the night , why didn ' t he do the interview with Hur on another day? Why give him the chance to include lines in the report about lapses and timelines? MR . SAMS: And he did commit to it . As . . . SAMS: I think the public is pretty smart . They can see what ' s going on . They see a president who cooperated fully . They see a president who did the right thing and made sure everything was resolved . They also see that this investigation went on for a long time without any case being made . And you know , I think they understand when people make unnecessary comments that a prosecutor shouldn ' t make . They get it . And I think they ' ll understand that the President did the right thing here . MR . SAMS: Here ' s what ' s interesting about this , which oddly isn ' t in the report . At the beginning of the interview , the special counsel told the President , "I understand that you ' re dealing with a lot right now . I ' ll be asking you questions about things from a long time ago . I want you to try your best to recall . " That ' s what prosecutors often tell witnesses . Q He could have told the Special Counsel . . . MR . SAMS: He committed to it . And . . . Q No , I ' m saying . . . Q Thanks , Karine . Just one question: Has the President read the entire report? When was he given the report? Did he review it when his lawyers did the privilege review? And do you have any context on when he found out about the findings? So , he understood that . But the President wanted to cooperate . He talked about it last night . He wanted to make sure he provided everything needed and didn ' t create any obstacles . MR . SAMS: Are you suggesting he should have thrown up roadblocks? I mean , no . MS . JEAN - PIERRE: Let ' s move on . Go ahead , Tyler . I ' m not sure if he ' s read all 400 pages . I ' m not sure how many people in this room have actually read the whole thing . But he definitely knows what ' s in the report . And just a quick follow - up , the President was really fired up last night , pushing back against the idea that he didn ' t remember when his son died . Can you give us a bit more context , like was he directly asked about dates in the interview with the special counsel? Was it part of a bigger conversation? It would be helpful to have more context from the report to understand it better . Yeah , I mean , the President made it pretty clear last night , and he ' s been talking for years about the pain and suffering they went through when Beau passed away and how serious it was . So it ' s really unfair to suggest that he couldn ' t remember when his son died . In the interview , they were asking him about file folders in a basement and how they got there and what he was doing around that time . I don ' t want to . . .
PLAY the NEWS
* May be useful for visually impaired persons .
Press release information:
Direct link to press release:
Click here .
