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PSAKI gaggle 4/12/22 | Otter.ai

PSAKI gaggle 4/12/22

Christian Datoc19min

Speaker 1

00:00

Oh, come on, you're ready to ready. Okay. Welcome to our trip to Iowa. to I just forgot the top one. You may have seen this, but we put out I read out of the President's call with, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom, and about his recent visit the Prime Minister's recent visit to Ukraine in the readout just highlight a few points for leaders from their commitment to continue providing security and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine in the face of ongoing atrocities by Russia. They also welcomed ongoing cooperation with allies and partners to impose severe costs on Russia or it's been provoked and not justified for bars. Also wanted to highlight part of the reason I think part of the reason we're going to highlight today, today, the President is announcing a very dramatic wind up new steps to achieve the goal of reducing building real energy independence in the long term by reducing our reliance on fossil fuels by increasing fuel supplies, offering more consumer choices and reducing gasoline prices for Americans. And of course, doing that on a day where we've seen that energy prices about 70%. The headline, CPA, the CPI data, so we know we need to do everything possible to reduce costs for the American people. He's going to announce that the EPA administrators planning for the 15 Gasoline gasoline that uses a 15% ethanol blend to be sold this summer. This is the latest step in expanding Americans access to affordable feels alive and bringing relief to Americans suffering from this price. I couldn't talk to making a teen available in the summer the EPA is planning to issue a national emergency waiver. But Dallas does this action even teen cannot be used in most of the country from June 1 to September 15. And the EPA plans to take final action to issue the emergency waiver closer to June 1. Even cheetahs currently operate 2300 gas stations in the country, many of them in the Midwest, where it can serve as an important and more affordable source of fuel at current prices, even 10 can save a family 10 cents per gallon of gas on average, and many stores sell at 15. And an even greater discount with that. It's on your first

Speaker 2

02:17

stage participating in an investigation into whether chemical weapons were used in America.

Speaker 1

02:23

We have nothing to confirm at this time, of course, we are going to contribute in every way we can to get into the bottom of it. But we don't have anyone on the ground as a part of that at this point in time, as you will know. So I didn't have any updates

Speaker 2

02:35

the comments from President eastern Russia, which he seemed to be very defensive, and that said the military operation will continue

Speaker 1

02:48

that I have not seen his comments. But that is certainly in line to be in line with our expectations. And what we've seen over the course of the last several days, which is every positioning, not a total withdrawal. And while we can certainly applaud the ingredients for their bravery and courage and essentially winning the battle of peace, we know that the brutality and the intention of taking over militarily portions of Ukraine, parts of the country, a sovereign country, we expect next

Speaker 3

03:21

gen, you just mentioned that 70% of the CPI increase was was gasoline related. We saw prices go up for housing, men's clothing, airfare, food, food, you know, transportation, all sorts of things. I'm just wondering if one of this report, has the White House convinced that inflation isn't being embedded into the economy going forward?

Speaker 1

03:45

I would say that the projections is from the Federal Reserve and other outside economists continue to be that inflation will moderate by year end. But we're not going to wait for that. And that is one of the reasons that the President is going to continue to take steps. One step he's taking, of course today, which is to lower the cost of gasoline by by by announcing the EPA waivers that even teen can be available at 2300 gas stations across the country. But beyond that, he's obviously taken steps to release a historic amount from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. And we've continued to advocate for actions Congress can take to lower costs for Americans. And if you look at how all of those costs impact Americans, we know that big big costs are childcare, health care, elder care. These are all areas where the President has proposed a plan to reduce costs and certainly it's a reminder of the importance of moving forward.

Speaker 4

04:41

On the on the field waivers the EPA is on guard and says specifically that they're these waivers aren't supposed to be used for relieving high gas prices. Some critics are also pointing to the fact that you're declaring an emergency in June. We're sitting in April right now, can you kind of talk through why I think We're taking some unprecedented steps or even some unprecedented justifications for this waiver. Well, we've

Speaker 1

05:06

seen gas prices go up anywhere from 80 cents to $1. Since the since President Putin invaded Ukraine, and that is certainly having a significant impact on the pocketbooks of Americans across the country. And so there are a range of reasons to take this step. And of course, that the EPA is taking this step. But certainly, the fact that right now, without this step 2300, gas stations would essentially have a cover over the 15 gas pumps, not allowing people to utilize the gas that is less expensive, and not allowing additional supply to get into the marketplace. So at this moment, where obviously, we have a foreign dictator invading another country, we want to give ourselves additional flexibility and also do whatever we can to reduce costs for the American people.

Speaker 4

05:55

And you mentioned the Federal Reserve, there's been some reporting that Michael Barr is a leading candidate for the nomination that Sarah Bloom Raskin had before. Can you confirm whether or not that's true in terms of if he's being considered and also kind of give us a sense of the timeline for when you have to make that announcement,

Speaker 1

06:12

I don't have anything to confirm and no guidance to offer other than to reiterate that the President has every intention of nominating an eminently qualified person to fill this important role in the Federal Reserve.

Speaker 4

06:24

And the last one on Ukraine, there seems to be a new offensive mounting or the Russia's mounting towards Eastern Ukraine specifically, I'm wondering if you have a sense of what you expect to happen there. And then what you're worried about what you're looking at? Sure.

Speaker 1

06:44

So on the ground, and I know, my colleagues in the Department of Defense in the background are today as well. But all indications are that Russia will seek to surround an overwhelming premium forces in that region, we expect Russia will continue to launch air and missile strikes across the rest of the country to cause military and economic damage, and to cause terror because Russia's holding it is to weaken Ukraine as much as possible. We also expect that this stage of the conflict will last a long time. And we should have no illusions that Russia will adjust its brutal tactics. So of course, what our focus is on is continuing to provide a range of security assistance, we essentially look at and review the requests made by Ukrainian leaders. And last week, they had a call with our Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and our national security adviser to our call where they went through items on that list. And I think this was already, this was also provided by the Defense Department. But let me reiterate. We're also as we're looking to continue to expedite delivery we've committed on $1.7 million. As you all know, we're working to provide the Ukrainians with artillery systems that they have recently requested, and conversations between our governments. And we're working to provide them with artillery from US stocks, but also to facilitate the transfer from other allies and partners as well, as we did with the s 300. In the backfill of the Patriot battery system.

Speaker 4

08:06

Chickens that over the weekend at some of those additional with some of that additional military aid might need training, Sharon wasn't Do you have any sense of how that's gonna work where that training would happen? And who would be involved?

Unknown Speaker

08:17

That is what we're discussing and still working through. Gentleman I

Speaker 5

08:20

want to ask about the subway shooting subway attack in New York. What more can you tell us about what the White House's contact has been with New York City and New York State officials? Has the President spoken to the mayor or the governor, any kind of assistance of the White House offer? What has New York City asked for? And do you know why the NYPD has already said that at this time, this is a being investigated as terror?

Speaker 1

08:44

Well, the investigation is going to happen and be overseen by local New York authorities. The New York Police Department counterterrorism unit is working with the JTF ATF, the FBI and the ATF to investigate to certainly we would assist in every appropriate way through those channels. As we noted earlier this morning, not only is the President been briefed and latest developments, but White House senior staff are in touch with Mayor Adams with police with a police commissioner. We've offered any assistance we can provide. I just spoke again the President about this workbook earlier on the plane. And he reiterated that that is his his request of his team anything they need anything they want. We are here to help them and provide that to them. He has not yet had a call. If that happens today. I will provide that information to all of you

Speaker 5

09:29

why they've said that this is not at this time being investigated as terror if this investigation is so preliminary, why they've ruled that I

Unknown Speaker

09:37

would point you to them they're overseeing the investigation.

Speaker 3

09:40

Do you think we might hear from the President's typically on this on this matter?

Speaker 1

09:43

I don't have a prediction of that at this point in time, but if there are updates to provide from our intelligence,

Speaker 6

09:49

can I ask a follow up on the use of possible chemical weapons or poisonous gas and Russia? What would our response be if you That is verified how and how long might it take to verify that?

Speaker 1

10:03

Well, I'm not gonna speculate about hypotheticals, we don't have confirmation of the use. And so I'm not going to speculate on hypotheticals at this point, I will note that it is difficult to, to get the data and information that you need. In cases like this, we don't have, we don't have a team on the ground. Obviously, I would note that we did have credible, credible information before today that Russia may use a variety of ride control agents, including tear gas, mixed with chemical agents that would cause stronger symptoms in order to weaken and incapacitated French Ukrainian fighters and civilians, as part of a depressive campaign to take variable to share that information with the Ukrainians at the time. And of course, we'll continue to share up to date intelligence gathering information. But at this point in time, we have no confirmation. So I'm not going to get ahead of that process. One

Speaker 6

10:52

more about China, I understand there's advice to going out to Americans or recommendation not to travel to China right now, because of zero COVID policies, and the possibility of parents being separated from their children, which we know what's happening, obviously, now in China, do we have any evidence or any talk of that happening to American citizens right now we're in China,

Speaker 1

11:17

I would point you to the State Department. They provide that type of guidance and information to the American people, wherever they are in the world, they do it out of an abundance of caution and to make sure they're as transparent as possible about what they're seeing on the ground and countries. And I believe it was specific to Shanghai, not all of China, generally, but

Speaker 7

11:35

falling back on CPI. I think you said yesterday, you know, expect most people but dive beyond headline inflation. So how concerned is the White House that people are gonna see that 8.5% sort of roll back their spending and then drive us into a recession?

Speaker 1

11:49

Well, I would also say that core CPI did go down this month, I don't want to over crank that. But that is certainly also data we look at. And we noted that our expectation about headline CPI, so that the American people through all of you and whatever way you chose to record it would understand we expected it to be elevated because of Britain's invasion because of the impact on energy prices, which they're certainly experiencing every day. So I don't have a projection on consumer spending at this point in time. Obviously, that data is taken by economists. But we wanted to provide as much information as we could assess about what we thought the data would show based on what people already experiencing when they go to the gas pumps,

Speaker 7

12:29

and then back on the shooting. And I'm wondering if you guys have an assessment of how successful these DOJ strike forces have been, specifically, do we have a number of how many illegally transferred guns, they've taken off the streets in those five major metro areas? Sure.

Speaker 1

12:43

It's a great question. I'm concerned, we can get an update from the Department of Justice, who obviously oversees the strike forces in terms of what their successes have been. I know, we've provided updates a little bit in the past, but I don't have that information in front of me. So let me give that to you after a

Speaker 8

12:58

trip, please. The administration has said many times that it 120 investigates war crimes. Yeah. Can you maybe detail how is that happening with our commit cases on the ground? And is it maybe plan at some stage to send us personnel to collect, for example, to collect evidence and to assess recruitment process?

Speaker 1

13:17

Sure. Well, I don't have any updates on that last particular part of your question, what I can tell you is that there are people in ways that historically, we have participated in investigations. And we certainly would, in this case, some of that is intel gathering and sharing that with our partners and allies around the world also contributing to investigations. Some of that is through those diplomatic channels. Of course, some of that is reporting of, frankly, the media and reporters who are in Ukraine on the ground who can sometimes not gathered that type of data necessarily, I'm talking about but often do provide pictures and visuals. And then there was of course, a range of means we have to, to work to gather information, but I can't detail more of it from here.

Speaker 8

14:00

And that's one of the French election. I know, you won't comment on the outcome. But is the administration monitoring the process for a Russian interference? And have you seen signs of it?

Speaker 1

14:10

I don't have an assessment of it. But I think we've seen the Russians interference in elections throughout the course of recent history and before then, whether it's here or in Europe, so certainly we anticipate that that could be possible, but I don't have any confirmation of it at this point.

Speaker 2

14:28

What is the President's position on whether I'm wishing that we first in the nation presidential contest?

Speaker 1

14:35

There is a process being overseen by the DNC that will play out over the course of the coming days, and we certainly respect and support that process

Speaker 4

14:44

on the French election. Is there a concern within the White House with the president McCrone is not reelected that could sort of become an issue in the in the bid to keep your hand for community and youth across Atlantic and Anna in the face of Russian invasion of Ukraine?

Speaker 1

15:03

Well, unity is obviously very important to us maybe the most used word in our description of our efforts and our strategy here. But as you know, the runoff election is not for a week and a half. So we're just not going to get ahead of the

Speaker 5

15:15

aisle to COVID Jen, Philadelphia's the first major city are reinstated. Ignore math mandate with this current surge. Do you guys expect other cities to follow suit? What would it take for the White House to reinstate a mask mandate on campus is what

Speaker 1

15:31

it would take the CDC recommending that I would remind you that what every state city is going to make their own evaluations and their own assessments about what they need to do to keep community safe. Well, we are guided by his the CDC guidance, which has red, green, yellow and even impact yellow green, I should say, it even impacts where the President wears masks where we wear masks. And obviously, we go to an area where it's recommended, we will continue to do that. So you know, right now, there are of course requirements on in transit, but the President won't be wearing them out.

Speaker 5

16:04

Is Philadelphia taking this step prematurely in the White

Speaker 1

16:07

House, it's always been our view that cities and local communities can take and should take steps that they feel will keep their community safe.

Speaker 3

16:16

Can I ask you one more about ethanol? This is a wasn't an emergency suspension. But this is something that Trump administration, did they allowed you around sales of e 15. It was it was overturned by federal court. So I'm just wondering, you know, the politics of this, this is something that was also supported by several Midwestern Republican senators in the Senate. So is there any fear that the Democratic base might be a little bit disillusioned by doing something that has been supported by Republicans was done by the Trump administration, even given the circumstances with the rising gas prices?

Speaker 1

16:51

Look, I think our view is that people, the American people are going to put gas in their tank, so their cars across the country, including across the Midwest, where many of these 2300 pumps are worth that have a 15, the 15 Gasoline option. And if they can pay 10 cents less a gallon, then they'll appreciate that I'm not sure they're looking at that for a political lens.

Speaker 6

17:13

One more on inflation. Given the consistently high numbers we keep seeing and Shanghai being locked down zero COVID rushes or I know you're saying that the Fed is anticipating end of year things will ease but how certain can we really be given the uncertainties and these long, you know, COVID, zero and Russia's war, it couldn't last longer. Right. And with the President and with the President, obviously, the Fed is a separate separate, but what he then want to not see an increase in interest rates and increase in what the Fed is already planning for the rest of the year,

Speaker 1

17:47

while the Fed is you noted is independent. And they have predicted or conveyed publicly that they intend to recalibrate. We support that pivot. And we support their independence and their, their their, you know, ability to make decisions about interest rates and other other other policies around inflation. What I will say, though, is that how the American people experience inflation is rising costs right? In a variety of areas, right? They they experience it at the gas pump, they experience it, when they go to the grocery store, they experience it when things cost more, whether it's childcare or take care of the grandparents. That's why we have been so aggressive in pushing for the President's agenda that would lower those costs, because they would have such a huge impact on the American people. And we feel that the solution and Republicans have an alternative to it. We welcome that. But that is a way we can cut costs. But otherwise, to go back to your original question. We certainly respect the independence of the Federal Reserve and support their publicly stated intention of recalibrating just sticking with everyone. Thank you

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