U.S. Department of State's Blog, page 3

Department Press Briefings : Department Press Briefing - August 23, 2018

Heather Nauert





Spokesperson


Department Press Briefing





Washington, DC





August 23, 2018











Index for Today's Briefing

DEPARTMENT



SOUTH AFRICA



TURKEY



PAKISTAN



AFGHANISTAN



NORTH KOREA



DEPARTMENT



SOUTH KOREA



NORTH KOREA



INDIA



AFGHANISTAN/PAKISTAN



RUSSIA/SYRIA



NORTH KOREA


TRANSCRIPT:

3:42 p.m. EDT

MS NAUERT: Good afternoon. Hope you’re all doing well. Some of you may have seen the Secretary’s announcement earlier today. The Secretary announced that Steve Biegun joined our team as our new special representative for North Korea. He will lead negotiations and spearhead our diplomatic efforts with our allies and partners to achieve our goal of the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea. With nearly two decades of foreign policy work on Capitol Hill and in the executive branch, he’s qualified – more than qualified – for the task. We welcome this announcement, and it’s consistent with the Secretary’s desire to get his team on the field as soon as possible.

You may have also seen that, since last Thursday, the White House has sent 14 ambassadorial nominations to the Senate. Thirteen of those nominees are career members of our senior Foreign Service. So we’re thrilled to see them moving ahead, and we hopefully will have a speedy confirmation process for them.

And since I’ve been out on vacation, I’d be happy to just take your questions. But before we do that, let me welcome, for those of you who have not seen or met Robert Palladino first – yet, Robert Palladino is our new official – not acting, official – deputy spokesperson. He comes to us by way of the National Security Council. So look forward to having him meet all of you.

Okay. Thanks.

QUESTION: Welcome.

QUESTION: Well said.

QUESTION: Robert. (Laughter.) So let’s start --

MS NAUERT: That’s kind of an odd welcome, Matt. (Laughter.)

QUESTION: Yes.

QUESTION: Well, it was sincere. Right?

MS NAUERT: We’re thrilled to have him.

QUESTION: Yes. It’s good for you have a deputy.

MS NAUERT: Team on the field.

QUESTION: Exactly.

MS NAUERT: Okay. What’s up?

QUESTION: Let’s start with South Africa. You will have seen, I’ll bet – hard to miss – the President’s tweet last night in which he instructed Secretary Pompeo to look into land expropriations and – from white farmers in South Africa. I’m wondering if the Secretary takes this seriously at all.

Now, the reason I’m asking that is because I went to the Human Rights Report for South Africa, the one that the State Department puts out, and it doesn’t mention anything about this being a problem. I would think that this is the report where it would mention it. In fact, when it talks of discrimination, it says most of it is directed at blacks, and the incidence of racism that it points out are all directed at blacks as well. So does the Secretary actually intend to look into this?

MS NAUERT: Well, I can tell you that the Secretary and the President certainly discussed it. The President asked the Secretary to look closely at the current state of action in South Africa related to land reform. This is something that has been going on for many decades, the conversation and debate about land reform there. I should mention that the expropriation of land without compensation – our position is that that would risk sending South Africa down the wrong path. We continue to encourage a peaceful and transparent public debate about what we consider to be a very important issue, and the South Africans certainly do as well.

QUESTION: Right. But did – is this something that was a concern of yours before the President tweeted? And you mentioned the 13 or 14 ambassadorial nominations have gone up. You might get on the phone and call the ambassador to South Africa – if there was one, but there isn’t --

MS NAUERT: Matt, as you well know, we are working very hard to get our team on the field.

QUESTION: I know.

MS NAUERT: Nominations are --

QUESTION: But where was --

MS NAUERT: May I finish?

QUESTION: Yeah.

MS NAUERT: Nominations are announced by the White House. The Secretary has done a terrific job of getting more people in place. It doesn’t happen overnight. We also need the cooperation of the U.S. Senate to get our folks through.

QUESTION: Well --

MS NAUERT: And they have pledged that they would get them through expeditiously.

QUESTION: That’s fine. But does the embassy think that this is a serious problem?

MS NAUERT: I can tell you that our embassy has had meetings with the South African Government. Anything additional beyond that, I just don’t have it.

QUESTION: Heather --

QUESTION: Can you say when the President --

MS NAUERT: Hi.

QUESTION: Can you say when the President and the Secretary had the discussion?

MS NAUERT: I would say sometime in the last day or so.

QUESTION: In the last day, meaning in the last 24 hours?

MS NAUERT: The last day or so. That’s all I’m aware of.

QUESTION: And one --

MS NAUERT: Okay. Hi. Hi.

QUESTION: Can I follow up on this, please?

MS NAUERT: Go ahead. Go ahead.

QUESTION: So apparently the U.S. charge was called into – was summoned by the South Africans today.

MS NAUERT: I know that they met today. I don’t have a readout of that meeting, but they did meet today.

QUESTION: Was that at the request of the South Africans?

MS NAUERT: I don’t know who requested it, but I do – I can confirm that they did meet today.

QUESTION: So does the U.S. believe that – from what you’ve seen, and I believe that there’s been meetings between the two sides on this – believe that what’s going on, that the South African land policy would be similar to that of the land grabs that we saw in Zimbabwe?

MS NAUERT: Well, I think the situation between South Africa and also Zimbabwe are quite different. It may be easy for some to try to draw a comparison, but there are very big differences. In Zimbabwe, we saw the government there squash civil society, shut down the media from doing their jobs and reporting, and destroyed an independent judiciary. And we have not seen that happen in South Africa. So I think they’re different situations altogether.

Okay? Hi.

QUESTION: So given that, according to the State Department’s own reporting that Matt mentioned, discrimination and actions against blacks in South Africa is a far, far bigger problem than this, what is the Secretary’s view on what is happening right now, and what is he going to do after the President’s tweet?

MS NAUERT: I can just tell you that it was discussed with the President and he will focus on this issue, and I’ll leave it at that, okay.

QUESTION: What does focus on it mean?

MS NAUERT: Well, he will take a look at it, just as he had discussed with the President.

Hey, Francesco.

QUESTION: And are sanctions an option you will look at?

MS NAUERT: (Laughter.) You know we would never forecast that, but that is such a hypothetical.

QUESTION: I mean, (inaudible) --

MS NAUERT: That is a hypothetical. No. That’s a hypothetical and I’m not going to comment on it.

QUESTION: -- Turkey with sanctions.

QUESTION: Well, how about this: Is the department aware of – is the embassy aware of a concern that there are land seizures going on without any compensation?

MS NAUERT: I can just tell you this is obviously an issue, debate that’s been going on for quite some time. We encourage – an expropriation of land without compensation would risk sending South Africa down the wrong path. We encourage a peaceful and transparent public debate about this important issue that seems to be happening in South Africa right now. If policies are poorly implemented, there are potentially detrimental political, socioeconomic, and other issues.

QUESTION: So you’re aware of a plan being debated by the South African Government that would seize white-owned farms or land without any compensation?

MS NAUERT: Matt, I’m just saying that expropriation of land without compensation would not be a good thing. It would send them down the wrong path.

QUESTION: Okay. And is there any reason to be concerned about it?

MS NAUERT: Matt, that’s just what I’m telling you right now, okay. Thank you.

QUESTION: Did the Secretary --

MS NAUERT: Last one. Then we’re going to move on. I don't have anything further for you on this.

QUESTION: Okay. Did the Secretary correct some of the reporting and maybe views that the President holds on this issue? Did he explain to the President what actually is happening, what is proposed versus --

MS NAUERT: Michele, you know we never get into the private conversations between the Secretary and the President – on any issue for that matter, okay.

Hi, Laurie.

QUESTION: Hi. President Erdogan’s spokesman complained yesterday about U.S. procedures against Halkbank. Could you comment on his remarks and explain the situation regarding that bank?

MS NAUERT: Yeah, Laurie, I’m sorry. I have not seen those remarks just yet. I can look into it and see if I can find something for you. I just have personally not seen those.

QUESTION: Well, he said – I could tell you, quote – he says unacceptable that certain baseless and false allegations were made against the bank. You don’t --

MS NAUERT: I think that would fall under Department of Justice and also Treasury as well. But again, I’m hesitant to comment on anything that I haven’t seen myself, but I appreciate your work to try to synthesize it for me.

QUESTION: Okay. Another question then.

MS NAUERT: Okay.

QUESTION: Russia has announced that it will move up the scheduled delivery of this S-400 air defense missile to Turkey from 2020, which it was originally scheduled, to 2019. What is your response to that?

MS NAUERT: Well, if that is the case – and I’ve not seen that report myself either – but that would be a concern of ours. You know it goes against our policy to have a NATO ally such as Turkey use an S-400 system. Part of the problem with that, it is – that it is not interoperable with other NATO systems. And so we are against the – having some of our partners and allies around the world potentially purchase S-400s.

QUESTION: And it would trigger CAATSA sanctions too?

MS NAUERT: I’m not going to get into that. But we have made very clear what could trigger sanctions for other countries and entities around the world.

Okay. Hey, Rich.

QUESTION: Hey, Heather. Pakistan is asking for an immediate correction to the readout that you guys provided this morning on the telephone conversation between the new prime minister there, that it is factually incorrect that they discussed the terrorists operating in Pakistan. So is there a correction, or are they wrong?

MS NAUERT: Yeah. So you saw our readout. In the readout the Secretary notes that he spoke with the new prime minister and expressed his willingness to work with the new government toward a productive bilateral relationship. They had a good call. That may surprise some of you, but they had a good call. Pakistan is an important partner to the United States. We hope to forge a good, productive working relationship with the new civilian government. My understanding is that the beginning of the call or the call itself was a good call and a good discussion toward our working with the new government and the new administration.

QUESTION: So the U.S. Government continues to stand by the readout, that there’s no correction to the readout --

MS NAUERT: We stand by our readout.

QUESTION: When you just mentioned the readout and read almost the whole thing, you didn’t mention the fact that terrorism was discussed. So are you saying that terrorism was discussed in the call?

MS NAUERT: I’m saying we stand by our readout. I don’t necessarily read an entire readout, word-for-word, for you here at the podium.

QUESTION: Do you know how it is that the Pakistanis could have gotten this so wrong?

MS NAUERT: Matt, I’m not going to speculate, okay.

QUESTION: Well – but, I mean --

MS NAUERT: And I can’t speak on their behalf. I can only say we stand by our readout. They’re an important partner. The Secretary had a good call with the new prime minister and we look forward to having --

QUESTION: Okay. So in other words, can you --

MS NAUERT: -- a good relationship with them in the future.

QUESTION: Can you just say, in clear English, there will not be an apology forthcoming, there will not be a correction?

MS NAUERT: Matt, those are your words. We stand by our --

QUESTION: Well --

MS NAUERT: We stand by our readout.

QUESTION: All right.

QUESTION: Can I get a follow-up?

QUESTION: And then real quick again on Pakistan, does the U.S. and the State Department and the Secretary still stand behind the comments the Secretary made earlier about an IMF bailout and there should not be one for Pakistan?

MS NAUERT: I don’t see that our position has changed in any way, but I’m not going to forecast anything that could happen in the future.

Hey, Jessica.

QUESTION: Hi. Can you confirm that the Secretary has asked Zalmay Khalilzad to be the new special representative to Afghanistan?

MS NAUERT: We have no personnel announcements. If I had an announcement to make, I would be thrilled to bring it to you today. We’ve obviously had a great day with Steve Biegun being announced as our new special envoy handling North Korea.

QUESTION: Heather?

MS NAUERT: Yeah. Hi, Janne. How are you?

QUESTION: On North Korea and South Korea. As you know, that South Korean Government announced that South and North Korea will open Liaison Office soon. Do you think this will have a negative impact on denuclearization or --

MS NAUERT: I mean, we’re certainly aware that North Korea and South Korea are talking about opening a Joint Liaison Office there. I think I’d go back to something that President Moon had said not too long ago, and that is his opinion and his stance that the improvement of relations between the North and South can’t advance separately from resolving North Korea’s nuclear program. We, of course, closely coordinate with both the Japanese and the South Koreans. I just mention the Japanese because our close allies there as well. So we continue to coordinate closely and have lots of conversations with them about a lot of things.

QUESTION: But South Korea providing a lot of things, like goods, energy, to North Korea. Is this a violation of sanctions against North Korea? What was it?

MS NAUERT: We would take a look at all of that. Okay? Yeah.

QUESTION: Can you just be a little bit more specific than the Secretary was about his travel to North Korea next week? When is – exactly is he going with the new special envoy?

MS NAUERT: We are leaving relatively soon. Exact time and date I don’t know, but we’ll be headed out soon.

QUESTION: All right. And is he going anywhere else?

MS NAUERT: Not to my knowledge. I’ll let you know if we have any additional stops to announce. Okay?

Hi, Francesco.

QUESTION: On North Korea. The Secretary said he was looking forward to have progress, diplomatic progress, towards denuclearization. Can you tell us what exactly he expects from this trip? Are there some steps he would like North Korea to announce, to take, on the denuclearization?

MS NAUERT: Yeah, I think we’ll say this: The conversations continue. We have made significant movements over the past six months. In fact, we’ve had more conversations and consultations with the North Koreans in six months than we have in virtually the past 10 years. So we think we’re on fairly strong footing here.

We look forward to having those conversations. I’m not going to get ahead of the Secretary’s meetings by highlighting what we are going to be expecting or asking of them. I can just tell you the consultations will continue, and I imagine you’ll see more meetings and trips ahead.

Elise.

QUESTION: Heather, you are – just to confirm, the Secretary is expected to meet with Kim Jong-un?

MS NAUERT: No, no. We have no plans for a meeting of that sort, but I’ll let you know any additional details as we get them.

QUESTION: I mean, this would be the second time that he’s traveled there without meeting with Kim Jong-un. I mean, if you’ve already – you’ve said, like, a lot of times that Kim is the kind of ultimate decision maker. So what is the – obviously, there could be – his envoy could go and meet with Kim’s envoy, but why would the Secretary continue to go to North Korea if he’s not going to be able to meet with the key decision maker?

MS NAUERT: I think what’s important is that we are regularizing these meetings and these conversations with a government that we have had very, very little interaction with over the past decade or so. The Secretary has now appointed Steve Biegun, and Biegun will be picking up some of those meetings that perhaps the Secretary normally would have gone on or would have conducted.

So I think this is just sort of the more – more of a normalization of our types of conversations. We have long said that none of this in terms of working toward denuclearization would be particularly fast. We go into this eyes wide open. But this is all going to take some time, and I think we have been clear about that.

QUESTION: Are you saying that a meeting with Kim isn’t scheduled, or you’re not – he’s not expecting to meet with him at all?

MS NAUERT: We don’t have – we don’t have that scheduled. We have no expectations of meeting with Chairman Kim. That is not a part of this trip. Okay?

QUESTION: And so will he be meeting Kim Yong-chol?

MS NAUERT: I will – those are all the details that I have right now. I’m not going to get into it beyond that. When I do have additional information, I’d be happy to bring it to you.

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

QUESTION: Did North Korea need to --

MS NAUERT: Hold on, hold on. We’ve talked a bunch of times already. Let me just get over to Kylie.

QUESTION: Hi. It’s a little unclear as to Steve Biegun’s background, how it’s been so focused on Asia and North Korea. Can you elaborate on that a little bit in terms of why he was chosen for this position?

MS NAUERT: Well, Steve has certainly spent time in and around the region, has spent considerable time on behalf of Ford covering Asian nations. Stephen, having served as the head of international relations for Ford Motor Company, as the vice president of international government affairs, knows his way around the block, knows his way around so many of these nations around the world and has negotiated on behalf of that major auto corporation. And he will take those skills and abilities and apply them to this task. The Secretary is really good at determining talent and getting his people on the field. That is something that’s important to him. And in picking Steve for this role, he picked the person he felt was best suited for this job.

QUESTION: But why not pick someone who’s sat across from the North Koreans in negotiations in the past?

MS NAUERT: I think he has an excellent pick in Steve, and the Secretary is comfortable with Steve and Steve has his full confidence, and so do we as well.

QUESTION: Would you --

QUESTION: Do you happen to know if he’s ever been to North Korea?

MS NAUERT: I don’t offhand. No, I don’t.

QUESTION: Certainly not in his job at Ford, I would hope.

MS NAUERT: I don’t --

QUESTION: Because that would be a violation of sanctions, I believe.

MS NAUERT: I don’t know the answer – I don’t know the answer to that, but he is a well-traveled guy. And I hope he’s ready to travel a lot for this job too, because it certainly requires that.

QUESTION: Does he speak with him?

MS NAUERT: Hey, Ben. I don’t know the answer to that.

QUESTION: Heather, going back to the Liaison Office.

MS NAUERT: Yes.

QUESTION: Foreign Minister Kang said that South Korea was waiting on an endorsement from Washington before they moved ahead, and also there’s been some concerns. The South Korean Government is supposed to be providing fuel oil and electricity for this Liaison Office. Would that be a violation of UN sanctions?

MS NAUERT: I think to the second part of your question, Janne already asked that. We would certainly look at that, whether or not that would be a violation of sanctions. And to your first question, I just don’t have anything for you on that whether we needed to sign some sort of a certificate of sorts. Okay.

QUESTION: Would you say that in order to take these meetings next week, North Korea had to show something or do something to indicate there was more willingness or readiness? Like, did they have to meet some expectation before the Secretary would go?

MS NAUERT: Michelle, I don’t understand the point of your question. We are continuing to have conversations and consultations with the North Korean Government. Our goal is the denuclearization of North Korea.

QUESTION: Right.

MS NAUERT: That goal has not changed. We continue to have conversations with them. Much of those conversations you know I will not be detailing for you here from this podium. The conversations continue to take place.

QUESTION: Heather, if I might.

MS NAUERT: Yeah.

QUESTION: But you’ve also said that your patience is not unlimited and you need to see some progress from North Korea, and the trip was announced the same week that the IAEA came out with this report that said that – that it has grave concern that North Korea is still continuing to develop its nuclear capabilities and hasn’t – nothing has abated at all. So at what point do you say that we can’t continue the conversations unless there’s progress, otherwise you’re just giving North Korea time to continue to develop?

MS NAUERT: I think I would look back to how long we’ve been having these conversations and look at the Secretary’s first trip to North Korea before he was here at the State Department. That was what? In April, so just several months ago. I know you all want to speed up these things. I know you want it to happen overnight. But this thing, this issue, is going to take some time, and we’ve been very clear about that. We’ve been very upfront about how this will take some time.

As to your question about the IAEA, we share these concerns. I think the Secretary has addressed that in some of his congressional testimony, and we’re working forward to implement the agreements that came out the Singapore summit. So we’ll keep working at it.

Hey.

QUESTION: If meeting Kim Jong-un is not one of your – a part of your plan, do you expect at least to get a list from North Korea of their nuclear program?

MS NAUERT: I’m not going to get into or ahead of the Secretary’s meeting on that front. Okay? Okay.

QUESTION: India?

MS NAUERT: Yes, go right ahead.

QUESTION: I have two questions, please. Thank you. As far as U.S.-India relations are concerned, in the next few weeks we are going to have 2+2 in New Delhi rather than Washington, and two Secretaries, of course, Defense and State, will be in New Delhi to discuss the issues. What are we expecting from these talks there as far as U.S.-India relations are concerned?

MS NAUERT: Well, we haven’t announced any trips yet, but when we do I’ll be sure to let you know. But as you well know, we have a good working relationship with the Government of India, and if and when we travel there, we look forward to having those meetings.

QUESTION: Heather --

QUESTION: And second --

QUESTION: Sorry.

QUESTION: And second, yesterday a general talking live from Afghanistan, he said that as far as terrorism in Afghanistan or peace in Afghanistan is concerned, Pakistan is not doing enough going after Haqqani Network or other terrorist groups inside Pakistan, and it’s now up to the State Department diplomatically what they have to do as far as the new government is concerned. My question is that Afghan Government and the people in Afghanistan are still blaming Pakistan as far as peace not in Afghanistan or terrorism in Pakistan – in Afghanistan.

MS NAUERT: Well, I think you’re referring to General Nicholson’s briefing that he provided, and there’s one part of that I’d like to highlight, and that he said, “Wars end with a political settlement.” There is not a military solution to this 17-year-long war in Afghanistan, and I think you see that reflected in his comments.

There is a lot of work that is left to be done. Many of you probably saw the Secretary’s statement that he put out that – in support of President Ghani’s call for a ceasefire. We’re certainly hopeful. We hope that that ceasefire will take effect and will hold so that Afghans can have the peace that they so dearly need and want.

QUESTION: Madam, one thing is clear that there cannot be peace in Afghanistan as far as many U.S. and Afghan officials and think-tanks that unless Pakistan is fully cooperating with Afghanistan and U.S. So what are we expecting now from the new prime minister, Mr. Imran Khan, of Pakistan? Because he is, I think, serious to have talks with the U.S. and Afghanistan.

MS NAUERT: Yeah, I think I would just say that the Secretary had a good initial call with him and we’ll have more on that in the days and weeks ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MS NAUERT: Okay.

QUESTION: So your friends in Moscow – or maybe they’re not your friends, but your counterparts in Moscow say that the Secretary and Foreign Minister Lavrov had a call today that focused on Syria. I was wondering if you can confirm and/or elaborate on that and also tell us if the new special – is it envoy or representative, I can’t remember --

MS NAUERT: Representative.

QUESTION: -- Representative Jeffrey has got any Syria-related travel or events afterwards?

MS NAUERT: Certainly, and that was one we were really happy to be able – to have been able to announce last week the joining – Jim Jeffrey’s joining the State Department.

I can confirm that the Secretary did speak with Foreign Minister Lavrov earlier today. He spoke with Sergey Lavrov about the Ukrainian political prisoner Oleg Sentsov, who has been on a hunger strike for more than three months in a Russian prison now. The Secretary noted our concerns about Sentsov’s health and urged Russia to immediately release Sentsov and all Ukrainian political prisoners. The Secretary discussed the ongoing challenges in Syria and the United States serious concerns related to possible military activity in Idlib. He also asked Foreign Minister Lavrov to support efforts in the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, OPCW, as well as efforts to hold the Syrian regime accountable for its use of chemical weapons. And we can give you that paper readout in just a bit.

Yeah. Yeah.

QUESTION: Anything about the – relating to the conversations about – that Ambassador Bolton had in – with his counterpart in Geneva about getting Russia to help get the Iranians out of Syria? Was that an issue that Secretary Pompeo discussed?

MS NAUERT: I’m not sure if that came up on the call or not. I’m sorry, I just can’t comment on that.

QUESTION: Does the Secretary plan on bringing the Rocket Man CD back to North Korea with him next week?

MS NAUERT: You know what I’m going to bring to North Korea with me, and I’ll show this to you. My best friend from junior high school – you’ll love this story – Julie Michealchuk, she lives in Peru, Illinois --

QUESTION: Is that a Flat Stanley?

MS NAUERT: -- sent me this Flat Stanley. This is what I’m going to bring to North Korea, Flat Stanley, because Julia’s been asking me where her daughter’s Flat Stanley is --

QUESTION: Are you going to bring the Elton John --

MS NAUERT: -- and I have yet to bring Flat Stanley anywhere other than this briefing room. As exotic as all of you are, I think North Korea’s a little bit better. (Laughter.)

QUESTION: Heather, Kim Jong-un might not understand what you’re trying to say.

MS NAUERT: Yeah. Wouldn’t that be great, though?

QUESTION: But he might think it’s him.

MS NAUERT: Do you think this is the first Flat Stanley to head to North Korea?

QUESTION: It looks a little like Kim Jong-un. But are you going to bring the Elton John CD?

MS NAUERT: I don’t have anything that I’m bringing along with me other than some comfortable clothes.

QUESTION: Apparently, the Eagles’ Greatest Hits is quite popular now.

MS NAUERT: Good to know.

QUESTION: Has outsold Thriller.

MS NAUERT: Okay. Okay.

QUESTION: Can I have a question on Iran, please?

MS NAUERT: Sure, and then I’m going to have to wrap it up.

QUESTION: Yeah. This is a question actually by some TV colleagues who had to leave because of the briefing’s late --

MS NAUERT: Okay.

QUESTION: -- but the question is: There’s a few Republican senators that have written a letter actually to Treasury, and I’m not sure if it’s State Department, calling for the – for Iran to be discontinued from SWIFT, which is the payment system which will affect students and there’s bigger implications for it. Do you know anything about that or that request or whether the U.S. is planning --

MS NAUERT: I will have to take that question and get back to you.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MS NAUERT: Not ashamed to say that.

All right, thanks, everybody. We’ll see you soon.

(The briefing was concluded at 4:07 p.m.)

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Department Press Briefings : Department Press Briefing - August 15, 2018

Heather Nauert





Spokesperson


Department Press Briefing





Washington, DC





August 15, 2018











Index for Today's Briefing

AFGHANISTAN



IRAN



CAMBODIA



TURKEY/QATAR



IRAQ/SYRIA



ISRAEL



BANGLADESH



BURMA/DEPARTMENT



TAIWAN



AFGHANISTAN


TRANSCRIPT:

3:09 p.m. EDT

MS





NAUERT: Good afternoon. How is everybody?

QUESTION: Freezing.

QUESTION: Freezing cold.

MS NAUERT: Freezing. Well, it will – it will keep you awake.

QUESTION: It is so cold in here and it smells like a walk-in freezer.

MS NAUERT: You know what? I --

QUESTION: You could store meat and ice cream in here.

MS NAUERT: That’s right, we could. But I do remember one time last summer, it was so warm in here that some of you – I won’t name who – were dozing off in the front row. (Laughter.) So keeping it cool keeps you awake.

QUESTION: It must be somebody who’s already just – (laughter).

MS NAUERT: Good afternoon, everybody. I’m not going to say who it was. A couple announcements to bring in, starting out with a very serious topic, and that is the suicide attack that took place in Afghanistan.

The United States Government strongly condemns and is appalled by today’s suicide attack at an education center in a community in Kabul that killed 48 innocent civilians and injured many more. We send our deepest condolences to the families of those who were affected and their friends and wish for a speedy recovery for those who were wounded. The horrific attack is a clear effort to foment sectarian violence and hold back the Afghan peoples’ hopes for a future of peace and security. It reminds us, once again, the importance of reaching a peaceful solution to the conflict in Afghanistan. The United States continues to stand with the Government of Afghanistan and the people of Afghanistan and will continue to support their efforts to achieve peace and security in their country.

Next, I’d like to mention something related to Iran – and I know many of you have watched this with great interest – the continued human rights abuses in that country. We are closely monitoring reports of numerous human rights defenders and members of minority groups, such as the Gonabadi Dervishes, who are unlawfully or arbitrarily incarcerated in Iranian regime prisons. Yesterday I tweeted about Narges Mohammadi. She is a mother of two with a critical health condition who was recently sentenced to a total of 16 years in prison for peacefully advocating for human rights reforms. Today we are especially concerned about a prominent human rights lawyer, named Nasrin Sotoudeh, who has been detained in Tehran’s Evin Prison since June 2018, and who is facing national security charges for legally representing an Iranian woman who was charged for removing her headscarf in public. The Iranian regime jails people for peacefully exercising their rights and then jails people who are asked to defend them. These daily human rights violations and arbitrary arrests are simply unacceptable. We call on our partners around the world to join us in urging the Iranian regime to stop persecuting its people for exercising their human rights and their fundamental freedoms.

And last, I’d like to address something that has taken place recently in Cambodia, and as many of you are aware and we’ve discussed here, their recent elections, which the State Department has characterized as flawed and neither free nor fair. As previewed in the White House’s July 29th statement on Cambodia’s election, we are expanding the visa restrictions initiated on December 6th, 2017 on individuals involved in the undermining of democracy in Cambodia. The expanded entry restrictions may apply to individuals both within and outside the Cambodian Government who are responsible for the most notable anti-democratic actions taken in the run-up to the flawed July 29th election. In certain circumstances, their immediate family members will also be subject to restrictions. We reiterate our call for the Cambodian Government to take tangible actions to promote national reconciliation by allowing independent media and civil society organizations to fulfill their vital roles unhindered and immediately release Kem Sokha and other political prisoners and ending the ban on political opposition.

With that, I’d be happy to take your questions. Oh, but I do have one more announcement. I’d like to say “Happy Birthday” to Elise Labott from CNN. Happy Birthday, Elise. She’s off, as she should be today. Okay.

QUESTION: Celebrating.

MS NAUERT: Yes.

QUESTION: Happy Birthday to Elise, indeed. Just on Cambodia real quick.

MS NAUERT: Yes.

QUESTION: When you say you’re expanding the visa restrictions, expanding from how many to how many?

MS NAUERT: I don’t have the numbers before me on that, but they’re reviewed obviously on a case-by-case basis.

QUESTION: How do we know then they’re actually being expanded?

MS NAUERT: They are being expanded in --

QUESTION: To include --

MS NAUERT: Well, because the Secretary has a broad authority under the Immigration and Naturalization Act to restrict the visas of those who want to come into the United States that would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences. And so the laws are confidential, as you well know. The visa laws are. So we’re not going to be able to release a list of those who will fall under this.

QUESTION: I’m not asking for a list.

MS NAUERT: Yeah.

QUESTION: But I mean, what does it mean to expand them? If you can’t say with a number that you started with and now the number that they are going to be, I mean, I don’t know how you can say you’re expanding them.

MS NAUERT: We are expanding them. I will see if our consular people can get you additional information on that.

QUESTION: Does it include a new category of people now?

MS NAUERT: Pardon me?

QUESTION: Does it include a new category of official?

MS NAUERT: It’s a way that we can review --

QUESTION: I get that, but --

MS NAUERT: -- who is coming in and applying for visas and provide – and make a determination as to who can come into the United States and who cannot.

QUESTION: I know, but this is the problem with these kinds of things. It happens with Nicaragua. It happens with other. You say that you’re doing this, and then we – the public and the Cambodians themselves – have no idea what actually this means if we don’t know – it’s expanding the scope of the category of people who can be – who will be excluded or will be denied visas, or is it just a number?

MS NAUERT: Matt, I will see what additional --

QUESTION: From three to nine or 12?

MS NAUERT: I will see what additional information I can get you, if we can provide you numbers on that.

QUESTION: All right. On Turkey, you may have seen today that the person or the guy who was the honorary chairman of Amnesty International who had been in jail there was released today.

MS NAUERT: Right. And I believe we provided statements about that case in the past, certainly.

QUESTION: Yeah. And – but I’m sure you’ve seen that a judge denied Pastor Brunson’s appeal.

MS NAUERT: I have.

QUESTION: And I’m also sure that you have seen the Turk tariff announcement from the Turkish Government, so I’m just wondering what you have to say about all three of those.

MS NAUERT: Okay, let’s start first with Pastor Brunson. Of course, we are very aware of the decision on the part of the court in Turkey. We’re certainly disappointed by that announcement. We would like Pastor Brunson to be brought home to the United States. We have said for far too long that Pastor Brunson has been held for far too long and we look forward to Pastor Brunson coming home. We’d like that to happen very soon.

QUESTION: Okay. And the other two?

MS NAUERT: Sure, go right ahead. The second one was what again?

QUESTION: Well, I mean, the Amnesty International and the tariffs.

MS NAUERT: Yeah, we’re certainly --

QUESTION: And also – and then on – and then on Brunson or on the tariffs, which I guess your White House colleague made a point to separate them, saying that the U.S. tariffs that were imposed did not have anything to do with the Brunson case but that the sanctions on the two officials, the justice minister or the interior, did.

MS NAUERT: Yeah. So in terms of the Amnesty International person, we’re certainly pleased that he has been released. We have put out statements in the past on his case, and for that matter the case of many others. We’ve seen has – as the Turkish Government has detained people, many of them journalists, activists, members of civil society, accusing them or putting them in prison on what many would regard as trumped-up charges. So we’re pleased that we – that they made that announcement today.

In terms of Turkey and tariffs and our overall relationship with Turkey, I’m not going to characterize the extent of our relationship with Turkey. I mean, there’s clearly work that is left to be done. The diplomacy continues. I anticipate that we will be talking with the Turkish Government at some point in the future about the case of Pastor Brunson and the case of other Americans.

QUESTION: Is there – are you aware of anything scheduled or anything ongoing?

MS NAUERT: No. No, we have nothing scheduled. No meetings or calls or anything of that sort to announce.

QUESTION: One follow-up.

MS NAUERT: Lesley, go right ahead.

QUESTION: So is the administration – given what happened today with Pastor Brunson, given the tariffs, is the administration considering any retaliation?

MS NAUERT: Lesley, you know we don’t get ahead of sanctions, we don’t forecast sanctions. I don’t know personally what is going to happen in the future, but those are things that are always, as a general matter, things that the U.S. Government is able to deploy.

QUESTION: The Vice President just tweeted that – saying he’s demanding his release. I mean, has the Secretary made that message clear to his Turkish counterpart today?

MS NAUERT: I think we’ve discussed this before that the U.S. Government, whether it’s the Vice President, the President, the Secretary, we’ve made our expectations very clear: We want our people home.

QUESTION: Do you have any --

QUESTION: Wait, just – just --

MS NAUERT: Hi, Michelle.

QUESTION: Sorry. Just now the White House said that the U.S. is prepared to bring sanctions against Turkey until Brunson is free.

MS NAUERT: Okay, I’ve not seen that so I’m not going to comment on that.

QUESTION: Oh, that’s – well, I mean, I’m just telling you --

MS NAUERT: Okay.

QUESTION: -- so that I can ask the question. But given that that has been sort of the policy so far along with diplomacy, it’s obvious it’s not working. So why continue down that path, and is there something else that you feel the State Department can do or work on to change the course?

MS NAUERT: Well, look, I think what we do here is we talk with other countries, and that is something that the State Department just simply does. So we will continue our diplomatic approach, and you would characterize it as it’s not working. We don’t have Pastor Brunson home yet, we don’t have other Americans home yet, but we will keep working on it. It doesn’t mean that we’re going to stop trying.

QUESTION: And do you have any comment, Heather, on --

MS NAUERT: Said, go right ahead.

QUESTION: -- the fact that Qatar is infusing $15 billion to shore up – apparently to shore up the Turkish lira, do you have anything on that?

MS NAUERT: Yeah. So I saw that report. I’d just have to refer you to the Government of Qatar and the Government of Turkey.

QUESTION: You don’t have – both are your allies.

MS NAUERT: I don’t have any comment for you on that. I’d have to refer you to those governments. Okay.

QUESTION: Do you welcome this step --

QUESTION: A follow-up on --

MS NAUERT: Pardon me?

QUESTION: Do you welcome this step that Qatar has made?

MS NAUERT: I think that’s between those two countries and I’m not going to comment on that, so I’d just refer you to those governments on that issue.

Hi, Nick.

QUESTION: Hey, Heather. Just following up on Turkey. Can you say what the last time was there was actually a discussion between whoever it is whose handling of the Brunson case --

MS NAUERT: Well --

QUESTION: -- with the Turkish Government --

MS NAUERT: -- as you know, Ambassador Bolton, National Security Advisor Bolton, spoke with the Turkish ambassador two days ago, Monday, this week here in Washington. I believe that that was the last conversation, but I certainly can’t rule out that our embassy or other State Department personnel or U.S. Government personnel would not have talked to Turkish officials about other matters.

QUESTION: But is it – is it your policy right now that there will be no discussion about this issue until he’s released?

MS NAUERT: We don’t have – we don’t have any policy on that that I’m aware of. Okay?

QUESTION: Heather, I mean --

QUESTION: Why is it --

MS NAUERT: Hold on. Hey.

QUESTION: Why is it important, this one American, to put global financial stability at risk, put U.S. base presence in Turkey at risk, put a NATO ally – an alliance with a NATO partner at risk, for one American who’s being put through the Turkish justice system?

MS NAUERT: So you’re saying this is our fault?

QUESTION: No, I’m saying why --

MS NAUERT: This situation is our fault?

QUESTION: Why escalate it to that level for a single American who has --

MS NAUERT: I think --

QUESTION: -- not been tortured or treated – he’s being put through the Turkish justice system.

MS NAUERT: I think that I would take issue with the premise of your question. In terms of the financial situation in Turkey, we addressed this yesterday, and Turkey’s financial situation has been in the works for quite some time and it dates prior to the imposition of sanctions on August – I believe it was August the 1st. So this has been in train for quite some time and you cannot blame the U.S. Government for that.

We have a very broad relationship with the Government of Turkey. Of course, with all nations, as a general matter, we will often have areas where we don’t always agree, where we don’t always see eye to eye, but we also have areas where we do work together and cooperate, and Turkey would be one of those governments where we sometimes have areas where we disagree and we certainly sometimes have areas where we cooperate as well. Okay.

QUESTION: But this isn’t one thing that you simply disagree one area. This has been put to the forefront of everything.

MS NAUERT: And your question is?

QUESTION: So why is this one more important than all the others, it seems?

MS NAUERT: You’re trying to single out one individual, and I have stood here repeatedly, as have many of my colleagues, to speak about other people who have been detained in that country. Our chief mission is the protection of American citizens. That would obviously include Pastor Brunson. We also have three locally employed staff. I spoke about them just yesterday and was very clear with all of you that that is a major concern of ours. There is also a NASA scientist who has been detained by the Turkish Government; that is important to us as well, and you’ve heard that come out of the State Department, you’ve heard that come out of the White House, and from our other colleagues as well.

Okay, Laurie, go ahead.

QUESTION: Secretary Pompeo spoke with the KRG and Iraqi prime ministers yesterday, and I saw your readout on that. Was there a particular reason now for his call and the presumed concern that would have prompted the call?

MS NAUERT: No, we have those calls as just a matter of diplomacy, have those calls regularly with other governments and other officials, and I think it was just a matter of checking in.

QUESTION: Okay.

MS NAUERT: Okay.

QUESTION: On Turkey and Russia, the Russian foreign minister was just in Turkey to prepare for a summit on Syria that’s going to take place in Turkey in September, and which will include France and Germany. Are you invited to that summit, and if not, what’s your view of the meeting? Is it replacing Geneva?

MS NAUERT: No, nothing is replacing Geneva, and I think this is another example and another reason for us to reaffirm our commitment to the Geneva process. We see the Geneva process, the UN-led process, as the only viable way forward for a long-term political solution in Syria. I can tell you that the Secretary met earlier today with Staffan de Mistura, who’s running that Geneva process. A readout is in train right now; I hope to have that to all of you within short order. But that just goes back to our commitment to Geneva and many other countries that have committed to the Geneva process. Russia, in fact, was one of them that had committed to the Geneva process. So we stand firmly behind that and the work of Staffan de Mistura and the United Nations in that.

QUESTION: Will you be at --

QUESTION: The Geneva process --

QUESTION: Will you be at the summit in Turkey in September?

MS NAUERT: Will who?

QUESTION: Will the United States be attending this summit that the --

MS NAUERT: I am not aware of any participation in that. If that changes, I will certainly let you know.

Hi, Michel.

QUESTION: The Geneva process is frozen and nobody is talking about it. There is no meetings; there is nothing. And what’s the --

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

MS NAUERT: I’m talking about it, and there are a lot of other countries, including the United States, that have backed the Geneva process and continue to back the Geneva process. The reality is that that is the only viable solution going forward. You have these sidebar meetings, things like Astana and other things, okay, but the best one, the best way forward that the United States believes in, that the United Nations and many other countries believe in, is the Geneva process. Perhaps that process needs to be goosed again, but I think you’ll be hearing in the coming days that that is something that we are doubling down our efforts in supporting that process going forward.

Hey, Abbie.

QUESTION: Hey. Staying in that area. There was a UN report that came out this week saying that around 20,000 to 30,000 ISIS fighters still remain in Iraq and Syria. Is that an assessment that the U.S. shares? And if so, how do you – what do you see is the timeline in the U.S. staying in Syria considering --

MS NAUERT: Okay, so you know we never talk about timelines.

QUESTION: Well --

MS NAUERT: Those things are all conditions-based, and we certainly have a lot of work that is left to be done in Syria. Our role and mission in Syria is in dealing with ISIS. We remain committed to that. We have a lot of U.S. service members who are working very hard there, along with our diplomats and our folks on the ground from the State Department, who are helping out in Syria as well. So we anticipate we will certainly be there and continue to support efforts there.

In terms of your question about the number of ISIS fighters, I’ve seen various numbers. I think those numbers are – hard to really pin down those numbers because of the complex nature of Syria and the difficulty that people would have in actually counting things, getting good information from the ground. So I don’t have a U.S. Government estimate to provide for you. Perhaps another department or agency has additional figures that they could provide, but I just – I can’t verify those numbers. The estimates that we’ve seen vary a lot.

QUESTION: Can I have one follow-up on that?

MS NAUERT: Sure.

QUESTION: One of the things that the President said in April is that he thought the coalition was close to retaking 100 percent of the territory that had been held by ISIS. So if there’s 20,000 to 30,000 ISIS fighters that still remain in Iraq and Syria, where is it that – what is the U.S. doing to prevent them from leaving the area? And is there concern, considering what’s happening in Turkey right now, that they may be going across the border into other countries?

MS NAUERT: I haven’t seen any reports about Turkey, and a lot of this would be best addressed by the Department of Defense. So I don’t want to get into their lane, and would really hesitate doing that. But in the past – I can speak generally about how there have been pockets of ISIS fighters in very difficult areas. You remember how long it took – we talked about this last summer – how long it took to get ISIS fighters out of Mosul and liberate Mosul, especially west Mosul and the western part of that city, from ISIS.

This is tough work. We have consistently said that we know that this is going to take quite some time. We know that this process is not going to be easy. You have some successes, and then sometimes things backtrack, and then you have success again. So I think it just goes to show that this is a long fight. We are continued – we continue to be committed to this fight, and we’re not backing down from that. ISIS needs to be defeated, and the U.S. Government stands firmly by that.

QUESTION: I wanted to – go ahead.

MS NAUERT: Hi, Cindy.

QUESTION: I know we touched on this yesterday, about the risk of economic fallout from the worsening Turkey dispute. Are there conversations going on to try to mitigate sort of the risk of market contagion?

MS NAUERT: I think that would be for another department to address that, but I’ll go back and say this one more time: The financial situation in Turkey had been in train, in process prior to the imposition of sanctions on the part of the United States Government, okay.

QUESTION: Can I go back to --

MS NAUERT: Hey. Hi. Go ahead.

QUESTION: Just to follow up on your statement at the top of the briefing.

MS NAUERT: Sure.

QUESTION: In addition to the attack that you mentioned, there was a Taliban siege started over the weekend on Ghazni.

MS NAUERT: Yep.

QUESTION: And there’s been a lot of violence in the last week or so. We’re coming up now on a year of the President’s launch of the South Asia Strategy. Is it time to maybe re-evaluate that strategy?

MS NAUERT: No, it’s not. I think what we’re seeing here is there are some factions, some elements of the Taliban that clearly are not on board with peace. Others do want to have peace negotiations and peace discussions. There are those who don’t support peace; I think we are seeing them act out at this time. And that does not dissuade us from our commitment to Afghanistan or our commitment to the overall Afghan-led, Afghan-owned peace process.

We’ve seen approximately three attacks take place in I think just as many days – two attacks on military outposts, and the attack that I just mentioned at the top of the briefing today on the education center. They’re appalling. They are appalling attacks. But we remain firmly committed to working with the Government of Afghanistan for an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned peace process.

The Afghan people deserve better. We had seen some glimmers of hope in the past with ceasefires that have been successful – granted, for a relatively short period of time, but that is something that President Ghani has supported, and he says that they will continue to try to pursue peace. And we firmly support him in that effort. And let me just add that we want to offer our deepest condolences to the Afghan people for what they’ve experienced over the last several days.

QUESTION: Can I have a follow-up on that?

QUESTION: A follow-up?

MS NAUERT: Okay. Yeah, okay. Go right ahead.

QUESTION: Have you seen any sustained interest from – you said some factions of the Taliban, but --

MS NAUERT: Well, I think that’s what we’re seeing. I mean, that’s just evident in what’s going on.

QUESTION: In peace talks with the United States?

MS NAUERT: No, no, no. It is evident that some are not supportive of peace because we see some attacks taking place. Okay.

QUESTION: But is the inverse then true? Are there – is there sustained interest by factions in talking to the United States? Have there been renewed talks?

MS NAUERT: I have no information for you on that. I can only tell you that in our past conversations with President Ghani and the Government of Afghanistan that we continue to support their peace efforts.

Hi, Said.

QUESTION: Very quickly on --

MS NAUERT: Sure.

QUESTION: -- on Israel, on Israel. Increasingly, the Israeli authorities are holding, interrogating American scholars, Peter Beinart being one, Reza Aslan being another, last week was a woman named Zimmerman, a month before scholars from Columbia, and so on. I wonder if you have anything to say about the holding, apparently without a reason, of these American scholars. I mean, to say nothing of what they do with the Palestinian Americans.

MS NAUERT: Yeah. So, Said, this is something that we talk about time and time again, how much the United States values freedom of expression. And that includes freedom of expression from those that we don’t always agree with. Some of you some days, for example – we don’t always agree on issues and policies and debates, and we can have disagreements.

QUESTION: Could you tell the White House that?

MS NAUERT: But that is something that we continue to support. As you bring up American citizens, you know we take our obligation and our duty to assist U.S. citizens extremely seriously. In terms of specific reports, I can’t comment on what has happened to specific Americans or conversations that they have had with the government. I believe that the Israeli Government has addressed some of these recent situations in recent days, and so I’d just have to refer you to the Government of Israel for more on that.

QUESTION: And Israel just announced that a ceasefire has been implemented between Israel and Hamas. Do you have any comment on that?

MS NAUERT: I am not aware of that. I had not seen that report. My apologies.

Abbie, go right ahead.

QUESTION: On Bangladesh.

MS NAUERT: Okay.

QUESTION: Switch. Do you have any comment or does the State Department have any concern over the crackdown on student protestors, the arrests that have been happening within Bangladesh?

MS NAUERT: So this is a story that was in the news largely a week ago or so, and we’re certainly aware of what started some of these protests. And there was a situation in which two young children were killed by a speeding bus – I think that’s what you’re talking about – and protests started where young people were standing up and saying people need to be – drive more safely here in Bangladesh. And that kind of increased. Those protests started to increase. The government took some measures, I think to try to limit some of those protests. I don’t have any new details for you on what may or may have happened in the last day or so. I just don’t have that fresh of information. But I know that we have a good relationship with the Government of Bangladesh. We make our concerns about many matters very clear to that government and we continue to have good cooperation with them, but we also, as we just discussed with Said, support the freedom of speech and the right to protest peacefully.

Hi, Janne.

QUESTION: Hi. Thank you very much. On North Korea, South Korean Government will pay $8 million to North Korea for the humanitarian assistance. Is humanitarian assistance is the – included sanctions against North Korea? What is your view?

MS NAUERT: Janne, I don’t have any information on this recent report. So if you can get me some additional information, I can try to get you an answer on that, okay?

QUESTION: Thank you.

QUESTION: Can we stay in Asia?

MS NAUERT: Okay. Hey, Kylie.

QUESTION: So on Myanmar, we’ve seen – Politico had a story about how there was a – something on what the Secretary may or may not say regarding the situation with the Rohingya. Do you have anything to announce on – are you – is the State Department going to call it genocide, what’s been happening in Rakhine State with the Rohingya?

MS NAUERT: First, let me start by saying I’m certainly familiar with that report that came out. The report that came out revealed documents that were internal deliberative documents from the State Department. Someone at the State Department or in one of the agencies leaked those documents to a reporter. And I just want to say, I had conversations with the Secretary about this and we have had conversations internally about that matter. And it’s a real disappointment, I want to say, when colleagues, professionals leak deliberative documents. And you know why? Because it harms our ability to make decisions, to have free conversations among our colleagues about certain issues in the news, certain things that we need to make very important decisions about. In addition, when documents like that leak, it can also lead to people being injured in the field.

And I don’t just mean Americans, but I mean people on the ground. And so that remains a very serious and real concern of ours and some folks out there may not think that that is a big deal, but when governments know that we’re having a deliberative process about how to label something, what to call something, that can cause other countries – and I say this as a general matter – to act out and do certain things that we wouldn’t want them to do. So I want to highlight, while we’re here, the seriousness of leaking documents and the grave concern that we have, the State Department has, over when those kinds of things happen. As for any decisions, the Secretary, to my awareness, has not made any particular decision yet, but if and when he does we’ll certainly let you know and make that public. Okay.

QUESTION: Heather, I’m sorry. Are you trying to say that the American people do not have a right or a reasonable – a reason to expect, to know the deliberative process of their own government, the people who they pay to act in their names?

MS NAUERT: The deliberative process is something that is supposed to be maintained discreetly and handled here within the confines of the State Department, and not to be shared with a group of reporters or the general public.

QUESTION: The deliberative process --

MS NAUERT: That is the deliberative process.

QUESTION: The deliberative process --

MS NAUERT: Now, the final product? Absolutely, absolutely. But people should have the – have the right in here, at the State Department, whether it’s the top person or whether it’s one of the most junior people, to have conversations and to be able to have debates about decisions that individuals want to make in our policy decisions here.

QUESTION: That’s understandable, but the deliberative process of the U.S. Government is news, okay? That’s a – in fact it’s --

MS NAUERT: It’s news when it leaks, and --

QUESTION: No --

MS NAUERT: -- it is a concern of this department --

QUESTION: It’s news at any time --

MS NAUERT: when people make the decision to leak documents.

QUESTION: -- and every single administration – every single administration, as long as leaks have existed, which go back a long time, has always complained about leaks, and about --

MS NAUERT: And you know why that’s a concern, Matt?

QUESTION: And you know what?

MS NAUERT: Matt, do you know why that’s a concern? Because it limits our ability --

QUESTION: It doesn’t.

MS NAUERT: -- to have internal conversations. You don’t work here. I do. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it firsthand.

QUESTION: It limits your ability --

MS NAUERT: It also can hurt -- listen to me --

QUESTION: -- to have internal conversations?

MS NAUERT: It can also hurt people who are in the field. These things have real life implications and sometimes – I love working with you all, but sometimes reporters fail to understand just how sensitive and serious these things can be.

QUESTION: I’ve been doing this a long time. You point to me one bit of – one line or anything in that story that you’re talking about that endangers someone in the field. Go ahead.

MS NAUERT: You and I can talk about this offline. I’d be --

QUESTION: You mentioned --

MS NAUERT: I would be happy to.

QUESTION: You brought it up publicly and said the publication of this endangers people’s lives on the ground.

MS NAUERT: Yeah, it can. I said it can.

QUESTION: I want to know what part of that --

MS NAUERT: It certainly can.

QUESTION: What part of that report?

MS NAUERT: And you know what? I’m not going to say any more about that, because it can --

QUESTION: You said it publicly.

MS NAUERT: Listen, I’m not going to get into details about that because that could further endanger people’s lives. And I think you know exactly what I’m talking about. Anyone wants to have an off-the-record conversation, I’d be more than happy to right after this briefing.

QUESTION: I would also point out that I don’t think there’s any evidence that these documents coming out or whatever, or any leak, has hindered or limited internal deliberation. That’s – you like to say that, but I don’t think that’s true.

MS NAUERT: That’s your opinion, and once you work for the government, I think you would recognize and realize just how important those conversations are. And I’m going to have to wrap it up in just a minute. Go ahead.

QUESTION: (Off-mike)

MS NAUERT: Ben, go right ahead.

QUESTION: Yeah, on Taiwan, are any State Department officials planning on meeting President Tsai when she comes back through the U.S.?

MS NAUERT: Not to my knowledge, and I’m not even sure – aware of her travel plans coming back through the United States, if she is or not. I don’t have the information on that.

QUESTION: Venezuela?

QUESTION: India?

MS NAUERT: Okay, final question.

QUESTION: Back on Afghanistan?

MS NAUERT: Yeah.

QUESTION: Alice Wells has been meeting with the Taliban. Can you tell us what the status of her talks are?

MS NAUERT: I --

QUESTION: Supposedly, those are the favorable Taliban, not the bad actors.

MS NAUERT: So I would take issue with the premise of your question again. I can’t confirm.

QUESTION: I’m two for two now.

MS NAUERT: I – yeah, I can’t confirm that any meetings of that nature have occurred. Alice has conversations with various government officials and I don’t have any information to provide you on any potential meetings that she has had in the future or in the past.

QUESTION: A year after the big strategy session on Afghanistan, can you say the situation has improved?

MS NAUERT: Look, I think --

QUESTION: Given these --

MS NAUERT: I think I --

QUESTION: The losses in Ghazni and --

MS NAUERT: I think I addressed that. We are moving forward. The United States Government continues to back the Government of Afghanistan and their Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process. Is it going to be easy? No, certainly not, and we’ve seen that in the past few days, the devastating effect that bad actors can have on the peace process. But that does not mean that we are going to back away and no longer support the peace process, because some factions, some people decide to terrorize the Afghan people. We are not backing away from that. We continue to support an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned peace process and I’ll leave it at that. Nothing’s changed. Okay, I’ve got to go.

QUESTION: (Off-mike)

MS NAUERT: I’ve got to go.

QUESTION: Can I just go back to the Cambodia thing for --

MS NAUERT: No, I’m done, I’ve got to go.

QUESTION: For one second.

MS NAUERT: I’ve got to go. Thank you. I’ve got a meeting.

(The briefing was concluded at 3:40 p.m.)

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Department Press Briefings : Department Press Briefing - August 14, 2018

Heather Nauert





Spokesperson


Department Press Briefing





Washington, DC





August 14, 2018











Index for Today's Briefing

DEPARTMENT



SAUDI ARABIA/YEMEN/REGION/CANADA



IRAQ/IRAN/REGION



TURKEY



MIDDLE EAST PEACE



SAUDI ARABIA/YEMEN/REGION/CANADA



IRAN



DPRK/REGION



CHINA/REGION



DPRK/REGION



CUBA



SYRIA


TRANSCRIPT:

3:04 p.m. EDT

MS NAUERT: Just one announcement to start today. Sometimes we have many, just one today. It’s summertime; you would think it would be slow, but it has been pretty busy here.

First, I’d like to highlight some good news for the State Department this past week. Yesterday President Trump nominated the following eight career members of the Senior Foreign Service to be ambassador: Michael Peter Pelletier was nominated as ambassador to the Republic of Madagascar and the Union of Comoros; William Moser of North Carolina to the Republic of Kazakhstan; Robert Scott for the Republic of Malawi; Craig Lewis Cloud to the Republic of Botswana; Michael Klecheski to Mongolia. In addition to them, we also have a few others. Judy Gail Garber to the Republic of Cyprus; Donald Armin Blome to the Tunisian Republic; and finally, Dennis Hankins to the Republic of Mali.

We are proud of our work in growing our team in three months since Secretary Pompeo took leadership of the building. We continue to make steady progress with full White House support. We hope that the members of the U.S. Senate will work quickly to get these nominees through the process along with additional nominees.

Some of you may have noticed a few weeks back the White House also nominated four career ambassadors to that post. That is the highest rank that a Foreign Service officer can achieve. Since 1955, just 59 career ambassadors have been nominated or have been named. David Hale, Philip Goldberg, Michele Sison, and Dan Smith are those current nominees that the White House has put forward. We look forward to the Senate now being back in session and hopefully moving our folks along quickly to get our team on the field.

And with that, I’d be happy to take your questions.

QUESTION: Just on that, Heather --

MS NAUERT: Yes.

QUESTION: -- do you expect that this week?

MS NAUERT: If any of our ambassadors would be voted upon this week?

QUESTION: Those – the – yeah, the career --

MS NAUERT: I’m not sure. That’s up to the Senate, so we’ll see what happens. And we’re looking forward to getting our folks through, and they’ll hopefully get through.

QUESTION: Okay. I want to ask you about a phone call the Secretary had yesterday with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. They seemed – the readout of the call mentioned several topics, but it didn’t say specifically whether the Secretary had raised with the Crown Prince the attack in Yemen, for which – that we talked about last week, which the death toll of children has now risen to, I believe, 50, nor did it mention the whole dispute between the Saudis and Canada. I’m wondering if you can elaborate a little bit on the readout and say whether either of those two items came up.

MS NAUERT: Yes, both of those issues did come up in the Secretary’s call with his counterpart. We put out a readout of that call, but as you will notice in the readout, it says that we also discuss other issues of mutual concern. We don’t always, as we’ve talked about here before, list every single thing, every single item, that has been discussed in the phone call, but I can confirm for you that those two issues were, in fact, raised.

QUESTION: Those two? All right. So I mean, because they were like relevant items, and thank you for confirming that they were, but it would have been super helpful had it been mentioned in the – it’s not like – we’re not talking like zombie apocalypse as a mutual item of --

MS NAUERT: I think we have a new job for you, Matt Lee. You can come in and you can do our readouts on our phone calls.

QUESTION: Okay. Can you --

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

QUESTION: Can I ask you to be a little bit more explicit in what exactly they – I mean, did the Secretary say we’re concerned about this attack, this bombing in Yemen, and we’d like you really to find out what happened? I notice that General Mattis has said that there’s going to be a U.S. general going over to Saudi Arabia to – I don’t know what, but to have something to look – overlook or do this. And on the Canadian dispute, did he say anything to suggest that the United States agrees with the Canadian position that these rights activists should be released?

MS NAUERT: Let me take your second question first, and that is to the issue of the dispute – or whatever you want to call it – between Canada and Saudi Arabia. The Secretary believes that this is an issue for the Canadians and for the Saudi – and for the Saudis to resolve themselves. We said that last week. I think we’ve been clear about that. We believe that other countries have the ability to pick up the phone and have conversations with one another about issues that are important. The United States does not have to get involved or interfere in every issue that’s out there before countries.

As to the second issue, we addressed this last week. We have called for a Saudi-led coalition to investigate the civilian causalities that took place as a result of that airstrike. Secretary Mattis has spoken about this. The Secretary dispatched a three-star general to Saudi Arabia to discuss the incident with the Saudi Government and encourage them to look into the situation. As of a few days ago, the Saudis have said that they would, in fact, conduct an investigation, and so we will let them certainly conduct that investigation. We’re not going to get ahead of that, but I can confirm for you this was an issue that the Secretary did raise, but I’m not going to get into the private details of their diplomatic conversation.

QUESTION: May I have a follow-up?

MS NAUERT: Hi, Andrea. Yeah, sure.

QUESTION: Hi. Two questions. First of all, since last week, the Canada-Saudi issue has escalated with Saudi taking retaliatory action against investments in Canada. So I’m wondering whether there is a further response from the U.S. to that, because it’s no longer being resolved between two friends; it’s not at all being resolved between two friends. And on Yemen, what would make us think that the Saudis could credibly lead an independent – lead a coalition-led investigation --

MS NAUERT: Well, they’ve done it in the past.

QUESTION: -- rather than an independent investigation?

MS NAUERT: They have done those investigations in the past. We call upon them --

QUESTION: Credibly?

MS NAUERT: We call upon them to hold an investigation. Secretary Mattis sent out a three-star general. That three-star was there – my understanding – today, in which he was having conversations with the Government of Saudi Arabia and coalition partners. And so I’ll leave it to that investigation to take place, and part of this would be – have – would require having DOD weigh in.

QUESTION: You don’t think the UN should step in and --

MS NAUERT: I’m not going to make policy here from this podium. That is not my role to do so. I can tell you – I can state our current position, and our current position is for an investigation to take place. And that is all I have on that matter.

QUESTION: And one question to follow up on Matt, though, is: Was there an attempt to obfuscate the subjects in that readout? Because the readout notably did not mention the two very newsworthy and very controversial issues now involving the kingdom.

MS NAUERT: Look, there is – you’ve been around long enough to know that every single issue – and we’ve discussed this here before – that is discussed in a phone call between two world leaders does not make it into a readout. That is part of the reason that I am here today, to take your questions, and I can confirm that those issues did, in fact, come up. And I’ll leave it at that.

Does anything have – anyone have something on another matter?

QUESTION: Can I have Turkey?

QUESTION: On Canada? On Canada --

QUESTION: Well, were they talking about the weather?

MS NAUERT: They probably did, because they do exchange pleasantries when they talk.

Hi.

QUESTION: I just want to clarify something. You said that you wanted to leave it to Canada and Saudi Arabia to resolve their issues. Does that mean that the United States will not mediate or interfere or try to bring them together? They are allies, right? They both are allies.

MS NAUERT: They are partners. They are friends. I think we’ll leave it to those countries to resolve this themselves. Okay?

Hi, Laurie.

QUESTION: Hi.

QUESTION: On Turkey?

QUESTION: On – well, I --

MS NAUERT: Go ahead.

QUESTION: Look, I’ve got an Iraq question and a Turkey question.

MS NAUERT: Sure.

QUESTION: Iraqi Prime Minister Abadi has said that Iraq will continue trading with Iran, but it won’t use the dollar. What is your response to that?

MS NAUERT: Yeah, I mean, we’ve certainly seen that report. That’s something that was just brought to my attention a short while ago. Overall I can tell you we continue our efforts by the Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government to resolve the issues between the government and Baghdad. You know our concerns about Iran and about trading with Iran, and we will continue to hold countries accountable for any violation of sanctions.

QUESTION: But is his statement acceptable to you?

MS NAUERT: Laurie, you know – we’ve been here long enough together – that we don’t comment on every foreign leader’s comments that a foreign leader will make.

QUESTION: Okay. On Turkey, there’s a crisis. Are you having any discussions with Turkey on this – during this crisis, or are there not even talks?

MS NAUERT: Well, I think you saw yesterday where National Security Advisor John Bolton met with the Turkish ambassador to the United States. They had a meeting. The White House put out a readout of that conversation, and we continue to have a conversation that was similar to the previous conversations we’ve had recently, where we talk about areas of mutual interest. Not all of that makes it into the readout. But we also talked about the issue of Pastor Brunson.

QUESTION: And is there any news on that front?

MS NAUERT: I have no new news for you on the case of Pastor Brunson.

QUESTION: On that --

MS NAUERT: Hi, Michelle.

QUESTION: Hi. Thanks. On that subject, White House officials are saying that there was no progress made, that it remains at a stalemate. So from the State Department perspective, what is the next step in trying to resolve this Brunson issue?

MS NAUERT: Well, I think progress is having Ambassador Brunson on a plane coming back to the United --

QUESTION: Pastor.

MS NAUERT: I’m sorry. Pastor Brunson coming back to the United States. We hope to have him brought back very soon. We have long said that that is long overdue. We look forward --

QUESTION: But what is the next step?

MS NAUERT: We look forward to that taking place. I can tell you that our charge in Turkey visited Pastor Brunson earlier today. He provided a brief readout of that, where he basically just discussed the fact that they met. I can just tell you our conversations continue, and I don’t see that changing at this point.

QUESTION: Okay. And on the Saudi issue --

MS NAUERT: Mm-hmm. I’ll come back to you. Somebody else had something on Turkey.

Yeah.

QUESTION: On Turkey. Are you going to nominate someone to be an ambassador? Might that be helpful to have an ambassador in post? I know this is not the Secretary’s --

MS NAUERT: Well, one – I’m glad you brought that up. One of the things that’s very important to this Secretary is putting his team on the field, and he spent considerable effort in putting people on the field, interviewing people, spending his personal time doing that, really digging into the details, and of course also encouraging the Senate to move through our people just as quickly as possible as they’re able to do so.

I don’t have any information on any new nominations; that would come out of the White House. But I would imagine that the Secretary has a candidate in mind for that.

Lesley --

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

QUESTION: So, Heather, I have --

MS NAUERT: Let me get to Lesley. (Inaudible) Lesley yet.

QUESTION: Yeah. So --

MS NAUERT: She’s supposed to be number two, so my apologies.

QUESTION: I am. I noticed.

QUESTION: She’s number one (inaudible).

MS NAUERT: Yes, yes.

QUESTION: Oh, right. Yes, I forgot about that. Thank you very much.

So the – so there’s no negotiation going on about Father Brunson and – Pastor Brunson and the other Americans that are going. I mean, from what I gather, that – there’s – you’ve told them you release Pastor Brunson or we’re going to take further action.

MS NAUERT: I’m not going to forecast any kind of further actions or what our next steps will be, other than to say conversations continue. We’ve been very clear with Turkey about our expectations and our desire to have our people brought home. Pastor Brunson gets the bulk of the attention in the news and from a lot of folks, but it is just as important to us to have the NASA scientist, Serkan Golge, brought home, as well as our three locally employed staff who’ve been working at our mission in Turkey and then have been detained for quite some time as well.

QUESTION: So if I can look at the broader perspective, an issue – a bilateral issue between the United States and Turkey has now roiled emerging markets. We’ve had everything from Mexico to India – the currencies from all over the developing world have been affected by this. At what stage does one stop this so that the rest of the world doesn’t sink to the bottom of the economic pile?

MS NAUERT: I think what we’re seeing overall – and I’m not an economist, of course, but economists would certainly tell you that what is happening in Turkey goes far beyond the United States and the United States recent policies and impositions of various policies and mechanisms. The economic woes did not begin when we put in place those Global Magnitsky sanctions on two individuals on August the 1st of this year.

QUESTION: Heather, can I just ask you if --

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

QUESTION: Heather.

MS NAUERT: Yeah, go right ahead.

QUESTION: Hi. Can we go back to Saudi Arabia for a moment?

QUESTION: Can we --

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

MS NAUERT: Yeah, we – we’ll just close out on Turkey before we finish the next thing. Go ahead.

QUESTION: After the meeting today, did – or does State have an update on the condition of Pastor Brunson and whether or not that’s playing into these discussions at all? Is health a part of these --

MS NAUERT: I don’t believe his health status has changed in any way. I know that our charge was certainly pleased to see Pastor Brunson.

Okay. Yeah.

QUESTION: Heather, I just wanted to know: Have you seen President Erdogan’s comments today about a boycott of American electronics? I mean, is this --

MS NAUERT: I have seen that. I can’t confirm that that is actually going to happen. We’ve seen those press reports, and I would just have to refer you back to the Government of Turkey for any additional clarification or information on that.

QUESTION: Right, but presuming they – presuming he’s not lying and he’s going to go ahead with this, I mean, do you have any concern for the impact of this, or is this kind of like the same thing as him saying that we’re not going to buy toasters anymore from the U.S.?

MS NAUERT: I think we would wait to see if that is a policy. So we’re just going to wait and see on that one.

Andrea, and then we’ll move on to something else.

QUESTION: On Turkey. According to Chairman of the Economic – Council of Economic Advisers Kevin Hassett, the sanctions that we imposed on Turkey amount to about one thousandth of one percent of their economy. So it’s a tiny, tiny amount. So should Erdogan be – and Erdogan is blaming all this on America in big rallies and (inaudible). Should Erdogan look inward at his own economic woes? And do you have any concern for the safety of Americans, tourists and others? Is there a travel warning or anything else given his rhetoric?

MS NAUERT: I don’t believe our warning or travel advisories for people – for American citizens traveling in Turkey have changed in any way. We can check with Consular Affairs. That latest information would be on our website. So I would encourage folks, if they have questions --

QUESTION: You don’t know if anything is in the works?

MS NAUERT: I’m not aware of anything changing, anything in the works, but I would encourage folks – as we know, a lot of people are traveling in the summer time – to always take a look at our website at any country you’re interested in going to. And if I can put in a plug for my Consular Affairs colleagues, and that is: Please, if you’re traveling overseas, American citizens, sign up for our STEP program. In case of an emergency, if we should need to reach, as American citizens, we will know how to reach you so we can help you if we do in fact need to reach somebody.

QUESTION: Just one more on Turkey.

MS NAUERT: Yeah, yeah. Okay, hold on. You had one. Yeah.

QUESTION: Heather, just one clarification. After the meeting today, the charge released a statement saying that the U.S. calls for Pastor Brunson’s – his release without delay in a fair and transparent manner. You’ve previously called for his immediate release. Do you think that Turkey could immediately release him? Because they continue to say that this has to go through their justice system in a --

MS NAUERT: Yeah. We’ve been very clear with the government about our expectations in our meetings and in phone calls. This is nothing new. Our policy has not changed in any way. Okay.

QUESTION: One more. Can I follow up?

MS NAUERT: Hi, Said. Okay, let’s --

QUESTION: Can I follow up on an issue that I raised last week --

MS NAUERT: Sure, and that is? Sorry.

QUESTION: -- which is the aid to the Palestinians.

MS NAUERT: Okay.

QUESTION: There was a report that came out on Friday after the briefing where it said that basically the United States cut off all aid to the Palestinians. Could you please just explain to us the situation, the status of U.S. aid to the Palestinians of all kinds?

MS NAUERT: Yeah, I can just tell you that much of this is under review and we have no decisions to announce, no new initiatives or anything to announce at this time.

QUESTION: So do you confirm that everything is frozen, most everything is frozen --

MS NAUERT: That --

QUESTION: -- with the exception --

MS NAUERT: -- funding, such as for UNRWA, was under a review. That remains under review at this time. Okay. I don’t have anything more on that.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) Saudi? Can we go back there? A couple of people had questions. When you call for an investigation, why does the United States think it’s enough for this ongoing problem for Saudi Arabia to do the investigation?

MS NAUERT: That is something that they have done in the past. We would encourage them to continue to do that. Michelle, I’m not going to have anything more for you on this issue. Does anybody --

QUESTION: Well, why do you think that’s – why do you think it’s enough was the question.

MS NAUERT: Because we take those matters seriously of civilian casualties. Our Saudi partners take those issues seriously as well. Anyone who operates from a military fashion, who is involved in actions and strikes, in strife around the world, in major countries like ours take all efforts to try to mitigate against civilian casualties. And I’ll just leave it at that.

Hi. Go ahead.

QUESTION: Okay, so back on Saudi, the --

MS NAUERT: I think I just said I don’t have anything more for you on this issue.

QUESTION: This is not on Yemen.

MS NAUERT: Okay.

QUESTION: The Saudi-Canadian spat started with the arrest of Samar Badawi, who’s an activist, over her online social media posts, and her brother was arrested several years ago on the same thing. What’s the U.S. position on her arrest?

MS NAUERT: And this is something that we’ve – and good to see you back here – but this is something that we’ve addressed here from this podium before. We support the right to free speech, and that is something that we stand firmly for every time one of these issues comes up. We remain concerned about the detention of activists in Saudi Arabia and we urge the Government of Saudi Arabia and all governments to ensure that due process is done and that it’s handled in a transparent and fair manner. Okay?

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

MS NAUERT: Okay, let’s move on to something else. Hi, Jessica.

QUESTION: Another question again. I just want to kind of – the Canadian issue: What was the purpose of the call? If it’s not to offer support for one side or the other or to offer negotiation, why raise it with the Saudis?

MS NAUERT: Well, I think that was in our readout, and we have broad relationships with many countries around the world in which we are engaged in a lot of various activities, some of which you’re very familiar with that you read in the headlines every day. Some things are not as interesting, and so we have – often have broad conversations with our partners. Okay?

QUESTION: Do you think the U.S. could take a role as a negotiator going forward?

MS NAUERT: I – look, I don’t think that there’s any – it’s not necessary for the United States to have to step in between two countries that have the ability to pick up the phone and handle these issues among themselves. Okay?

Okay. Hi. How are you?

QUESTION: Hi. Probably you have seen or heard that the – that Iran’s spiritual/revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has said that there won’t be any talking with the U.S., or in general he has forbidden talking with the United States. Given that the administration has expressed openness to discussions on all the subjects, would you consider this Iran’s response to that proposition?

MS NAUERT: Would we consider that to be Iran’s response? I mean, we certainly heard the response. The United States remains hopeful that the people of Saudi Arabia will continue to make their viewpoints very well known.

QUESTION: Iran.

QUESTION: Iran.

MS NAUERT: Excuse me, sorry. Thank you.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) the people of Saudi Arabia should not continue to --

MS NAUERT: Pardon me. Okay, going on autopilot there. Thank you for that correction very much. My apologies.

Look, we saw the – we heard the statement, we saw the statement, and it’s just something where we’re not going to respond to something that every government official from around the world has to say.

QUESTION: Well, this is --

MS NAUERT: I think we’ve been very clear in terms of our policy regarding Iran and our concerns and our continued concerns about Iran’s bad behavior around the world. We are not the only nation to have seen that, witnessed that, who have been hurt by it, many other countries as well. And we remain firm in our policy of standing up against Iran, against its malign activities.

QUESTION: Is there going to be a deadline for a response from Iran?

MS NAUERT: Look, I’m not putting out any kinds of deadlines or anything. I think we’ve been very clear about our policies.

QUESTION: Heather --

MS NAUERT: Miss, how are you?

QUESTION: Korea.

QUESTION: You do think that the people in Saudi Arabia should be able to speak up for themselves too, right?

MS NAUERT: Yes. We do support free speech.

QUESTION: Okay. Just to make --

MS NAUERT: My sincere apologies.

QUESTION: Thank you.

QUESTION: Korea?

MS NAUERT: Miss, go right ahead.

QUESTION: Yes, thank you. Thank you, Heather. South Korea media reports that the United States and North Korea held working-level talks at the demilitarized zone last weekend. Can you confirm this? Who were there; what was the agenda? Was it about Secretary Pompeo’s next visit to Pyongyang?

MS NAUERT: Yeah.

QUESTION: And is the United States planning another meeting with North Korea this week at the demilitarized --

MS NAUERT: We have no meetings or no plans and no travel to announce at this point. Regarding your question about any previous meetings, I don’t have anything to share for you on that matter. But negotiations and conversations between our government and North Korea will become sort of a regular course of – part of our regular course of business, where these will be normal. We will have conversations; we will have meetings. We will have correspondence with the North Korean Government as we look to denuclearize North Korea.

QUESTION: Follow up to that? Follow up to that?

MS NAUERT: Yeah, last one then.

QUESTION: Yes. How does State Department feel about declaring the end to the Korean War at this time when North Korea’s not making any specific denuclearization actions?

MS NAUERT: Look, we support a peace regime, a peace mechanism by which countries can move forward toward peace. But what our focus is, our main focus, is on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and that’s something we’ve been very clear with many governments about. Okay.

QUESTION: Heather?

MS NAUERT: Kylie, hi.

QUESTION: Just to follow up on that, if these meetings are going to be made normal, then why can’t you tell us when they happen?

MS NAUERT: Well, sometimes we will and sometimes we won’t. I mean you know we don’t read out and announce every single diplomatic call, every conversation, every meeting that we have with other governments. Some we’ll read out and some we won’t.

QUESTION: And there are some reports from those who have been briefed on the negotiations that they haven’t gone that well, and that specifically Ambassador Sung Kim wasn’t treated very well when he’s gone there. Do you – what’s your reaction to that?

MS NAUERT: I think I would say that that’s news to me. Okay. All right.

QUESTION: Turkey?

QUESTION: At this point, does the State Department feel that it’s important to appoint a replacement for Joseph Yun’s position as --

MS NAUERT: We – as I’ve said, the Secretary has made it one of his top issues to get our team on the field, and we are working hard every day to bring new people. I look forward in the coming days and weeks ahead to making further personnel announcements, not specific to that necessarily but in general. I can tell you we look forward to additional personnel announcements.

Hi, Cindy.

QUESTION: Heather, on China, as you know, a VOA correspondent and another freelancer were detained yesterday in China for several hours and had their equipment scanned and everything. Do you – are you concerned that this is part of a broader crackdown on free speech and human rights in China?

MS NAUERT: Well, we’ve been watching that very carefully. And you and I, I think, had a one-on-one conversation a few weeks ago about the disappearance of a professor who was being interviewed on Voice of America, and he was taken away by security officials in China. And then the follow-on story was that a Voice of America reporter was detained along with a contractor, who I believe was also working for Voice of America, was also taken away. And that detention is a concern of ours. We understand that they were released, but nevertheless, that detention is a concern because they were speaking freely.

They were doing their jobs, and we continue to support people who are engaging in doing their jobs, telling the stories about what is going on, not just behind the scenes but reporting on daily life for those in China and elsewhere as well. We are concerned about what we consider to be China’s suppression of fundamental rights, including freedom of expression and freedom of association. And we call on China to allow all individuals to express their views without fear of retribution and for journalists to be able to do their jobs without interference.

QUESTION: Can I also --

MS NAUERT: Okay. And we’re going to have to wrap it up.

QUESTION: On China?

MS NAUERT: Yeah.

QUESTION: The president of Taiwan spoke yesterday. It’s the first time in 15 years. Government – the U.S. Government has previously discouraged them from coming here to speak. Was that done with State Department’s approval? Are you glad she came and made – said what she did on U.S. soil?

MS NAUERT: Yeah. I mean, first let me start off by saying our policy on Taiwan has not changed. The United States remains committed to our U.S. “one China” policy based on three joint communiques under the Taiwan Relations Act. The United States, in regard to this trip, facilitates from time to time representatives of the Taiwan authorities to transit the United States. Those are largely undertaken out of consideration for the safety and comfort of those travelers and that is in keeping with our “one China” policy. For any additional details about President Tsai’s visit, then I would have to refer you to Taiwan authorities.

QUESTION: However, in the past, Taiwanese have come here and have been discouraged from speaking, and there have been talks about it regularly in previous visits, and so this is a big change. Would – if she transited Washington would you be happy if she spoke here?

MS NAUERT: Well, that would be entirely a hypothetical question, so I just don’t have anything for you on that.

QUESTION: But this is a change in policy.

MS NAUERT: Yeah, I’m not aware of it being a change in policy, but from time to time they do transit through the United States and that is something that is in accordance with our “one China” policy.

QUESTION: Can I please ask a question about --

MS NAUERT: Okay, we’ve got to – we’ve got to wrap it up. Nick, go right ahead.

QUESTION: Turkey?

MS NAUERT: We’ve already covered Turkey. Nick, go ahead. Last question.

QUESTION: Quickly, North Korea. Ambassador Bolton said last week to a few of us, North Korea has not “taken effective steps” to denuclearize. I’m not saying for you to respond to that specific phrase, but does the Secretary share the ambassador’s frustration? And I know you can’t talk about specific meetings, but in general, are the meetings yielding any progress?

MS NAUERT: Yeah, well I think we have certainly seen progress so far. We’ve seen the remains of service members brought home. That is certainly a step in the right direction. We’ve had conversations with a country that we hadn’t had one-on-one conversations with for many years. We’re opening a dialogue. We’re in a very different position today than we were just over a year ago, much less six or eight months ago. So we think that that is progress. Is there quite some room to go? Yes, there is a ways to go on this, and Secretary Pompeo has been very clear about that. But we continue to have those conversations because Chairman Kim has committed to President Trump that they are willing to denuclearize, and so we will continue a full, good-faith effort to have those conversations to move forward to that policy objective.

QUESTION: Is there any progress --

MS NAUERT: Hold on.

QUESTION: And any progress in the last month?

MS NAUERT: We consider meetings, negotiations, conversations as we move forward, behind the scenes, with those negotiations to be moving in the right direction.

Last question.

QUESTION: And is there any progress on denuclearization, to wit, a declaration of what they have?

MS NAUERT: I don’t have --

QUESTION: Which would be the first step.

MS NAUERT: I don’t have any announcements to bring you today. I’m not saying that there hasn’t been progress. I’m telling you I don’t have any announcements for you today.

QUESTION: No, I’m just asking --

MS NAUERT: And when we do have something significant to announce, you probably won’t be hearing it from me.

QUESTION: No, I – no. (Laughter.) I hope we are. But I’m just saying --

QUESTION: (Off-mike)

QUESTION: -- I just mean how – aside from the remains, which is significant and moving and we’ve been covering that, has there been any progress on the issue of denuclearization?

MS NAUERT: And those are conversations that we’re having behind the scenes. I’m not going to get ahead of those conversations and I’m not going to read out those conversations. I can tell you that conversations with the Government of North Korea are becoming a far more normal matter, and that is exactly why we won’t be reading out every detail, every time we meet with them, every phone conversation or email that we exchange with them. We continue to work in good faith to move forward on that, okay? And I’ve got to wrap it up.

QUESTION: Heather, do you have – I’ve got two really brief things that are far afield. One is, do you have anything to say on the six-year anniversary of the disappearance of Austin Tice in Syria? And secondly, I don’t remember if you guys said anything at the time, late last week, when the Cubans returned this fugitive to the United States.

MS NAUERT: I’m afraid, Matt, I don’t have anything for you on the Cuban return of this --

QUESTION: Okay.

MS NAUERT: -- individual. I will check with our folks who handle Cuba and see if I have anything I can get for you on that. Regarding Austin Tice, some of you may know him – a citizen, U.S. citizen, and a journalist who was reporting from Syria and went missing six years ago to this day. I know his parents have been speaking publicly about how much they miss him, about the U.S. Government’s response to address his disappearance, his location, and attempts to bring him home. We believe him to be alive. We remain deeply concerned about his wellbeing and we’re actively working to bring Austin Tice home. Now, I imagine a lot of you will have questions about where we think he might be, who you think might be holding him, et cetera, et cetera. I appreciate your curiosity about that but that is not something that we will get into out of not only consideration for the family but his own safety and security. We hope that we will have a positive conclusion to his case at some point soon.

QUESTION: Can I follow up?

MS NAUERT: And while I raise this issue, I’d like to just mention, as some of you know, we have a special presidential envoy for hostage affairs. I think many of you have probably not met him. His name is Robert O’Brien and he will be working on this issue along with the cases of other American citizens who are missing or who have been held – are being held in other countries.

QUESTION: Can I follow up on --

QUESTION: Is he based in Washington?

MS NAUERT: Yes.

QUESTION: O’Brien, is he based in Washington?

MS NAUERT: He – I know he works out of Washington, yes. I don’t know where his actual home-home is.

QUESTION: Hi.

MS NAUERT: Hi.

QUESTION: Austin Tice’s parents today have called for the United States to – for the U.S. Government to hold direct talks with the Syrian Government to bring him back home.

MS NAUERT: Yes.

QUESTION: Are you willing to do that, perhaps have the new special envoy --

MS NAUERT: Sure. And I hadn’t heard about those comments that his parents had made, so that’s not – that’s not a question I asked. I can’t make policy here from this position and determine whether or not we should actually have those kinds of negotiations going forward. I would hesitate to say that I understand the parents’ pain and the emotion that they’re feeling, not knowing where their son has been for so many years. As a parent myself, I can certainly appreciate part of what that must feel like. I can assure you that we’re doing everything that we can to try to bring him home, and our conversations certainly with the family will continue.

Okay, I’ve got to go, guys. Janne, I’m sorry. I’ll see you again next time. Okay, thanks.

QUESTION: Thank you.

(The briefing was concluded at 3:34 p.m.)

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Department Press Briefings : Department Press Briefing - August 7, 2018

Heather Nauert





Spokesperson


Department Press Briefing





Washington, DC





August 7, 2018











Index for Today's Briefing

KENYA/TANZANIA/DEPARTMENT



SECRETARY TRAVEL



IRAN



CANADA/SAUDI ARABIA



KENYA/TANZANIA/DEPARTMENT



TURKEY/REGION



MIDDLE EAST PEACE



DPRK/REGION



MIDDLE EAST PEACE



IRAN/YEMEN/SAUDI ARABIA/REGION



GEORGIA/RUSSIA



BAHRAIN


TRANSCRIPT:

2:45 p.m. EDT

MS NAUERT: Good afternoon, everybody. Hope you’re all doing well. I’ll start off with a few announcements today, and first I would like to, along with my colleagues, begin today by recognizing the 20th anniversary of the terror bombings that took place at our embassies in Nairobi and – in Kenya and Tanzania.

Deputy Secretary Sullivan met with survivors and their family members of the victims here at the department earlier today, and he delivered remarks alongside Ambassadors Lange and Bushnell, who headed our posts at the time, at a ceremony to honor those affected by the attacks. That is where they spoke. Our embassies in East Africa also participated in events to mark this solemn occasion.

Secretary Pompeo issued a statement earlier today saying we will never forget the legacy of those who perished nor the courage, bravery, and valor of all who survived. As we honor the memory of lost colleagues, family members, and friends, we must remind ourselves that the depravity of terrorists must never out-shadow the bravery and heroism of those on the ground that day and the closer partnerships that we’ve developed with the people of Kenya and Tanzania. And both of those ambassadors were here at the event earlier today.

As horrific as those attacks were, they only served to increase the bonds between the people of Kenya, Tanzania, and the United States, as we worked together to rebuild our embassies and heal our wounds and bring to justice those perpetrators. So we mark this day thinking of our colleagues and our family members and their family members who died 20 years ago or were injured.

Next, as you all know, the Secretary traveled to Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia last week for bilateral and multilateral meetings to advance the security of the United States and the region, and to underscore our support for a rules-based order, reaffirm our commitment to friends and allies, and demonstrate the robust engagement in the Indo-Pacific. In Singapore the Secretary outlined the security pillar of the administration’s Indo-Pacific strategy and announced nearly $300 million in additional funding intended for South and Southeast Asia. We’ve gotten a lot of questions about this, so I just wanted to highlight some of what is involved in that program. There’s been a lot of interest in this.

The funding represents a significant investment in our security relationships with Bangladesh, Indonesia, Mongolia, Nepal, the Pacific islands, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and others. The investment focuses on four key areas that are critical to ensuring a free, open, and rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific region. This includes maritime security, humanitarian assistance, and disaster response, also peacekeeping capabilities and countering transnational crime. As part of the maritime security theme, we launched the Bay of Bengal Initiative to help enhance the capacity of civilian and military maritime actors in this vital region, which is home to important sea lanes linking the Indian Ocean to East Asia. And it was nice to have some of you along on the trip.

Last thing I’d like to address today, and that is Iran and the reimposition of sanctions that were rolled out today. At 12:01 this morning, the President’s executive order entitled “Reimposing Certain Sanctions with Respect to Iran” went into effect. The executive order is reimposing sanctions on Iran’s automotive sector and on its trade in gold and precious metals, as well as sanctions related to the Iranian rial, in support of the President’s decision to cease U.S. participation in the JCPOA. A number of provisions of this order became effective today, while others will become effective on November the 5th. The United States is fully committed to enforcing all of those sanctions.

The United States is seeking new detail – excuse me, a new deal, rather, that will comprehensively address the Iranian regime’s destabilizing behavior – not just their nuclear program, but also their missile program, their support for terrorism, and their malign regional behavior. The United States is willing to engage in talks with the Iranian regime, but we are looking for a commitment that they are willing to make fundamental changes in their behavior. Iran will need to think seriously about the consequences of its behavior and the consequences that it’s having on its country, and especially on the Iranian people, and they should choose to correct their course of action going forward.

And with that, I’d be happy to take your questions.

QUESTION: Thanks, Heather. Before we get back to Iran, I just – I want to see if I can get a little bit more of a detailed response from you guys on the whole spat between the Saudis and the Canadians.

MS NAUERT: Mm-hmm.

QUESTION: Do you have anything more to say than the rather milquetoast comment that --

MS NAUERT: Well, and what was the milquetoast comment that you believe we put out earlier?

QUESTION: Just that they’re both close partners and that you’re going to refer any questions about this actual dispute to the two foreign ministries.

MS NAUERT: No, I have a little bit more for you on that. Thank you so much for asking.

QUESTION: Okay.

MS NAUERT: We’ve talked about this type of issue before. I think the last time we briefed, you and I addressed this very issue and concerns about Saudi Arabia.

We have a regular dialogue with the Government of Saudi Arabia on human rights and also other issues. This particular case regarding Canada, we have raised that with the Government of Saudi Arabia. They are friends, they are partners, as is Canada as well.

Both sides need to diplomatically resolve this together. We can’t do it for them. They need to resolve it together. The United States respects – has respect for international recognized freedoms and also individual liberty. That certainly has not changed, and that’s basically where we stand today.

QUESTION: Right. But I mean, Canada is more than just a close partner. It’s actually your very, very, very close neighbor --

MS NAUERT: Yep.

QUESTION: -- and it’s also a NATO ally.

MS NAUERT: You’re right.

QUESTION: You have treaty obligations with Canada. You don’t – unless this administration has done something that I’m not aware of – don’t have treaty obligations with Saudi Arabia. And I just – I don’t understand why – there’s one country here that has imprisoned human rights activists, and another one is your immediate neighbor and NATO ally. And I don’t understand why you don’t come down on the side of agreeing with the Canadians when it sounds as though, from what you’re saying, your human rights dialogue with the Saudis, you do agree with them.

MS NAUERT: Matt, I can tell you that we have those conversations with the Government of Saudi Arabia. We have had conversations with them about this as it pertains to Canada. But we would encourage both governments to work out their issues together. It’s a diplomatic issue. Saudi Arabia and Canada can certainly stand to work it out together. We would encourage the Government of Saudi Arabia overall to address and respect due process and also publicize information on some of its legal cases.

QUESTION: Do you think the Saudis overreacted to this?

MS NAUERT: Matt, I’m not going to characterize it. I could just tell you we have discussed it with the Government of Saudi Arabia, and it’s up for Saudi Arabia and the Canadians to work this matter out.

Okay? Hi, Lesley.

QUESTION: Can I ask –

MS NAUERT: Hi.

QUESTION: Hello. Yesterday in the statement you all said that the U.S. had asked for additional information on the – on several activists. Are they the same activists that Canada is raising an issue with?

MS NAUERT: I’m not sure which activists Canada is asking about in particular. I can just tell you we’ve asked the Government of Saudi Arabia for additional information on several activists.

QUESTION: I believe it’s the activists – the same ones, the blogger and his wife.

MS NAUERT: Okay, I’m just not aware of which ones they in particular asked about. I can tell you that we have raised those cases with the government.

QUESTION: And did you receive that information from the Saudis?

MS NAUERT: I think I just – I’m going to be able – the information I just provided you is what I’m going to be able to provide you. Nothing beyond that.

Hi, Andrea.

QUESTION: Hi. Can I --

QUESTION: Can I just ask one – one more follow-up on this, please? Sorry.

QUESTION: One more on that? Sure.

MS NAUERT: Okay.

QUESTION: And then I’d like a chance --

QUESTION: You said you’ve raised the issue, though. Would you condemn the arrest of this activist?

MS NAUERT: Look, I’m not going to get into all of this. I know you want me to characterize all of these things. Some of these issues we choose to discuss privately with our friends, with our partners, with our allies. And so you want me here to say certain things. I can tell you, however, we have raised these issues, and I’ll leave it at that.

QUESTION: Well, it’s just there was a Saudi general who’s been quoted as saying that what the Canadian call that upset them so much is evidence of Canada’s support for international terrorism. Do you believe that?

MS NAUERT: I’m not going to comment on what this general allegedly said about someone. I don’t have any information on that. I’m not going to comment on that.

Andrea, go right ahead. What do you want to cover?

QUESTION: I want to ask you about the 20th anniversary, to follow up on the commemoration that was held this morning. Some of us covered that, and it was a watershed moment.

MS NAUERT: Certainly.

QUESTION: And Ambassador Bushnell said the following today here in the lobby: “We cannot waive the need for incoming Foreign Service officers, for high technology, or for the health services necessary after we have been sent to dangerous places. This occurred three years before al-Qaida bombed our homeland. We are, in fact, in a more dangerous place than we were. Our colleagues today face issues we didn’t have to. Please take today” – this was addressed to Deputy Secretary Sullivan – “and this moment to pledge to alter the trend of providing inadequate resources to the people who work in peace, not only for the sake of those of us who work here today, but for the sake of our neighbors and communities where we live overseas.”

I’m wondering whether the Secretary and others in command here are taking that in and realizing that the failures of 1998 were replicated in the failures of Benghazi, which I know the Secretary was a leading voice on, and whether there is more attention being paid to inadequate resources to Foreign Service officers and their dependents in dangerous places throughout the world.

MS NAUERT: Yes, so I’m glad you asked that question. I was sitting there today, and I heard Ambassador Bushnell’s comments. And all of this was a very, very touching moment to have had so many survivors and then family members of victims there in the audience. Some people came from very far away to be a part of the 20th commemoration of those attacks.

The department takes seriously security concerns. You’ve seen significant changes in terms of our embassy security posture over the years as we unfortunately have learned from some very difficult circumstances. You will see changes at our embassy today that we did not have in place years ago.

So we take those matters seriously. Deputy Secretary Sullivan was standing there as she spoke, as was I, and he acknowledged that and said we’re – we certainly pledge to provide the resources that we’re able to provide that we believe will fully take care of our people. That’s something we take very seriously.

QUESTION: Do you think that the current budget as recommended or the mark that’s coming back from OMB is adequate?

MS NAUERT: I have – would have to take a much, much closer look at the budget to see what they have for security. I don’t have those numbers at my fingertips. Unfortunately, I don’t have that for you today.

QUESTION: Can I follow up? Can I follow up right here?

MS NAUERT: Yeah. Hi – hi.

QUESTION: Why didn’t the Secretary attend the event?

MS NAUERT: The Secretary was busy with other meetings today. We put out a statement. He has a extremely packed schedule, and we have a deputy secretary who was happy to attend. Do not take away from this that this is not of great value and interest to our colleagues here. This is something that’s very important. But we’re happy to have the deputy secretary attend, and the Secretary put out a statement this morning.

QUESTION: On Turkey --

MS NAUERT: Yes.

QUESTION: -- have you reached an agreement with the Turks regarding Pastor Brunson? And who was the delegation, the Turkish delegation meet in D.C.?

MS NAUERT: If we had reached any type of agreement, I think you’d see Pastor Brunson back here at home, along with the other American citizens. I don’t have any announcements for you on that today. I can tell you that the Secretary spoke yesterday with the foreign minister from Turkey. They had a conversation. I just don’t have any details to read out from that conversation.

QUESTION: Today or yesterday?

MS NAUERT: Excuse me, yesterday. They spoke yesterday. Thank you.

QUESTION: And who was the Turkish delegation meeting --

MS NAUERT: I’ve seen reports about that. I can’t confirm any of that, and we just don’t have any meetings or anything to announce at this time. Okay.

QUESTION: This is something that continues to happen with the Turks, where they announce that these agreements – I mean, it happened with the previous Secretary and Manbij. It happened – is this getting a little bit annoying for you guys that they keep announcing these things?

MS NAUERT: Matt, I’m not going to comment on that. I think you know that there are governments who will sometimes say things that are different from what we say, and that is no surprise. That has happened --

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

MS NAUERT: -- that has happened time and time again, as a general matter.

QUESTION: Heather, do you feel that there was progress or there is progress being made with the Turks to stave off further sanctions?

MS NAUERT: I can’t comment on sanctions. That’s obviously something that the Vice President had discussed about a week and a half ago or so. You ask if there’s progress that has been made. I think the kind of progress that we want is for Pastor Brunson, our locally employed staff, and other – our other American citizens to be brought home. That’s the real progress that we’re looking for, and obviously we’re not there just yet.

QUESTION: Do you feel that he’s closer to coming to home or is it just nothing --

MS NAUERT: I’m not going to comment.

QUESTION: -- nobody’s budging on this one?

MS NAUERT: I’m not going to comment on that. But I think it’s a – I think it’s certainly a good thing that the Secretary and the foreign minister were able to have a phone call yesterday.

QUESTION: Heather --

QUESTION: Secretary --

MS NAUERT: Hi. Laurie, go right ahead.

QUESTION: Yeah. Secretary Pompeo said when he was leaving Jakarta that he was optimistic about Pastor Brunson – or leaving Singapore, wherever he was leaving.

MS NAUERT: I’m not sure he actually used that word. But look, we’re working hard on this. It’s an important matter to everyone, I think, in the U.S. Government, including Congress as well and here at the State Department in particular. So we’re working hard on this case. And when we have news to bring you, I will certainly bring it to you, gladly.

QUESTION: But since then President Erdogan spoke strongly. They imposed sanctions. Has his optimism or whatever the word was diminished since that point?

MS NAUERT: Oh, they had a chance to speak when they were in Singapore. They had a phone call yesterday. And I’m just going to leave it at that, okay. When I have something to tell you, I certainly will.

Hi.

QUESTION: And would you still say that – thanks – that things are moving in the right direction at least? Or would you say that it’s stalled at this moment?

MS NAUERT: I think having a phone call is certainly a good sign. I think having a conversation certainly cannot hurt. And that’s why we believe that dialogue is something important to have. I don’t have anything more for you on Pastor Brunson or the other American citizens, any updates on their cases. I would be more than happy to tell you when we do. Okay?

QUESTION: Can we go on to North Korea quickly?

QUESTION: Wait, wait. Hold on. This is the “call me maybe” diplomacy?

MS NAUERT: The what?

QUESTION: “Call me maybe” diplomacy. You know what I’m talking about?

QUESTION: Quick question on Turkey.

MS NAUERT: Yeah.

QUESTION: Are the Turks still demanding the exchange for Cleric Gulen?

MS NAUERT: I haven’t seen anything recent on that.

QUESTION: Would that be even considered by this administration?

MS NAUERT: I – look, I think that would be a matter of extradition, which is something that we don’t comment on. That would be a Department of Justice matter. I’ve not seen anything on that. I’ve not seen that brought up recently at all, Andrea. I want to just be clear about that.

Hi, Said.

QUESTION: Heather, how are you?

MS NAUERT: Where --

QUESTION: I want to move to the Palestinian-Israeli issue very quickly.

MS NAUERT: Sure.

QUESTION: Yesterday, or the day before yesterday, news reports suggested that the team is looking to expand, the Kushner-Greenblatt team is looking to expand, and they’re looking to the State Department for specialists in negotiation, economic and so on. Can you share with us whether you have been contacted by the State Department on this issue or are you providing any experts?

MS NAUERT: I think that was Matt’s story, right? Matt, was that your story?

QUESTION: I had part of it.

QUESTION: He had part of it.

MS NAUERT: Oh, he had part of it. Sorry. We don’t have any staffing announcements at this point right now.

QUESTION: Okay. So are you coordinating with them? Are you going to look into areas maybe to reignite negotiations or a large theme --

MS NAUERT: Well, I think we would always like to be able to do more on negotiations. That is largely being handled by Mr. Kushner and Mr. Greenblatt. We work closely with them, of course. And I think everybody would like to see progress on that front.

QUESTION: And very quickly on – there was a report in Foreign Policy that the Trump allies sought to destroy UNRWA because they feel that it has – it’s hindered the peace process, it did not – it held the Palestinian refugees; it kept them in limbo, and so on. Is that the feeling in this building? Are you giving the White House advice on this, on how to handle UNRWA, or are you also agreeing with them that the organization should cease to exist?

MS NAUERT: Said, I can just tell you that the State Department and the White House – also the NSC – are all having conversations about our position with respect to UNRWA. We don’t have any decisions or anything to announce at this point, and when I do, I will let you know. Okay?

QUESTION: Once more on North Korea?

MS NAUERT: Go ahead. Yep.

QUESTION: Just two quick questions. You probably heard John Bolton today speaking on the subject in interviews, and he’s saying that North Korea has not done – it’s not taken the steps that the U.S. would like to see, which I think is obvious to most people. But days ago, when the Secretary was testifying on Capitol Hill, he was telling senators that he felt that there was progress. So how would you characterize where the situation stands right now?

MS NAUERT: Yeah. I think, first of all, when we reflect on our trip that we recently went on to ASEAN in Singapore, the Secretary had many bilateral and multilateral conversations with many nations there. The resounding theme coming out of those meetings was thanks to the United States for its leadership, thanks to President Trump for his leadership on this issue. These countries were happy that we were able to get Chairman Kim and the North Korean Government to the table to begin having these conversations. That’s an incredible step and a huge step from where we were just one year ago. Chairman Kim made a commitment to President Trump on June the 12th; he said that he would denuclearize his country.

The Secretary has had subsequent conversations, as has the State Department, and we do not believe that that position has changed in any way. We’ve been working very hard since that time to develop the process by which denuclearization can be achieved. The Secretary spoke about this just on Sunday and said the process of achieving denuclearization is one that we have all known would take some time. The world is united in seeing this achieved. So it will certainly take some time.

QUESTION: Well, although right after the summit, it was the President himself who said that denuclearization would start to happen immediately. But now John Bolton is saying that they have not even begun any of that process. So --

MS NAUERT: Look, the conversations continue. We knew that this would be a road. We knew that the road would certainly take some time, and we’re in the middle of that process right now.

QUESTION: And the White House is also saying that it’s possible that Secretary Pompeo might go to North Korea next and meet with Kim. So what happens in that process? Is that something that the State Department is going to start actively working on?

MS NAUERT: I think that would be getting ahead of where we are right now. We have no trips, no travel to announce. And by the way, just on Sunday, we got back from a very long – a lot of flying hours to Asia. I think it was twenty-some hours. So I think we’re okay with being here right now.

QUESTION: One way.

QUESTION: But are you saying --

MS NAUERT: One way, yes. That’s just one way.

QUESTION: So you don’t see that happening anytime soon?

MS NAUERT: (Laughter.) Look, I’m not going to predict what’s going to happen, certainly, but we have no trips or travel to announce at this time. Okay?

QUESTION: Thanks.

MS NAUERT: By the way, Laurie, do you have a new colleague in the room here? Is there someone new here from i24?

QUESTION: K24?

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

MS NAUERT: Yes, okay. Yeah.

QUESTION: She’s K24; I’m i24.

MS NAUERT: Oh, K24, i24. My apologies.

QUESTION: Yes. Can I just --

MS NAUERT: Go right ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you. My name’s Nina Larsen, i24. Can I follow up on the Kushner email story, please?

MS NAUERT: Uh-huh.

QUESTION: Kushner said explicitly he thought that UNRWA was an impediment to the peace process. What’s the State Department’s stance on this?

MS NAUERT: Yeah. Look, part of the difficulty, I think – and we have discussed this extensively here at the State Department – is that UNRWA is a program that has lacked a good revenue funding stream that does not just rely on the United States for very many years. The United States has called on, as has Ambassador Haley, for UNRWA to restructure it. That’s our piece of it; that’s what our piece talks about. We have close conversations, of course, with the White House and with Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, and I’m afraid I just don’t have anything more for you on that specific part of the question.

QUESTION: One more thing.

MS NAUERT: Yeah.

QUESTION: How does this impact the right to return? Does that mean that is not going to be part of this peace plan?

MS NAUERT: Look, the peace plan is being largely handled out of the White House, but we’re in close consultation with them. I’m not going to get ahead of any announcements or negotiations that they are involved with, so I’m just not going to have anything more for you on that. Okay?

QUESTION: Follow up on that?

MS NAUERT: Okay. Yeah. Go right ahead.

QUESTION: On that subject. There was a story – I believe in the FT the other day – that said that the peace plan has basically been sidelined because of Sunni Arab concerns about the Jerusalem embassy move, and that has removed any impetus for them to be supportive of the larger plan of Kushner or Greenblatt.

MS NAUERT: Yeah, I have not seen that story, so I don’t want to comment on it. I’ve not seen it; I’m not aware of that. Okay?

QUESTION: On Bangladesh --

MS NAUERT: Hi. How are you?

QUESTION: On North Korea, quickly.

MS NAUERT: Yeah.

QUESTION: Just a quick one on – do you have a reaction on – to North Korea’s foreign minister just visited Iran on the same day the United States --

MS NAUERT: I’m sorry. Say that again? His – about his what?

QUESTION: The North Korean foreign minister just visited Iran, then – and they had a official meeting yesterday, although there is no formal readout of the meeting.

MS NAUERT: Right.

QUESTION: But I’m wondering, what’s your reaction to it? On the same day the United States just reimposed the sanction on --

MS NAUERT: Yeah. I certainly saw the reports. We’ve seen the reports that he was supposedly traveling to Iran as a government – I don’t know that we can confirm it. I don’t know – I think those are just media reports right now. If we can confirm it and have something for you on that, I’ll let you know, okay?

QUESTION: On Iran. On Iran again.

MS NAUERT: Hi, yes.

QUESTION: Hi, Heather. I’m Guita with Voice of America Persian service.

MS NAUERT: Oh, hi. Nice to meet you.

QUESTION: Nice to meet you as well. Going back to your statement on the sanctions on Iran, you said Iran needs to think about the consequences of its actions on its people. At the same time, in different – on different occasions and again on the – at the outset of this announcement of the renewal of the sanctions, the U.S. administration has said that it stands with the Iranian people who are demonstrating against the country’s mainly economic situation. How do you square these two? You’re saying Iran needs – the sanctions obviously impact the Iranian – the general population first and foremost, so how does the U.S. want to stand next --

MS NAUERT: I would say let’s keep the focus on where it belongs, and that is the Iranian regime. The reason people there are frustrated and have been increasingly frustrated over the years is because Iran has chosen to spend the money and resources and the hard work, efforts of its own people on destabilizing – excuse me – destabilizing the region. They spend it on foreign adventurism, they spend it on attacks in other countries, going into Syria, going into Iraq, you name it. That is all well documented and very well known, and they’re not giving the benefits of the labor back to their own people. And so I think people choosing to protest are expressing their concerns about the government.

We’d like to see a change in the behavior of the Iranian regime. We’re not ashamed to say that. We’d like to see a change in their behavior where they take care of their own people, they stop their human rights abuses, and they spend their money on their own people, not the foreign adventurism and not terrorism around the globe.

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

QUESTION: How do you – how does the administration intend to support the Iranian people?

MS NAUERT: Well, I think one of the ways that we can do it is by giving voice to their concerns and by highlighting concerns that we have about the Iranian regime, and we’re doing – we are doing just that. Secretary Pompeo has spoken extensively about this issue and by supporting the Iranian people, letting them know that we stand with you.

QUESTION: On --

QUESTION: When you say – when you say --

MS NAUERT: Go ahead, Said.

QUESTION: -- “change their behavior” --

MS NAUERT: Yeah.

QUESTION: -- you’re talking about a fundamental change in policy – I mean, not some sort of behavioral therapy, right?

MS NAUERT: Well, we’d like to see them --

QUESTION: So you’re expecting --

MS NAUERT: -- see them stop terror attacks, that’s for sure.

QUESTION: You’re – yeah.

MS NAUERT: We – I don’t think that’s too much to ask.

QUESTION: That is a fundamental change in almost all of their policies, not just one particular area, correct? And that includes the 12 points that the Secretary of State outlined a couple months ago?

MS NAUERT: That would be correct.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MS NAUERT: We’ve not changed our policy in that regard.

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

QUESTION: Heather. Heather.

MS NAUERT: Yeah. Hi.

QUESTION: Iran again.

QUESTION: If the administration wants to hold them accountable for this whole comprehensive range of bad behaviors, how can you really get them to stop sponsoring terrorism around the region through financial sanctions alone?

MS NAUERT: Yeah, I think financial sanctions lead to that because we know that the government doesn’t spend its money on its own people. It’s not spending its money on health care, on services that we enjoy and so many other nations – free nations enjoy. They’re not spending their money there. We know that they are spending that money on terror attacks. We know that they’re spending their money on bombs and launching weapons against other countries. We know that that’s where they’re spending their money. And so the United States, in choosing to impose these sanctions, is taking that effort. We would certainly much rather use sanctions than – in this instance than use other resources or assets, and we think that this is a good way forward.

QUESTION: Quick follow-up: Has State been talking at all to DOD about --

MS NAUERT: Has what?

QUESTION: Has State been talking at all to DOD about the possibility of any kind of military action required?

MS NAUERT: That would be a DOD question, but we do diplomacy here. But I can tell you the Secretary speaks regularly with his counterpart over at DOD.

And we’re going to have to wrap it up in just a couple minutes.

QUESTION: Heather, just a couple more on Iran.

MS NAUERT: Hey. How are you doing?

QUESTION: On Iran, you’re basically saying to the country change your entire foreign policy and we’ll talk to you if you agree to change everything that you --

MS NAUERT: I would think that we should ask another country to stop attacking other nations and to stop fomenting terror. That’s one of the things that the United States Government does. We’re not alone in asking them to do that. I think that’s important to take that stand and not back away from that.

QUESTION: How do you square that with the stance of Saudi Arabia and the UAE and Yemen?

MS NAUERT: Well, you don’t see – I’m sorry, what are you – what do you mean by that?

QUESTION: Well, you’re just saying that you don’t have any problem telling a country how to conduct its foreign policy --

MS NAUERT: Yeah, yeah.

QUESTION: -- but you’re siding with Saudi and Yemen.

MS NAUERT: We have concerns about what the Houthi rebels have been doing for quite some time. That is well documented. They have been terrible and conducted many, many attacks against their own – against the people of Yemen. We’ve seen what has happened at the port there, the Hodeidah Port, and the inability to have a good free flow of goods coming in, and Saudi Arabia certainly has a right to try to take out some of those bad actors. That’s something that they have a right to do and we support that.

Okay, and I’m going to have to wrap it up, so final question.

QUESTION: One more?

MS NAUERT: Hi, ma’am. What is your name?

QUESTION: Hello. My name is Sylvie Lanteaume from AFP.

MS NAUERT: Okay, welcome.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MS NAUERT: Lot of new faces here.

QUESTION: There is another anniversary today. Ten years ago, Russia invaded some parts of Georgia, and I wanted to know if you have a comment on that.

MS NAUERT: Yeah. I believe that the NSC put out a statement on that very anniversary today, or the White House did. Our position on the Russian-occupied Georgia regions of Abkhazia and also South Ossetia is unwavering; that remains unwavering today. The regions are part of Georgia, they are not part of Russia, and the United States continues to support Georgia’s sovereignty, its independence, and also its territorial integrity within the internationally recognized borders. This is a policy that has not changed. I’m glad you asked about it because it gives us the opportunity to state this once again, that the United States urges Russia to withdraw its forces to the pre-invasion war positions, per the 19 – excuse me, per the 2008 ceasefire agreement. Okay.

QUESTION: And if I can follow up?

MS NAUERT: Yeah.

QUESTION: Would the U.S. support Georgia to join NATO?

MS NAUERT: Well, that’s something that – NATO took a decision about that at the Bucharest summit, I believe it was, back in 2008 that Georgia will become a member of NATO. I know there’s certain things that have to be done. I don’t have any additional details on that, but my understanding is that is in train right now.

QUESTION: Did this come up in Helsinki? Did the President raise this issue with Vladimir Putin?

MS NAUERT: I am not sure; I can’t speak to that. I’d have to refer you to the White House on that. Okay.

QUESTION: No one knows.

QUESTION: Heather, do you have anything on a critically ill political prisoner in Bahrain named Hassan Mshaima?

MS NAUERT: I do not, but I can certainly look into that and see if I can get --

QUESTION: Can you? Thank you.

MS NAUERT: And see if I can get that for you. Okay, everybody. Thanks a lot. We’ll see you real soon.

(The briefing was concluded at 3:13 p.m.)

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Department Press Briefings : Department Press Briefing - July 31, 2018

Heather Nauert





Spokesperson


Department Press Briefing





Washington, DC





July 31, 2018











Index for Today's Briefing

DEPARTMENT



TAJIKISTAN



DEPARTMENT



IRAN



TURKEY



MIDDLE EAST PEACE



EGYPT



DPRK/REGION



CAMBODIA


TRANSCRIPT:

3:44 p.m. EDT

MS NAUERT: Hi, everybody. How are you? Nice to see you all.

A couple brief announcements to start out, before we take your questions. The first, I want to say that we’re excited that last week, the 2018 International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, also known as PEPFAR, announced several African countries are now on pace to reach HIV epidemic control by the year 2020 with U.S. Government support. It’s a remarkable achievement, given how AIDS and PEPFAR has been devastating to so many communities around the world. HIV and AIDS was devastating Africa just 15 years ago when the PEPFAR program began. PEPFAR --

QUESTION: I think you might want to go back. I think you just misspoke. AIDS has been devastating, not PEPFAR.

QUESTION: Not PEPFAR.

MS NAUERT: Obviously, yes. That is what I would mean.

QUESTION: Okay. Just sorry.

MS NAUERT: PEPFAR also joins Sir Elton John, the Duke of Sussex, and other partners to launch the $1.2 billion MenStar Coalition, which will expand the diagnosis and treatment of HIV infections in men, particularly in Africa. Pending congressional approval, PEPFAR plans to contribute more than $800 million towards MenStar’s goals in the next year and reach an additional one million men with lifesaving HIV treatment. Pending final congressional approval, PEPFAR also announced $360 million in planned investments for key populations over the next 12 months, which will expand their access to quality, lifesaving HIV services.

Thanks to the generosity of the American people, the United States is proud to remain the largest donor to the global HIV/AIDS efforts in the world. Our leadership and investments have not only helped change the course of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, but also ensured HIV programs are having the greatest possible impact with every dollar.

I’d be happy – if any of you are interested in further information on this, I’d be happy to connect you with some of colleagues who’ve been working on this on a daily basis and for years.

Next, I’d like to build on Secretary Pompeo’s closing remarks at the international religious freedom and interfaith dialogue that took place here at the State Department. He announced that he would deliver several exchange programs to help promote religious freedom at the people-to-people and civil society level. In addition to the International Visitor Leadership Program that was announced by the Secretary, our Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs will be implementing several initiatives around religious freedom, including a two-way professional exchange fellows program, bringing foreign participants into the United States and sending Americans abroad on religious freedom issues. This will include 20 foreigners coming to the United States and seven American midlevel professionals, who will be nominated by State Department staff, and they will be heading overseas. There will also be a second professional fellows program, which will include participants from Central Europe, Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia.

Our Study of the U.S. Institutes for Student Leaders and scholarship academics program will focus on religious pluralism in the United States. Thirty-eight students and scholars from around the world will explore U.S. history, society, and institutions within the context of religious pluralism and interfaith dialogue next summer, basically seeing how we all happen to live together and cooperate with one another.

We’d also like to mention that we are funding a program to conserve cultural heritage sites of minority communities in northern Iraq. The sites were targeted for destruction by ISIS and other terror groups. The funding will come through our Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation.

And happy to update you on all of these deliverables from the ministerial as we get more information on all of them. With that, I’d be happy to take your questions.

QUESTION: Can I just – before we get to kind of the news of the day or the news of this morning, I just wanted to find out from you if you had any additional details about this incident with a cyclist in Tajikistan. Because there seems to be conflicting claims or conflicting accounts of who was responsible. ISIS has taken responsibility; I believe the Tajiks have blamed at least one, if not two other groups. Do you guys know anything and – beyond what has – what the embassy has --

MS NAUERT: Well, we’ve certainly seen the reports that ISIS has taken responsibility for the attack in which two Americans died. And while we’re talking about this, we’d like to express our deepest condolences to the families of those Americans and those others who were senselessly killed in Tajikistan. We cannot confirm who was responsible for that attack at this time. The U.S. Government is providing its assistance to the Government of Tajikistan as they spearhead this investigation, and we’ll provide more information as we get it.

QUESTION: Do you know – does that include FBI people going or --

MS NAUERT: I can’t confirm any of that. I’d have to refer you to the FBI.

QUESTION: Okay. And then if no one else has a question on this, I just want to shift --

QUESTION: I had a follow-up.

MS NAUERT: Okay. Hi.

QUESTION: I mean, is Tajikistan cooperating with you on this investigation? And also what advice are you giving to American travelers now?

MS NAUERT: Yeah. So they are cooperating with the State Department. The State Department has offered its help, as have our colleagues at our embassy that are stationed there. The embassy has not issued any additional security alerts after this event. We encourage U.S. citizens though to, please, maintain awareness of their surroundings, to take the precautions that are all recommended. We put out a security message on July the 30th, so you could certainly take a look at that. And I will always make my plug for this: We encourage all U.S. citizens, as they travel overseas, to enroll in our STEP program. That enables the State Department and government officials to reach you if we should need to in the case of an emergency.

QUESTION: So then off the subject, I just wanted to ask you briefly – I’m sure other people will have more questions about it – about these 3D printer guns.

MS NAUERT: Sure.

QUESTION: The President tweeted this --

MS NAUERT: Which, by the way, before we get to that, we have a new person here who’s covering the State Department: Courtney from The Wall Street Journal. Is she here today? Hi, Courtney.

QUESTION: Hi.

MS NAUERT: I just want to welcome you on board.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MS NAUERT: Courtney McBride. Have you all met Courtney yet? No. Okay. Well, she’s here, and you’ll be working with Jessica Donati?

QUESTION: That’s right.

MS NAUERT: Right? Okay. Holler if you need anything.

All right, Matt. Go ahead.

QUESTION: Okay. That was a – (laughter) – I forgot where I – oh, guns, right.

MS NAUERT: Yes.

QUESTION: The 3D printed guns. So the President tweeted this morning that he is going to look into this. I understand that this is not really the State Department’s issue, or won’t be soon the State Department’s issue anymore, but given the amount of public opposition to this and the amount of concern on Capitol Hill that’s been raised, is the Secretary planning to do anything to stop these downloads from becoming available, as they would at 12:01?

MS NAUERT: Sure. Let’s back up a little bit and talk about the issue, because I think there’s a lot of misinformation and a lot of misunderstanding about this issue. You turn on cable news, and this is – seems to be the lead story on pretty much every channel, every network out there. I think we need to put some things in perspective. This is obviously a heated situation; a lot of people have interest in this story.

A lot of people have been ignoring this fact for quite some time since this story began: At least since the year 2013, these CAD files, these computer-assisted design files, have been available online; they’ve been legal for U.S. citizens to actually download these CAD designs for quite some time now. They’ve been able to get these designs and print out these 3D guns in the United States. The reason that the State Department got involved, our only equity in this, is because of our role in controlling foreign access to U.S. defense technology. In simpler words, the State Department wants to prevent the wrong people from acquiring weapons overseas. That is the State Department’s equity in this.

This has obviously gone through a legal process. The Department of Justice was advising the State Department on this entire legal matter. The Department of Justice suggested that the State Department and the U.S. Government settle this case, and so that is what was done. We were informed that we would’ve lost this case in court, or would have likely lost this case in court based on First Amendment grounds. We took the advice of the Department of Justice, and here we are right now.

I think ultimately what this gets down to is a domestic case where it’s a domestic gun control issue that needs to be addressed not just by Congress but also by law enforcement. And so I imagine there will be many conversations held here at the federal level, to have conversations about the next steps that should happen now. Obviously, you know there are pending lawsuits as a result of this, so we’re not going to be able to say a whole lot more on this. Department of Justice certainly has a piece.

QUESTION: Right, okay. But my – all that is welcome information to have heard. But my question was: Is the Secretary going to do anything? Because it is within his power, until this authority gets shifted to the Commerce Department, to do something to prevent these downloads from becoming available. And then --

MS NAUERT: Matt, let me say that these have been available for several years now, more than several years now. Pardon me.

QUESTION: Okay. So the uproar --

MS NAUERT: And so they have been available not just from this one website, but many websites. I’m not defending that at all, but I want folks to know this is not something that has only recently become available, and it is – in fact, whether people like it or not, it is legal for American citizens to download this information.

QUESTION: So you’re saying --

MS NAUERT: And so that’s why I go back and say that this is a domestic gun control issue that certainly needs to be addressed, and that’s a conversation that perhaps we should have in this country.

QUESTION: So you’re – the uproar, the hullaballoo that happens is unwarranted in this building’s opinion?

MS NAUERT: I think it would be wise for news organizations and people having conversations about this to be aware that at least since the year 2013 these have been available.

QUESTION: Okay.

MS NAUERT: These computer-assisted designs for making these 3D guns have been available online for several years.

QUESTION: Last one from me on this. You said that one of the reasons the State Department got involved – the equity, the State Department equity – was to make sure that the wrong – you wanted to prevent the wrong people from acquiring weapons overseas.

MS NAUERT: Overseas, yes.

QUESTION: So that does not apply – I realize it’s not the State Department’s remit, but wouldn’t the federal government, of which the State Department is an agency, want to prevent the wrong people from acquiring guns domestically as well?

MS NAUERT: That is not – I would imagine so, Matt, but you know that that’s not in the State’s Department lane to comment on those domestic issues.

Okay, anything else on this? Okay, let’s move on.

QUESTION: A follow-up on Iran.

MS NAUERT: Hi, Lesley.

QUESTION: Or not a follow-up. Can we start a string on it? So the President said yesterday he would be willing, if they are – the Iranians are willing to have talks with no preconditions. A few hours later, the Secretary went out on CNBC and basically said they are – there would be conditions. Does this mean that the Secretary disagrees with what the President said?

MS NAUERT: No, and I’d – I’m glad you asked me that question because I’d like to clarify this, and I would encourage everybody to go back and read the transcript. This is another example where – on basically every television channel, you look at the television channel and they’re trying to claim that there’s a split between the State House and the White Department on this – on the White House, the White House – and the White House on this very issue.

Okay, and so I’m going to read from the transcript so you all can hear right here exactly what was said:

“QUESTION: The President…said he would meet with the president of Iran with no preconditions. Are you onboard with that? Is that a good idea?”

“SECRETARY POMPEO: I am indeed. We have said this before. We – the President wants to meet – the President wants to meet with folks to solve problems.”

Both the Secretary and the President have addressed this numerous times that we would be willing to sit down with Iran and have conversations about the future of that country. This is nothing new. The State Department has said this, and the White House has said this.

QUESTION: So the Secretary –

QUESTION: So far your main message today seems to be don’t watch television news. (Laugher.)

MS NAUERT: Yeah, there are two key stories where people are misinterpreting things and not reading the fine print.

QUESTION: This is your former profession.

MS NAUERT: And not reading the fine print. Yes, I know, it is.

QUESTION: But he says that he is --

QUESTION: Yeah, but he said more than that.

QUESTION: He said more than that.

MS NAUERT: He did – he did say more than that. He did say more than that.

QUESTION: And then – and then he finished it by saying --

MS NAUERT: But what is important is that we would be willing to sit down and have these conversations. Secretary Pompeo addressed this when he was in California about a week and a half ago at his meeting over at the Reagan Library, as well as the President. The President has said this too.

QUESTION: Wait --

QUESTION: Heather, part of his --

MS NAUERT: Go ahead.

QUESTION: Part of his response, though, he said if they would treat their own people with respect, reduce their foreign malign behavior, and enter – or discussions that would prevent their proliferation. And then he finished it by saying, “Then we’d be prepared to sit down.” So those seemed like conditions, “then we’d be prepared to sit down.” Or is it no conditions, he agrees with the President?

MS NAUERT: I think the President and the Secretary of State both said that we would be prepared to sit down. Would we like a change – change in Iranian behavior? Absolutely, and that’s why you heard the Secretary speak so forcefully about the types of changes in Iranian behavior that the United States Government and many other countries around the world would like to see. We hope that behavior will change. Certainly, the people of Iran hope that that behavior will change so that they can have a better future themselves.

QUESTION: But he’d be willing to talk first before those changes?

MS NAUERT: The President said that, and the Secretary have both said that.

QUESTION: Okay, can I just --

QUESTION: So --

MS NAUERT: Hi, Michelle. Go right ahead.

QUESTION: Can I – can I just follow up on my question first?

MS NAUERT: Okay.

QUESTION: Because I’m trying to get through. Is that – so if he agrees that this is the case, has there been any outreach to the Iranians or from the Iranians to try to engage in talks?

MS NAUERT: Not that I’m aware of. Not that I – I don’t have any calls, I don’t have any meetings or schedules to announce at this point. Okay?

QUESTION: Okay, so it is at --

MS NAUERT: Hi, Michelle.

QUESTION: Hi. Even though the Secretary has said what he said, obviously there’s enough vagueness there because he seemed to be saying two things at the same time. I mean, that’s why there’s been confusion and there continues to be questions. So hopefully you understand, he says yes, I’d be willing to do that, and then he seems to list preconditions. So from what you said just now, is it accurate to say that the U.S. would be willing to sit down with Iran without preconditions?

MS NAUERT: The Secretary said this yesterday, as did the President. I’d refer you back to the White House for any additional clarification from the President, but I think both have been clear that we would be willing to sit down for that reason. And part of that is, what does the State Department --

QUESTION: Without preconditions?

MS NAUERT: What does the State Department do? The State Department does diplomacy. Diplomacy is always our preferred approach. That is what we do here, and that is what the Secretary does here in serving this administration.

QUESTION: So this is without preconditions then, right?

MS NAUERT: I think I answered that question. The Secretary answered that yesterday.

QUESTION: Okay, I’m just making sure.

MS NAUERT: The President answered that last night.

QUESTION: But you won’t just say it, and I don’t know why.

MS NAUERT: The Secretary answered that yesterday, and the President answered that yesterday as well.

QUESTION: But the Secretary said yes in response to preconditions, but then he went on to list what sounded like very tough preconditions.

MS NAUERT: Those are all the things that we are asking the Iranian regime to do.

QUESTION: Right, right.

MS NAUERT: We hope that this country, that that regime, will lead to a better life, will change its policies so that its people can live a better life.

QUESTION: So the --

MS NAUERT: We hope that they will be willing to do things, and it’s not just the United States asking.

QUESTION: Right. Well, why can’t you just say yes or no?

MS NAUERT: It’s not just the United States asking for that. It’s many countries around the world asking for that as well.

QUESTION: Right. But why can’t you just answer yes or no? Is Pompeo also willing to sit down with Iran without preconditions?

MS NAUERT: Michelle, I think I answered that question for you. The Secretary said that yesterday.

QUESTION: Okay. So it’s accurate --

MS NAUERT: The President said that yesterday as well.

QUESTION: So it’s accurate to say without preconditions then?

MS NAUERT: The Secretary said that yesterday.

QUESTION: Why can’t you say yes?

MS NAUERT: The Secretary said that yesterday, and the President said that yesterday. I don’t know how you’re not hearing that, okay?

QUESTION: I just don’t understand why you answer this way.

MS NAUERT: I’ll move on. Laurie, go right ahead.

QUESTION: Yeah. Well, I have one question. Are you discouraged by the fact that the Iranians have said you have to return to the – they’ve rejected you? They said you’ve got to return to the (inaudible) ---

MS NAUERT: No, not in the least. Not in the least. They are certainly entitled to do that.

QUESTION: Okay. Then my question --

MS NAUERT: We prefer diplomacy. They prefer to export their malign behavior around the world, as we have seen them do for many, many decades. We prefer a diplomatic approach.

QUESTION: I can understand that. I have two questions, one on Turkey. Turkey has failed to release Pastor Brunson, and you’ve complained very strongly, and there are other issues involving Turkey, like its plans to purchase the S-400. Are sanctions a real possibility if these matters are not resolved?

MS NAUERT: Well, certainly the Vice President addressed that just a few days ago where he talked about the very real risk of sanctions for the Government of Turkey. That is something that the United States Government has had numerous conversations with the Government of Turkey about. In terms of precise sanctions or forecasting exact sanctions, that I’m not going to be able to do. We would certainly like Pastor Brunson to be sent home now. It’s long overdue. It’s been a long time coming. He is innocent. We have – continue to have concerns about his longstanding detainment in Turkey. A step in the right direction certainly that he is under house arrest, but that’s certainly not far enough. We’d like him to be brought home.

QUESTION: Okay. And on Syria --

MS NAUERT: Let’s stay. Anything else on Turkey before we get back to Syria? Do you have – go ahead. Anybody else have anything on Turkey?

QUESTION: Yeah, on Turkey.

MS NAUERT: Okay. Hi.

QUESTION: So Heather, do you share the same optimism from Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Freedom Brownback said the other day that he’s confident and there’s a real prospect for Pastor Brunson to come home soon?

MS NAUERT: I’m not going to – it’s a very sensitive matter. We would like Pastor Brunson to be brought home very soon. We’ve having conversations with the government. As you all know, Secretary Pompeo spoke with his counterpart over the weekend to continue the conversations about Pastor Brunson. I’m not going to say a whole lot because we want – it’s obviously a sensitive matter.

Okay, anything else on Turkey?

QUESTION: I do.

MS NAUERT: Okay. Hi.

QUESTION: The court’s decision today to make – to keep the pastor under house arrest, does that complicate the situation for you in trying to get him released?

MS NAUERT: Again, it’s an ongoing conversation.

Okay, anything else on Turkey?

QUESTION: Yeah, just one thing because this is a question that’s come up numerous times. Does the United States believe that the court – that the judicial system in Turkey is independent of the executive?

MS NAUERT: The – yeah.

QUESTION: You make these appeals or these demands of President Erdogan and of his administration, of his government, and yet their response is, well, our hands are tied because it’s the court’s decision and the courts in Turkey are independent.

MS NAUERT: Yeah. Matt, as I’m sure you can appreciate --

QUESTION: And so continuing --

MS NAUERT: As I’m sure you can appreciate, we’d like to bring our guy home.

QUESTION: Okay. But continuing to make this call and demand --

MS NAUERT: We would also like to bring home the three locally employed staff who have also been detained, which, by the way, I want to point out to all of you – we’ve spoken about our locally employed staff who’ve been detained in Turkey for far too long as well. There was a piece in a local newspaper here that claimed that the State Department had not been advocating for their release. I want to let you all know that that is flat-out untrue, that we’ve had lots of engagements with our – with Turkish counterparts about getting our locally employed staff out of prison as well, despite what you may have read in the papers. I just wanted to make that clear while we were talking about this.

QUESTION: Right, understood. But when you continue to make demands of the Turkish executive branch and then threaten sanctions and say that if they’re not released, that suggests that you don’t believe that the Turkish courts are independent.

MS NAUERT: I’m sure you can imagine we would like to bring our people home and get our people out of jail. I will be limited in terms of what I can say about the situation there. It is obviously very delicate.

Hi, Said.

QUESTION: Thank you, Heather. And on the Palestinian-Israeli issue, are you concerned that UNRWA schools may not be able to open come the new school season?

MS NAUERT: I’m sorry, what’s the question?

QUESTION: UNRWA. The UNRWA schools may not be able to open next month as scheduled, and hundreds, maybe thousands, maybe tens of thousands of kids not being able to go to school, and clinics not opened and so on, because of the withheld funds – withheld American funds.

MS NAUERT: Look, United States remains still among the if not the --

QUESTION: I understand.

MS NAUERT: -- largest contributor to UNRWA. Back in January, it wasn’t that long ago that we announced $60 million to UNRWA. As you all know, the funding decision has not been finalized for the remainder of this year. We have very often expressed our concerns about the structure and the funding – the funding streams that go into UNRWA. In terms of what is happening with the beginning of the school year, I’m afraid I’ve just – it’s not something I’ve been extremely focused on.

QUESTION: But you cannot compare – you cannot compare the United States to any other country. I mean, the U.S. is big and large and powerful and wealthy and has been in the forefront of giving aid to Palestinian refugees. I mean, that would dramatically cut on their ability to access education, health care --

MS NAUERT: Well, Said, I would just go back and remind you that the United States Government, the taxpayers here in the United States, have provided $60 million to UNRWA not only to sustain schools, but also to health services related to UNRWA. Other countries are now involved in the burden sharing and that is something that we certainly support and applaud them for doing that.

QUESTION: A follow-up, Heather?

QUESTION: Two more quick ones on this issue --

MS NAUERT: Yeah, uh-huh, and then I’ll move on to Barbara.

QUESTION: -- on the issue of the refugees.

MS NAUERT: Yeah.

QUESTION: There’s also an effort on Capitol Hill to basically designate – or not designate – determine, decide, whatever they call it, that there are only 30,000 or 40,000 Palestinian refugees and not the 5 million. Are you aware of this? Because they are basing this on some sort of a report done or edited or whatever by the State Department. Are you aware of that?

MS NAUERT: I’m not familiar with what Congress is looking into or some of the legislation that they may be proposing. I’d just have to look into that for you.

QUESTION: And lastly – I promise – the Israelis sentenced --

MS NAUERT: That’s what you said last time. (Laughter.)

QUESTION: Yeah, well, I didn’t say last – but this time, the last question: The Israelis sentenced a Palestinian Israeli poet, 36-year-old woman, to five months in prison for writing a poem that says, “Resist, my people resist.” There are 150 literary American figures including Pulitzer Prize winners and so on called on Israel to release this Palestinian Israeli woman. Are you – would you do the same thing? Would you (inaudible) --

MS NAUERT: I could tell you I’m not aware of this particular case, but I think you know how we support free speech, just like having you here each and every day at the briefing, okay?

QUESTION: Speaking of --

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

QUESTION: Syria?

QUESTION: Just to follow up on UNRWA --

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

MS NAUERT: Okay, okay. Hold on. Hold on.

QUESTION: Heather, speaking of jailed poets --

MS NAUERT: Matt, hold on, hold on. We’ve done, like – hold on one second. Let me come back to you. Barbara, go right ahead.

QUESTION: Just to follow up on the UNRWA question --

MS NAUERT: Yes.

QUESTION: -- you’re probably aware of this letter from 70 members of Congress to Mr. Pompeo asking that the funding be restored to UNRWA and to USAID. Also there was a letter at the beginning of the month from the seven former ambassadors, the letter in May from the 13 senators, and all of them are saying it’s not just a humanitarian crisis; it’s a security one, a security issue for Israel and Jordan. So can – is there any plan to – I mean, what’s the holdup with the restoring the funds? What’s the reform that needs to happen? And is there any sort of urgency around it given the concerns that are expressed and the fact that UNRWA seems to be in meltdown at the moment with the layoffs and the protests?

MS NAUERT: Yeah. So, I mean, I can tell you no decision has been made about the possible additional U.S. funding for UNRWA. That is still something that – that final decision has not been made at this point yet. I mean, we don’t comment as a general matter on the Secretary’s correspondence, if it’s coming from the Hill or elsewhere.

And your last question was?

QUESTION: Well, I just wanted to know what more had to be done, like what reform was it?

MS NAUERT: Well, financial reforms.

QUESTION: Yeah.

MS NAUERT: Because every year around this time – and I will repeat it once again – UNRWA needs emergency funding. And so we think that they need a more stable source of revenue than just relying on the United States and they need to make reforms. We’ve talked about this a lot. This is something the United Nations has covered --

QUESTION: And do you see the --

MS NAUERT: -- the United Nations has covered this extensively as well, so that they aren’t in a position where every year around the same time they have to do emergency appeals. So they need to come up with more sources of revenue, more countries paying in and contributing to this program.

QUESTION: And there have been more countries --

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

QUESTION: -- paying in, but still it seems that the situation is pretty dire – at least, as you know, the protests this week. So that hasn’t – there’s not a reconsideration or an urgency about it?

MS NAUERT: Barbara, I can tell you that we certainly condemn the attempted violence on UNRWA officials, against UNRWA staff members, and the threats of violence on – that is something that we’re following very closely. But UNRWA’s financial situation has been untenable for a very long time. We are paying close attention to this and we’ll keep monitoring as it goes on, but --

QUESTION: Heather, just on the aid – the issue of aid and jailed poets, last week you guys freed up some aid after an extended review for Egypt, quite a bit of aid, despite the fact that there are still very serious human rights concerns about the situation in Egypt. Shortly after the aid was freed up, they sentenced a bunch of people to death for taking part in a protest. Today they’ve jailed a poet for three years for exercising freedom of speech. So I’m just wondering, one, if you have anything to say about these two things, your releasing of the aid and then these continuing incidents which I presume but don’t know that you would condemn.

MS NAUERT: That’s the question?

QUESTION: Yeah. What’s your response to that? And then --

MS NAUERT: Okay. I didn’t hear a – I didn’t --

QUESTION: Sorry.

MS NAUERT: There wasn’t a question mark at the end of that. Matt, this is a matter that we take seriously, whether it’s freedom of speech or a government detaining individuals. These are the types of conversations that sometimes we have publicly about other governments, and many times we have those conversations in private. Sometimes those conversations are done privately because we find it to be more effective to have conversations one-on-one instead of broadcasting them through the press. I will check in with our Egypt desk, my colleagues on the desk that handles Egypt, and see if I have anything more for you on that.

QUESTION: Well, can you say how effective you think your private conversations have been since the – since they’d sentenced dozens of people to death shortly after the aid --

MS NAUERT: Matt, I will look in to see if I can find additional information for you on that.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MS NAUERT: Hi, Conor.

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

QUESTION: North Korea.

MS NAUERT: Yeah.

QUESTION: Syria.

QUESTION: North Korea.

MS NAUERT: Go ahead.

QUESTION: There was a report in The Washington Post last night that North Korea is moving ahead on production of intercontinental ballistic missiles, but that’s also been confirmed through some satellite images showing this site is still active. I wonder if you had any reaction to that, but specifically, do you believe that them continuing to build the ICBMs would violate the joint declaration from Singapore?

MS NAUERT: Yeah. What we’re going on is the commitment that Chairman Kim made to our President, and that is the commitment to denuclearize, and that is something that we certainly anticipate, that he will hold up his end of the bargain and his commitment on that. In terms of that specific report, I’ve seen it. We’re all very well aware of that report. That would fall under an intelligence matter, which is just something I’m not going to be able to get into.

While we’re talking about North Korea, I’d like to highlight something that’s taking place tomorrow, and tomorrow will be the repatriation ceremony for the remains of fallen U.S. service members from many years ago. That’ll take place I think about a few hours from now at Osan Air Base, and the State Department will be represented there and we’re looking forward to being a part of that. While we are on this topic of conversation, I would just like to reiterate once again that we owe a profound debt of gratitude to those American service members who gave their lives in service to their country so long ago. We are working diligently to bring them home. Their sacrifices and their lives have not been forgotten and we’re pleased to be able to have representation at that.

We see that as Chairman Kim fulfilling part of the commitment that he made to the President to return the remains of our fallen service members. That’s a commitment that he made at the Singapore summit, and so I just wanted to mention that as well.

I’d also like to highlight something that did not get reported, and the fact is that the United States Government did not pay for the repatriation of those remains. There was a lot of speculation; there was some misreporting that the U.S. Government was paying for those remains. I just want to make it clear here that North Korea did not ask for any money nor did we offer any money for the remains of those fallen Americans.

QUESTION: Can I follow up on that?

MS NAUERT: Okay.

QUESTION: Can I follow up on that?

QUESTION: Can I follow up also?

MS NAUERT: Sure, go right ahead.

QUESTION: So in the past, it’s been proven that the remains were not actually the remains that they said they were. How do we know that these are the remains that they say they are?

MS NAUERT: Yeah, a good question and a fair question. We certainly hope that they are. There is a lot of work that has left to be done on that front. The Vice President will be a part of the ceremony, and I don’t want to get ahead of the Vice President on this, certainly, but he’ll be a part of the ceremony or the events when those remains are brought to Hawaii, and that’s where we have the top forensics investigators who will be looking into this. That will be their job. That will be in the DOD lane, so they can best comment on that, but we certainly hope that they are what Chairman Kim and the North Korean Government presented them to be.

QUESTION: So you’ll have forensic investigators on site at the repatriation ceremony?

MS NAUERT: I can’t say that at all --

QUESTION: Okay.

MS NAUERT: -- because that would be really a DOD matter. There will be DOD representatives available tomorrow at Osan Air Base who will be taking – taking that – part in that.

QUESTION: So they’ll be taking part in it. Okay. Thank you.

MS NAUERT: Yeah. I can only cover the State Department of it, okay?

Okay, a couple more questions, then we’ve got to wrap. Hi, Nick.

QUESTION: Just following up on this morning’s call with a senior State Department official who did not rule out the possibility of a meeting with Secretary Pompeo’s North Korean counterpart, is he seeking a meeting with the North Korean --

MS NAUERT: I can tell you as we go to ASEAN – and we leave tomorrow, as you know – North Korea will be a participant at the ASEAN meetings. They have been for many years now. We will be in some of the same meetings as North Korean Government officials. I certainly can’t preclude any interaction taking place, but we have no meetings on the schedule; nothing is planned.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) But is he seeking a meeting?

MS NAUERT: I have not asked that question. That’s the information that I have to give to you right now. Okay?

QUESTION: Syria?

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

MS NAUERT: Okay. Okay, hold on.

QUESTION: Despite – despite the progress --

MS NAUERT: Go ahead.

QUESTION: -- that was made on repatriation of remains, when was the last time you would say that there was progress in discussions on denuclearization?

MS NAUERT: We continue to have conversations with the North Korean Government frequently and we’re – we keep pushing ahead.

QUESTION: Syria?

QUESTION: Well, is there still progress?

MS NAUERT: I’m not giving you a readout of every single meeting. As you know, our conversations and our consultations continue at the working level and in the government.

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

QUESTION: North Korea? North Korea?

MS NAUERT: Hi, Janne. And then we’re going to have to go.

QUESTION: Yeah, on North Korea, two days ago North Korea say that it would not denuclearize unless sanctions were completely lifted.

MS NAUERT: Yeah, not happening. Not happening. Our sanctions remain in place; they remain firmly in place. As the Secretary goes to ASEAN, he will certainly have conversations with his counterparts from other governments about the importance of maintaining those sanctions and keeping sanctions in place. That is in large part what brought Kim Jong-un to the table, those sanctions that have been tough on the North Korean Government. Certainly more needs to be done. Countries that have agreed to the UN Security Council resolutions and agreed to those sanctions need to make sure that they are fully enforcing those sanctions. There’s still work left to be done.

QUESTION: The U.S. --

MS NAUERT: Okay, guys, I’ve got to wrap. But – okay, very last thing. Yeah, go right ahead.

QUESTION: Yeah. Cambodia. Do you have anything on the election over the weekend? And as the country is heading toward a one-party state, do you have – how concerned is the United States over the arbitrary detention of opposition leaders and activists?

MS NAUERT: This is something that we’ve been following closely for a long time. This is not something that just happened overnight in Cambodia. Remember six or eight months ago, when you and Matt and I were having the conversation about the crackdown on independent media in Cambodia, right. It was your first job as a newspaperman, Matt?

QUESTION: Not first. Close, but --

MS NAUERT: Back in the 1820s. (Laughter.) When Matt was reporting for – what is it, The Phnom Penh Post, is that right?

QUESTION: I was at The Cambodia Daily.

MS NAUERT: Cambodia Daily. At any – I just – but it is a serious situation, as we’ve seen how that government has made it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for news organizations to do their job. That certainly ties into the election that we just saw. Those elections were neither free, they certainly were not fair, and they did not represent the will of the Cambodian people. We have all seen stories about how people were strongly encouraged to vote. And how did they end up voting? Well, they ended up drawing in pictures or putting names that really weren’t on the ballot as a form of protest.

The entire thing is a serious setback to the democratic and economic progress that has been made in Cambodia. We call on the Government of Cambodia to take tangible actions to promote reconciliation by allowing media and civil society organizations to operate. They should also free political prisoners. There’s a lot of work that Cambodia has left to do. The White House just put a statement out on that, so for any additional information, I’d refer you over to the White House statement. Their statement was strong and good.

QUESTION: Syria?

MS NAUERT: I’ve got to leave it at that. I will look forward to seeing many of you on the trip. Looking forward to our press engagements with you and our meetings.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MS NAUERT: Thanks.

(The briefing was concluded at 4:18 p.m.)

DPB # 37

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Department Press Briefings : Department Press Briefing - July 24, 2018

Heather Nauert





Spokesperson


Department Press Briefing





Washington, DC





July 24, 2018











Index for Today's Briefing

DEPARTMENT



INDO-PACIFIC BUSINESS FORUM



NICARAGUA



MINISTERIAL TO ADVANCE RELIGIOUS FREEDOM



DEPARTMENT



RUSSIA



NORTH KOREA



DEPARTMENT



IRAN



ISRAEL/PALESTINIANS



IRAQ



AFGHANISTAN



CHINA



NORTH KOREA



RUSSIA



INDIA



DEPARTMENT



TURKEY


TRANSCRIPT:

3:10 p.m. EDT

MS NAUERT: Hi, everybody. How are you?

QUESTION: Wow, a briefing.

MS NAUERT: I’m sorry?

QUESTION: Wow, a briefing.

MS NAUERT: It’s good to be back with you. As you know, it always is good to be back with you. We’ve obviously had a very busy travel schedule lately, Michelle. We look forward to having you on the trip. (Laughter.)

So I’d like to start out with a few announcements. I wanted to begin by noting that the State Department welcomed our new assistant secretary for the Bureau of African Affairs yesterday, Ambassador Tibor Nagy is a retired Foreign Service officer who spent 32 years in government service, including more than 20 years in assignments across Africa. He served as the United States ambassador to Ethiopia and ambassador to Guinea. He also served as deputy chief of mission in Nigeria, Cameroon, and Togo. For the past 15 years, he’s served as vice provost for the international affairs at his alma mater, Texas Tech University, and we are thrilled to have him back here at the State Department. We’re excited to have him get to work. There’s a lot of good stuff going on there.

Next, I’d like to mention that on Monday, July the 30th, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce will host the Indo-Pacific Business Forum, including keynote remarks by Secretary Pompeo on America’s Indo-Pacific economic vision. The forum will outline the economic and commercial components of our Indo-Pacific strategy. The day-long program will include participation from senior administration officials, the private sector, and officials representing Indo-Pacific nations. The forum will highlight U.S. Government initiatives to advance economic engagement in the region, particularly on key sectors including energy and infrastructure and the digital economy. The forum will also emphasize the importance of public-private partnerships, the benefits of transparency and good governance, and unlocking the power of markets for sustainable development, and the need for U.S. collaboration with regional partners.

The program on July the 30th will also include Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, OPIC President Ray Washburne, Acting Ex-Im Bank Chairman Jeffrey Gerrish, and USAID Administrator Mark Green. We’ll have some additional information for you all on that soon.

Next, I’d like to talk about the deteriorating situation in Nicaragua. I know many of you are following that closely. The United States Government condemns the ongoing the violence and intimidation by the Ortega-controlled armed groups in Nicaragua. That includes the arbitrary arrests of 700 Nicaraguans who have opposed the Ortega government, as corroborated by multiple sources. We also condemn the cowardly attacks on the Catholic Church leadership, the buildings, and adherents there. Along with the deaths of hundreds of protesters, the attacks have been widely documented internationally and are completely unacceptable. The Nicaraguan Government cannot continue to its excuse its behavior and blame others for its actions or the actions of those affiliated with it. The United States continues to support church-led efforts to resolve the ongoing conflict in Nicaragua. We join the international community in calling for early, free, fair, transparent elections and the protection of universal human rights in Nicaragua.

That brings me to the next point, and that is something taking place here at the State Department today. I don’t know if any of you had a chance to talk with some people who’ve joined us here for the Secretary’s first-ever religious freedom ministerial that’s taking place today through Thursday of that – this week. Today, in fact, we’ve had many survivors of religious persecution join us here at the State Department. Among the other people who are here at the State Department today: a Catholic priest from Nicaragua. I understand some of you may be interested in trying to contact him later to talk about some of his experiences in that country. If anyone is interested in that, I’d be happy to help put you in touch with some folks who are working with him.

To that end, Secretary Pompeo and the United States will host the first-ever Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom here in Washington. That ministerial will bring together foreign ministers and representatives from international organizations, religious communities, and civil society from every region of the world. As the first such event with high-level global and diverse participation, the ministerial will reaffirm the international community’s commitment to religious freedom and identify concrete ways to advance shared goals. We look forward to that, and the Secretary will participate, as will the Vice President. Later this week, on Thursday, he will be here at the State Department.

QUESTION: Heather, just on that, do you have a list of the participants, the other foreign ministers who are coming? Or could --

MS NAUERT: I don’t have one handy, but I will see if I can make that available to you. We have – I believe it’s more than 80 delegations here taking part.

Okay. And with that, I’d be happy to take your questions.

QUESTION: Right. Thank you. Yesterday, there were some complaining from the people on the Hill about the Secretary not being able to testify before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. And today, the ranking members of three committees have sent a letter to Secretary Pompeo, Secretary Mattis, and DNI Coats in a – not really – not demanding, I guess, but strongly encouraging them to schedule testimony before their – the HFAC, the – and two other committees before Thursday at noon. Is that – the Secretary said this morning he’s looking forward to testifying tomorrow before the Senate.

MS NAUERT: Yes.

QUESTION: I realize he’s on a plane right now flying back. But is this something – I mean, they say it’s urgent for him to brief Congress about, in particular, the summit between President Putin and President Trump.

MS NAUERT: Look, I can tell you the Secretary would very much like to testify, as the House had invited him to do that, today. However, he’s returning from California, where he’s been with Secretary Mattis meeting with our important partner, the Australians, in San Francisco. Before that, as you know, he was in the Los Angeles area.

He has an extremely busy schedule. That does not mean that talking with members of Congress is not important to him, and that is why he will spend considerable time tomorrow briefing the Senate. Unfortunately, his schedule this week is extremely jammed. We have the religious ministerial in which he will be hosting many foreign ministers from around the country, and there’s simply not the time.

Now, perhaps if the Senate decides to stay in longer, perhaps there could be some time found on his schedule.

QUESTION: The House.

MS NAUERT: The House. Excuse me. But the Secretary has a good relationship with his counterparts, and I --

QUESTION: His former colleagues.

MS NAUERT: His former colleagues. Yes, exactly. And we’ve had good dialogue going back and forth, and I’m sorry just his schedule does not accommodate it tomorrow.

QUESTION: Okay. So basically – or not – they’re not saying tomorrow. They’re saying by noon on the 26th. So basically, if they want to hear from him in open testimony, they’re going to have to stay in Washington longer?

MS NAUERT: Matt, this is the way it goes with every cabinet secretary when the Hill tries to ask them to come testify. The secretaries, whether it’s the Secretary of State or the Secretary of the Defense, they have extremely packed schedules, and I’m sorry, it’s just not something that is – he’s going to be able to accommodate at this time. But that – no one should draw any conclusion that speaking with members of Congress is not important to the Secretary.

QUESTION: So on the substance of this, when he testifies tomorrow, is he going to be able to talk about the specifics of what was agreed to in Helsinki, if anything? Because frankly, it’s been – it’s been more than a week now. It’s been eight days and nobody seems to know, apart from this business council and the track two idea --

MS NAUERT: I guess my question to you is: Why would you want to get ahead of the senators? The senators will have plenty of questions for the Secretary about what took place at the ministerial, and he will – or at the conference.

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

MS NAUERT: And I’m sure he will answer those questions.

QUESTION: My entire goal in life is to get ahead of the Senate. (Laughter.)

MS NAUERT: Yeah, yeah.

QUESTION: That’s it.

MS NAUERT: He will be answering questions --

QUESTION: I have no other aspirations in life.

MS NAUERT: He will be answering questions tomorrow. And so I won’t get ahead of the Secretary, but I will let him take care – control that.

QUESTION: All right, fine. I won’t ask you to answer the questions that he will be asked tomorrow, but I just want to know: Is he going to be able to put some meat on the very – I don’t even know if they’re bones – fragments of --

MS NAUERT: I guess that is your opinion. The White House has talked about how the President has had full conversations with his foreign affairs counter – with colleagues who work with the President, including the Secretary and other cabinet officials. And I am sure there will be more coming.

QUESTION: So he will be able to provide details about --

MS NAUERT: I think the President has said and the White House has said that the President had full meetings with cabinet officials after his meeting in Helsinki. And I am not going to get ahead of the Secretary and his testimony on the Hill, but the White House has said that they’ve all been briefed.

Andrea, good morning.

QUESTION: Hi. Do you have any problem with the way Moscow has described the so-called agreements from Helsinki?

MS NAUERT: Which in particular are you referring to?

QUESTION: On Syria, for instance.

MS NAUERT: Can you be more specific? Which exactly? Because they’ve said a lot. Yes.

QUESTION: Well, I wish I could be, but I hesitate to take their word for anything.

MS NAUERT: Right.

QUESTION: So were there agreements on Syria that might involve disengagement in the situation on the ground?

MS NAUERT: So I will give you one example that we have seen reports about, and that is about refugees. And I’m not going to be able to comment on everything the Russian Government has said, but the Secretary addressed this on Friday, that there is some sort of proposal regarding refugees in Syria. That’s obviously a very serious situation. Our State Department policy continues to be and will not change: We support refugees going home under these conditions – safe, voluntary, dignified returns at the time of their choosing and when it is safe to do so. I don’t think the situation, as UNHCR backs up right now, allows for that at this time. Hopefully, someday people will be able to be – to head back home. There have been some parts of Syria where we have seen people slowly be able to return home, but in other parts of country that clearly is not safe.

So that’s one example that I can give you where --

QUESTION: I just wanted to ask you, sort of following up on other things that the Secretary will clearly be asked about tomorrow – the President said today that there had been progress on North Korea. Is he referring to public reports that there has been some signs of deconstruction of that missile launch site, or is there some other development on remains, or are there other developments that are being alluded to?

MS NAUERT: Yeah, I can’t speak for the President, so I can’t comment on that. But I can tell you we have --

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

MS NAUERT: I can tell you we have working-level meetings, working-level conversations continuing with the North Korean Government. There is certainly a lot of work left to be done. I can tell you our Deputy Assistant Secretary Mark Lambert is in – heading so Seoul, I believe it’s actually today, where he’ll be continuing his meetings with his counterparts. So again, a lot of work left to be done, but we look forward to continuing that work.

QUESTION: Which counterparts, if I may ask?

MS NAUERT: He’ll be meeting with the South Koreans and the Japanese.

QUESTION: Can I --

MS NAUERT: Hi, Barbara.

QUESTION: Heather, just to clarify, when you say they’re continuing working-level meetings, this is about the denuclearization agenda or is it about the remains?

MS NAUERT: I’m not going to get into the specifics, but we are continuing to have meetings. Okay.

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

QUESTION: Syria?

MS NAUERT: Lesley, go right ahead.

QUESTION: A question on – well, can I just follow-up on something on refugees? Yesterday, there was a letter sent to the Secretary --

MS NAUERT: Oh, I’m sorry. Let me go back to that for one second, regarding Mark Lambert’s meeting. He’ll also be meeting with the Chinese Government as well.

QUESTION: But not the North Koreans?

MS NAUERT: Nope. China, Tokyo, and Beijing. Excuse me.

QUESTION: No worries. Yesterday there was --

QUESTION: China, Tokyo, and Beijing. Wait. Are all his meetings in Seoul --

MS NAUERT: South --

QUESTION: -- or is he going to Tokyo, Seoul --

MS NAUERT: Seoul. All of his meetings are in Seoul. Pardon me.

QUESTION: So he’s not going to Beijing, he’s not going to – okay.

MS NAUERT: He’s not going to Beijing. He’s going --

QUESTION: All right. Thank you.

QUESTION: But he’s meeting --

QUESTION: I just have a follow-up.

MS NAUERT: I’m sorry. Let me back up. I’m sorry. I misstated this. Forgive me, please. It’s ---

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

MS NAUERT: It’s been a long few weeks, so bear with me.

QUESTION: He also went to Mongolia. (Laughter.)

MS NAUERT: Yes, let me clarify. Mark Lambert is going to Seoul, Tokyo, and Beijing, and that is where he will meet with his counterparts.

Okay. Lesley, go right ahead. Sorry about that.

QUESTION: All right. No worries. I just want to just follow-up quickly something on – there was a letter yesterday to the Secretary from 32 former ambassadors and national security people about the possible closure of PRM, the bureau. Did – can you confirm that he actually got that?

MS NAUERT: I cannot confirm that. As you know, the Secretary’s on an airplane. That is not a letter that I am familiar with the State Department having received. It doesn’t mean that we haven’t received it. I’m just not personally familiar with it.

As many of you know, OMB had included in a plan earlier this summer a review of our humanitarian assistance structures or systems here at the State Department in its reorganization report that it put forward. I can tell you nothing has been finalized on that. Part of what the Secretary’s job and role is to take a look at various programs here at the State Department and make sure they’re effective and efficient and the best use of taxpayer dollars and structured in the best way to adhere to our mission. So nothing has been changed. Nothing has changed. We’ve not made any kind of decisions, but this is something that the Secretary’s certainly aware of.

QUESTION: Can --

QUESTION: Can we move on to Russia, please?

QUESTION: Hold on. Just one thing on that. Are you saying that OMB is now going to be in the driver’s seat when it comes to refugee policy?

MS NAUERT: Of course not, Matt, but that was a plan that they – that is a plan that they put forward, and I think you all are aware of that.

QUESTION: Well, yeah. But, I mean, is he seriously going to consider this?

MS NAUERT: Matt, I’m not going to get ahead of any of the Secretary’s decision making on this issue. It’s an important issue that will recover a lot of – will require a lot of careful thought.

QUESTION: Well, does the Secretary believe that the functions of PRM should stay at the State Department?

MS NAUERT: Matt, that’s not a question that I’ve asked the Secretary. We have a lot of conversations about things, but I’ve not asked him that question in particular.

QUESTION: Quick follow --

MS NAUERT: Lesley, did you have something else?

QUESTION: I want to go to Iran.

MS NAUERT: Okay.

QUESTION: So the President today said he’s ready to make a real deal on Iran. Given his tweet this week that seemed to stir – to make one wonder whether he’s pushing for regime change, this seems to backtrack a little bit as to – that he’s ready to make – negotiate a follow-up on the JCPOA.

MS NAUERT: Lesley, I’m going to be very cautious about not parsing the President’s words. I’d have to refer you to the White House for anything that the President said on that.

QUESTION: No, no, no. But this is it – is that – given that the State Department has been in front of the pushing – making sure that countries reimpose these sanctions and stuff, is it your understanding that officials from the State Department are also prepared to engage in a negotiation on a JCPOA?

MS NAUERT: I don’t have any – engage in negotiations on the JCPOA? We’ve been talking with our counterparts all around the world about the re-imposition of sanctions and holding the Iranian Government responsible for the horrible acts that his government – its government has been involved with in many parts of the world. And beyond that, I’m just not going to have anything else for you.

QUESTION: It’s the Secretary, though, who suggested that the United States stands with the Iranian people --

MS NAUERT: Yes, we do.

QUESTION: -- but their regime is a mafia kleptocracy.

MS NAUERT: Yup, mm-hmm.

QUESTION: So there are certainly suggestions of support for regime change.

MS NAUERT: The Secretary’s been very clear about that. He has said the only change we want is a change of behavior. I would say anything beyond that is an interpretation that is coming from whatever individual is saying that.

QUESTION: Well, who would the --

MS NAUERT: That is not what the Secretary has said.

QUESTION: And you don’t think that the President’s remarks today, that Lesley was just citing, are in any way a conflict with the tone and with the tenor of the Secretary’s remarks?

MS NAUERT: I don't think so. Okay? Okay.

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

QUESTION: And just – on India?

MS NAUERT: Go ahead, Said.

QUESTION: Yeah. Thank you. I have a very quick question on the Palestinian issue. Last week, Israel passed a controversial nation state bill with no mention of equality to minority rights and so on. I wonder if you are concerned that such a law would make some citizens of Israel less equal than other. Do you have any comment on that?

MS NAUERT: We hesitate to respond – or to answer questions about other country’s legislation, much like we don’t comment on pending legislation. We are certainly aware of that new law. I’d have to refer you to the Government of Israel for the specifics of that law and their position on that. But I can tell as a general matter, and as it pertains to this, that we believe in equality of all persons before the law.

QUESTION: Do you feel that such a law could compromise Israeli democracy, that you highlight all the time?

MS NAUERT: I’m not going to comment from that. That would be a question for Israelis. Please.

QUESTION: Really a couple quick other questions --

MS NAUERT: Yes.

QUESTION: -- with your indulgence. One, there was a meeting today at the Security Council regarding the situation in Gaza and in the Palestinian territories. And of course, it calls for preventing war, another war in Gaza. It also talks about aid, the humanitarian situation. And could you update us on the status of, let’s say, this Gaza aid package that you or that the administration has worked on for the past few months?

MS NAUERT: In terms of when we look at --

QUESTION: It terms of (inaudible) --

MS NAUERT: When we look at the situation in Gaza, we remind folks why the situation there is as terrible as it is, and that’s largely because of Hamas. And that’s because Hamas continues to foment disagreement and discord among its own people. Hamas doesn’t spend the money that it needs to on some of its own programs, such as electricity, food, clean water, all of those things. So this government has been behind trying to find alternatives and to try to create a better life for the people living in Gaza. You’ve certainly seen Jason Greenblatt and also Jared Kushner talk a lot about that. I believe it’s 13 trips or so that they’ve made over to the region to discuss these issues. I’ll see if we have anything new for you on that. I’d be happy to bring it to you when we do.

QUESTION: Okay. Just to clarify there was a couple of back-to-back op-ed pieces by Mr. Greenblatt, Kushner, and Ambassador Haley.

MS NAUERT: Right.

QUESTION: There seems to be a backtracking from this aid to Gaza first as a way to, let’s say, put forth the deal of the century. Is that the case now? Are we back to --

MS NAUERT: I would have to refer you to them for specifics about their op-eds.

QUESTION: On India?

MS NAUERT: Hi Laurie.

QUESTION: Hi. Human Rights Watch has issued a --

QUESTION: Just – can we just go back to this law --

MS NAUERT: Matt --

QUESTION: -- (inaudible) Israel for a second? I --

MS NAUERT: Well, Matt, I will come back to you. Laurie, go right ahead.

QUESTION: Human Rights Watch has issued a report about the Iraqi suppression of protests, criticizing the excessive, unnecessary lethal force, particularly from the Badr Organization and the Interior Ministry. What is your comment on that?

MS NAUERT: Yeah. So we’re certainly aware of that Human Rights report that was issued on July the 24th. It’s something that we’re watching carefully. Our understanding is that the Iraqi Government is conducting an investigation into this. That is something that we would certainly support, that the U.S. Government does. But I’d also like to say we support the right of the Iraqi people to peacefully protest, as we do all around the world. The Iraqi Government has said that it will take measures to try to safeguard both the right and security of both public and private property. And I would just like to say I’d like to express our – the loss of life. There’s certainly been a loss of life in this and injuries as well.

QUESTION: Would you be willing to say that some elements of the Iraqi Security Forces, like the Badr Organization are more thuggish than other parts?

MS NAUERT: Laurie, I’m not going to characterize that. (Laughter.) I think that’s – that would be an unfortunate trap.

QUESTION: Okay, and may I ask you about the Lavrov – the discussion between Foreign Minister Lavrov and Secretary Pompeo. Your readout said they discussed ideas on implementing counterterrorism process coordination. What might those ideas be?

MS NAUERT: Well, I’m not going to be able to get into the specifics of that, because some of that is private diplomatic conversation. But our government has spoken numerous times about how there are ways that we could work together with other governments on issues of counterterrorism. Terrorism is not something, obviously, unique to the United States. It’s also something that other countries have experienced as well. And if we could find some small places in which we could work together with the Russian Government on certain elements, on certain things, that would certainly be a good thing. And that’s part of what the President has talked about.

QUESTION: And did the arrest of Maria Butina come up?

MS NAUERT: That is something that I would not get into. That would be a Department of Justice issue. And let me make something clear, that the State Department – unlike other governments around the world, the State Department would not be involved in any kind of law enforcement situation like that. That would all be under the Department of Justice. And so the Secretary would not have anything to say on that. Okay?

QUESTION: India?

MS NAUERT: Nazira, go right ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you, Heather. Two question. One question regarding General Abdul Rashid Dostum returning back to Afghanistan, how much he is useful or maybe not, or yes. What’s your comment? Election is close.

The other question is Abu Dhabi meeting for country Emirate, Afghanistan, United States, Saudi. Do you know the result, how much is going to be (inaudible)?

MS NAUERT: So first thing, I can tell you that our senior bureau official for SCA, Alice Wells, is returning today from Doha, Qatar, and that’s where she’s been meeting with the – she met with the deputy prime minister. She also met with other government officials to talk about their contributions to the situation in Afghanistan. Qatar has been an important and valuable partner in that. They have helped with training and equipping, they have helped with supplies, things of that nature that are obviously needed by coalition partners to help facilitate what is going on right there. So Alice is returning. She’s had good meetings. And part of the reason she went there was to commend the government for their ongoing support for peace in Afghanistan.

To your second question with reports about General Dostum returning to Afghanistan, we would see that largely as an internal matter for the Government of Afghanistan to handle. We’re certainly aware of the reports. But while we are on the subject, I just want to say how gravely sorry the United States Government is for the loss of life that took place in the terror attack on – I believe it was on Sunday that killed about 14 people, I believe it was.

QUESTION: Yes.

MS NAUERT: We want to send our deepest condolences to the government. And Nazira, since it’s been a while since I’ve seen you, we had a good, productive trip to Afghanistan, and it was really incredible to meet with President Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah and have conversations with their cabinet officials about the President’s overall strategy in Afghanistan and what the United States Government sees as hope – possible hope for Afghanistan. I know some folks in the media and around the world have pooh-poohed that ceasefire that lasted a few days, but our view on this, if you can get a ceasefire that lasts a few days, perhaps you could get another one that lasts a little bit longer, and that gives the people of Afghanistan hope. So I hope it gives you some hope as well, and good to see you. Welcome back.

QUESTION: Thank you very much.

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

MS NAUERT: Yeah. Hey, Nick. I’m going to try to get around to as many people as possible (inaudible). Hi, Nick.

QUESTION: On China. U.S. airlines are saying they are going to comply with this Chinese request to change how they refer to Taiwan. Some of them are saying that --

MS NAUERT: They have said that they would? I haven’t seen that development.

QUESTION: And they’re sort of laying the blame with the State Department, saying that this was the result of failed negotiations between State and the Chinese Government to come up with a solution. State Department had said earlier that it opposed this Chinese demand. Do you have any update?

MS NAUERT: Oh, we would oppose a government’s demand on private corporations that private corporations label something the way that the government demands it to do that. I was not aware that the companies said that they would fold to the Chinese Government, so I would just refer you back to those American companies.

Hey, Kylie.

QUESTION: Can we just, for a second, go back to North Korea? The Secretary today said that he wanted inspectors on the ground at the Sohe missile testing site location with – that they’re going to be destroying. Was that the initial agreement that Trump and Chairman Kim made when they established this plan in Singapore, or is this a new ask that the U.S. is coming at with --

MS NAUERT: Well, I think the dismantling of that would be in line with Chairman Kim’s commitments to the United States, and I’ll just leave it at that.

QUESTION: Okay. And so if they dismantle this testing site and there aren’t any U.S. inspectors on the ground, is that a signal of success? Is that a positive thing?

MS NAUERT: Yeah, I’m just not going to get into the specifics of that. Verification is obviously something that is paramount. Verification from legitimate groups and done by legitimate countries is something that – is something that the United States Government will be looking for.

QUESTION: But that’s only --

QUESTION: Just to clarify on this --

MS NAUERT: Okay. Hi.

QUESTION: -- did North Korea notify to the U.S. Government that they were beginning dismantling this site or do you just --

MS NAUERT: I don’t have anything for you on that.

QUESTION: -- are aware of it by reports or --

MS NAUERT: I just don’t have anything for you on that. Okay?

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

MS NAUERT: Uh-huh. Yeah.

QUESTION: Can we go – can we go to Russia?

MS NAUERT: Kylie, go right ahead.

QUESTION: U.S.-Burma?

QUESTION: So still on North Korea, there have been reports that some of the remains will be repatriated this week. Is that true?

MS NAUERT: I’m not going to get ahead of anything that may or may not happen. As you all know, we had some good conversations and feel like we made some degree of progress when the last meeting was held on the 16th, and our working group conversations continue. And I’ll let you know when we have any changes. Okay?

QUESTION: What about --

QUESTION: India.

MS NAUERT: Okay.

QUESTION: India.

MS NAUERT: Hi. How are you?

QUESTION: A Kremlin aide has said that President Putin has not accepted President Trump’s invitation to come to Washington, and saying that with all the backlash and the negative reaction, it might be better to let the dust settle. Do you have any comment on that? Is that – is the State Department already involved in --

MS NAUERT: That would – I mean, that would be something that would come out of the White House, so it’s – you’d have to direct that question to the White House about whether or not it was a formal invitation. I don’t believe it’s been a formal invitation, but really, I’m speaking – that’s out of my lane, and so I’d just refer you back to the White House. My understanding is that nothing has been set up at this point. Okay? Okay.

QUESTION: Can we stay on Russia?

QUESTION: U.S. border.

QUESTION: I’ve been asking – we’re back on Russia.

MS NAUERT: Michelle, this is not just about you. There are other people, as you see. I’ve been trying to get around to various people in the room. I will come to you now, but as you can see, I’m not --

QUESTION: Well, I only asked because it was Russia.

MS NAUERT: Yes, that’s fine. Go right ahead.

QUESTION: I wasn’t asking for personal reasons.

MS NAUERT: Sure.

QUESTION: So now that you’ve had several days since the summit in Helsinki, and I’m assuming that you and your team have been able to speak to the Secretary – when he was asked about it today, he said only that he had conversations with Trump and Lavrov and that – and he called it an incredibly important meeting. Do you know that he feels like he’s fully aware of everything that happened between Trump and Putin --

MS NAUERT: I can tell you the Secretary and the President have an excellent relationship. They talk frequently, as does the President with other members of his foreign policy team. The Secretary and the President spent time together shortly after that meeting, and they’ve been in touch every day, if not several times a day, since then.

QUESTION: But does that mean that he feels like he fully knows what went on in the meeting?

MS NAUERT: I think the Secretary does. He and the President are closely connected.

QUESTION: U.S. border.

QUESTION: Okay. And on --

MS NAUERT: Last question, Michelle.

QUESTION: Okay. Well, let me try to narrow them down.

MS NAUERT: Okay. Well, I have other people to go to, so I’ll come – go right ahead. Go right --

QUESTION: Before the summit --

MS NAUERT: Yes.

QUESTION: -- he said that he was confident that President Trump would say in no uncertain terms to Putin that interfering in the U.S. elections was absolutely unacceptable. Does he know that that indeed happened during the summit?

MS NAUERT: The President spoke about that himself. I’ll refer you to the White House or back to the – hold on – back to the transcript where the President said that he brought up the issue of meddling in the election. The Secretary has also spoken to this --

QUESTION: But bringing it up isn’t making it clear.

MS NAUERT: -- many times that that kind of activity would not be acceptable. I can’t say it to you more than I already have that the Secretary has addressed this issue, the President has addressed this issue. 2016, unacceptable. If they attempt to do that again in the future, that is also unacceptable in the eyes of the United States Government. And I think that’s exactly why the White House has assigned duties to the Department of Homeland Security, to the Department of Justice, and other U.S. Government agencies and departments to not only be on the lookout, but is also giving them tools and resources that they need to try to combat against any of this.

QUESTION: So what did the Secretary think of that press conference in Helsinki?

MS NAUERT: I have not asked him that question, Michelle.

QUESTION: Turkey.

QUESTION: U.S. --

MS NAUERT: Okay, go right ahead.

QUESTION: This question is about the U.S. border, where in the prison there are hundreds of Indians now, confirmed reports, mostly from Punjab, and they are coming through the human smuggling rings. So have you reached out to the Government of India to stop these rackets originating from Punjab? And the second – and what is going to be the future for these young men? And the third one is about all this talk about religious freedom here going on. These people have been asked to – their turbans have been taken away, and – which is a religious symbol for them, Sikh.

MS NAUERT: I understand.

QUESTION: And so what is the take on these points from --

MS NAUERT: I don’t have all the specifics on the case that you are describing to me, so my apologies for that. I could certainly link you up with some of our folks who are covering that and following that more closely.

But what I can say as a general matter is that we support religious freedom. That’s precisely why we are hosting this ministerial here this week with people from around the world from various faiths, and frankly, we’ve invited people who don’t have faith as well, because we want to talk about the importance of religious tolerance and religious freedom, thinking that – believing that that not only makes for better societies, stronger countries, it helps with investment and bring investment into various countries, because you know that governments and people are more stable. But I’d be happy to link you up with some of our folks to discuss --

QUESTION: About the – with the – have you reached out to the Government of India on these rackets that – starting from – and it has been going on?

MS NAUERT: Well, I’ll certainly look into that for you, okay? I just don’t have any information on that. Okay? Okay.

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

QUESTION: One more on India.

QUESTION: One more?

MS NAUERT: Last question. Last question, Matt.

QUESTION: Can I go back to this Israel law, and then – well, you said that you believe in the equality of all people under the law, but yet you don’t have any comment on this new law in Israel. So I’m just wondering, does that mean that you do not think that this new law affects the equality of all people under the law?

MS NAUERT: Matt, you know very well that we don’t comment on other countries’ legislation or even pending legislation, okay?

QUESTION: That’s just not true, Heather. I can think of – I wrote them down as you said this. I can think of laws in Hungary, in Poland, in Turkey – and that’s just off the top of my head – that you guys have opined on regularly. It’s not true that you don’t comment on other countries’ laws. When other countries’ laws you find problematic or concerning or offensive or whatever, you regularly speak out on them. So I’m just going to assume, I guess, that you don’t have a problem with this law in Israel because --

MS NAUERT: Matt, no, don’t ever assume. Don’t ever assume anything. When we talk about equality and how equality is something that America stands for, I would stand firmly behind that comment. So don’t assume anything, okay? Don’t assume anything, okay?

QUESTION: I’m not assuming anything about the U.S. I’m trying to figure out what you think, if anything, about the law in Israel.

MS NAUERT: Final – final question. Janne, go right ahead.

QUESTION: I’d also like to know if you have any comment about the appointment, the promotion, the nomination of four senior State Department officials to be career ambassadors by the President. This building didn’t say anything about that when it came out last week. Is this a good thing?

MS NAUERT: We did see that nomination come out, and that is something that we were very pleased with, four career ambassadors. As you all will recall, it was less than a year ago when many of you were making snarky comments about the reduced number of career ambassadors, so we’re pleased that the White House put forward the announcement of four career ambassadors. I hope that won’t be lost in your reporting. I hope that also goes to show the Secretary’s – how important he finds our career folks here at the State Department and how much he respects what they have to do. So we hope to --

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

MS NAUERT: Hope we have a speedy process in Congress and through the Senate.

Okay, final question.

QUESTION: So the U.S. Senate – six senators, bipartisan senators – have proposed a bill to restrict international loans for Turkey. Would you support those sanctions? They say they are there because – they proposed the legislation because of the detainment of Pastor Andrew Brunson.

MS NAUERT: Yeah. And so --

QUESTION: Would you support such measures?

MS NAUERT: -- if that’s a sanction matter, that’s something we just would not preview. But I mean, I can certainly tell you that the case of Pastor Brunson is one that we have all followed very closely, very carefully, not just here at the State Department. The Vice President has. The President has as well. And we would like to see Pastor Brunson brought home soon.

Okay, and that’s all.

QUESTION: Just one more question?

MS NAUERT: I don’t have anything for you on sanctions.

QUESTION: One more?

MS NAUERT: Thank you, everybody. Good to see you.

(The briefing was concluded at 3:43 p.m.)

DPB # 36

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Department Press Briefings : Department Press Briefing - July 18, 2018

Heather Nauert





Spokesperson


Department Press Briefing





Washington, DC





July 18, 2018











Index for Today's Briefing

NICARAGUA



DEPARTMENT



RUSSIA/DEPARTMENT



DPRK



DEPARTMENT



DPRK



MONTENEGRO/REGION



RUSSIA/DEPARTMENT



DPRK/DEPARTMENT



RUSSIA/DEPARTMENT



IRAQ



TURKEY



AFGHANISTAN



RUSSIA/DEPARTMENT


TRANSCRIPT:

3:13 p.m. EDT

MS NAUERT: Hi, everybody. Good afternoon.

QUESTION: Hello.

MS NAUERT: Hope everyone’s doing well. Let me start out with a couple of announcements this afternoon. By the way, it’s a little chilly in here. I can see that.

QUESTION: Noticed.

MS NAUERT: I know. I see you all have your blankets on and everything. Okay.

First, I’d like to start off talking about Nicaragua, and yesterday the Ortega government sent police and government-aligned armed groups to the town of Masaya in a deadly attack on its own citizens. Reports suggest that at least three people have been killed and dozens have been wounded. The Ortega government’s brutal campaign of violence against their own people must stop immediately. Yesterday’s assault on Masaya is another glaring example of Ortega’s efforts to cling to power no matter the cost to the people of Nicaragua. Since April, attacks on university students, journalists, clergy, have killed hundreds and the international community is uniting in its condemnation of the heinous act.

We welcome recent statements by the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and well over 100 – excuse me, well over a dozen countries condemning the government-sponsored violence. We urge others to join the international call for peace. We continue to support the Episcopal Conference of Nicaragua’s efforts to advance negotiations to resolve the current conflict, restore respect for human rights, and achieve a better, more democratic future for all Nicaraguans. We appreciate the church’s critical role as a mediator. However, we are concerned that those officials seeking to bring an end to the crisis are coming under physical and reputational attack by the Ortega government and its supporters. The path to peace for the Ortega government remains through early, free, fair, and transparent elections. We urge the Ortega government to take concrete actions now and to negotiate in good faith.

Next, I’d like to mention that today, USAID Administrator Mark Green is wrapping up his visit to Colombia, and that’s where he met with President Santos and President-elect Duque, as well as members of the Colombian congress, to reaffirm our strong partnership with the people and the Government of Colombia. Administrator Green also visited the Colombia-Venezuela border during his trip to the region to meet with some of the more than two million Venezuelans who have fled the crisis in their home country, which was created by the Maduro regime. While there, Administrator Green announced an additional $6 million in U.S. funding to provide food and health assistance to the thousands of Venezuelan migrants crossing the border every day, and for the Colombian communities that are hosting them.

Lastly, I’d like to announce that Secretary Pompeo will travel to New York on Friday, July the 20th, to meet with Ambassador Nikki Haley and members of the United Nations Security Council, the Republic of Korea Foreign Minister Kang, and Japanese Ambassador to the United Nations Koro Bessho, to discuss the latest on North Korea. The Secretary will also meet with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to discuss a range of issues, including preparations for the UN General Assembly high-level week in September and also UN reform.

The Secretary will then travel to Simi Valley, California, on Sunday, July the 22nd, to deliver remarks on supporting Iranian voices at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Center for Public Affairs as part of his visit with members of the Iranian-American community in the United States. Secretary Pompeo will travel to Simi – from Simi Valley to Palo Alto, California, where he and Secretary of Defense James Mattis will host the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop and also the Minister for Defense Marise Payne for this year’s Australia-U.S. Ministerial Consultations, otherwise known as AUSMIN. That takes place at the Hoover Institution at Stanford on July 23rd and 24th. This AUSMIN celebrates 100 years of mateship. It marks the U.S. and Australian forces fighting side by side in a battle for the first time. It’s been 100 years.

QUESTION: I think you have to say mateship with an Australian accent.

MS NAUERT: (Laughter.) I don’t think I could pull that off very well. That dialogue will focus on deepening our strategic alliance and developing initiatives to promote our shared vision of peace, stability, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and beyond. The United States and Australia have held strategic talks annually since 1985.

And with that, I would be happy to take your questions.

QUESTION: Thanks, Heather. I want to start with some stuff that comes out of Helsinki.

MS NAUERT: Okay.

QUESTION: I’ll be really quick because I think there are probably going to be a lot about it. I wanted to ask you a broad question first, but since this question came up at the White House briefing just now and your colleague over there gave a rather unusual answer to it when she was asked about whether or not the administration would support or would help Russian investigators interview former American officials – or American citizens in general, but also former American officials, including a former ambassador to Russia. She said that this is something the President was going to take under advisement to talk about with his team. Why is this just not simply a – is this just not a non-starter to begin with?

MS NAUERT: Well, I --

QUESTION: Why are you even considering it?

MS NAUERT: I can’t answer on behalf of the White House with regard to that, but what I can tell you is that the overall assertions that have come out of the Russian Government are absolutely absurd – the fact that they want to question 11 American citizens and the assertions that the Russian Government is making about those American citizens. We do not stand by those assertions that the Russian Government makes. The prosecutor general in Russia is well aware that the United States has rejected Russian allegations in this regard. Those have been refuted by, among other things, the Southern District Court of New York in other cases that are somewhat related. Instead, we continue to urge Russian authorities to work with the U.S. Department of Justice to pursue those in Russia who in fact perpetrated the fraudulent scheme that Russia refers to. That targeted not only Mr. Browder, but also his company and others, and also the Russian people as a whole.

QUESTION: So does that mean that at least speaking for the State Department, that you would object to, oppose, and not allow or not grant a Russian request or demand to interview a former ambassador, someone who worked – used to work for this building?

MS NAUERT: And I believe some of that would fall under the Department of Justice, so I’d have to loop in the Department of Justice on this. This is something that just came out.

QUESTION: Yeah.

MS NAUERT: I didn’t get a chance to see the entire White House briefing a short while ago, so I will just tell you --

QUESTION: Well --

MS NAUERT: -- that Russian assertions are absolutely absurd at this point.

QUESTION: Well, I get that. But I mean, is this something that’s just out of the question that you’re not going to allow? Because her response has, frankly, caused a great deal of concern not just among members of the previous administration, but among former officials going back (inaudible).

MS NAUERT: What I’ve provided you right now is all that I have for you on this, but I will be sure to look into it --

QUESTION: All right.

MS NAUERT: -- and understand that it would be a grave concern to our former colleagues here.

QUESTION: Secondly, the Russian Government has spoken several times over the course – since Helsinki about how it’s ready to “implement the agreements,” quote-unquote, that the two presidents reached in Helsinki. As far as I can tell, there weren’t any agreements, and no one seems to know exactly what they are other than in very broad terms like agreeing to assist with North Korean denuclearization and --

MS NAUERT: And I think broad is the correct term to use here.

QUESTION: Okay. So there were no specific agreements reached?

MS NAUERT: There were sort of three takeaways from the meeting, three proposals that we are currently assessing. Again, we’re still digging into the details. I know some of you have had a lot of questions about it – understandably so. It’s a little too fresh to be able to provide all the details.

Among the things that were proposed: a high-level working group with business leaders from both countries. That’s one of the things. Another thing that’s been proposed is convening some sort of an expert council which would include political scientists from the United States and from Russia, diplomats, former diplomats, former military officials. The U.S. and the USSR many years ago did something very similar to this, so it’s not entirely a new concept, but it’s just something that was proposed. Also another proposal was that our NSC meet with the Russian NSC to discuss follow-up meetings. Anything on that, I’d have to refer you to our NSC for questions about that.

These are certainly all modest proposals. The President had said going into this that we wouldn’t solve all the world’s problems in one meeting, in one conversation with the Russian Government, but we think it’s a pretty good place to start.

QUESTION: He was right about that. But would the – so these aren’t even agreements yet. They’re just proposals.

MS NAUERT: They are proposals, yes.

QUESTION: All right. And then lastly, on this whole – this MH17 question. Does the U.S. Government still stand by its previous statements and positions that – in support of the Dutch investigation team that held that Russia was responsible for downing it?

MS NAUERT: We certainly do. The United States Government has long said that Russia is without a doubt responsible for shooting down MH17. As recently as May, we put out two statements, and I’d like to read a bit from those statements. The first one came out on May the 24th. It said, “The United States has complete confidence in the findings of the joint investigation team as presented today by the Dutch public prosecutor. The missile launcher used to shoot down Malaysia Airline Flight MH17 originated from the 53rd anti-aircraft brigade of the Russian Federation stationed in Kursk.” It goes on to say, “MH17 was shot down by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile fired from the territory in eastern Ukraine controlled by Russia and Russian-led forces.” That was May 24th.

May 25th we put out another statement that said, “We strongly support decisions by the Netherlands and Australia to call Russia to account for its role in the July 2014 downing of the Malaysia flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine and the horrific deaths of 298 civilians. It’s time for Russia to acknowledge its role in shooting down the plane and cease its callous disinformation campaign.”

We stand by those statements.

QUESTION: So why no statement yesterday on the anniversary?

MS NAUERT: We joined – and perhaps some of you haven’t seen it, but we joined our G7 colleagues and put out a foreign ministers statement – I believe it was Monday of this week. And I can read for you a bit of that statement. It says, among other things, “We, the G7 foreign ministers” – Canada, France, Germany, et cetera, along with the European Union – “are united in condemnation, in the strongest possible terms, of the downing of Malaysia Air Flight MH17, a civilian aircraft flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur July 17th, 2014.”

It goes on to say – I’m skipping down a few paragraphs – “In a rules-based international order, those responsible for unacceptable actions such as the firing or launching of a missile of Russian origin which intercepted and downed a civilian aircraft must be held accountable. To this end, we call on Russia to immediately engage with Australia and The Netherlands in good faith and to address all relevant questions regarding any potential breaches of international law. We once again express our deepest condolences to the family and the victims of that flight.”

QUESTION: Right. I --

MS NAUERT: Our position on Russian culpability for this has not changed. Our policy on this has not changed.

QUESTION: Okay. I’m aware of that statement and I’m aware of what you just said.

MS NAUERT: Okay.

QUESTION: But why no statement from either you or the Secretary yesterday on the anniversary?

MS NAUERT: Matt, we have put out three statements in two and a half months and we think that that covered it. We preferred to go with the G7 statement and I hope the decision that the United States made this time to go with the G7 statement doesn’t cloud anyone’s judgment about our steadfast conviction that Russia stands responsible for the shoot-down of MH17 and we stand behind the Dutch investigation.

QUESTION: Okay. But it’s just that you guys put out statements on anniversary – I’ve counted 14 that have been issued this year – Srebrenica, Tiananmen Square, death of an OSCE – an American working for the OSCE, the Good Friday Agreement, Rwandan genocide, any number of things. The Secretary puts out a national day statement a day, basically. Eighteen – there’s been 18 days in July, there have been 18 so far. I mean, countries like Comoros, Solomon Islands, Maldives. I just don’t understand --

MS NAUERT: I get it.

QUESTION: -- why, for the first time in four years since --

MS NAUERT: I get it.

QUESTION: Well, why is it less a priority that --

MS NAUERT: You seem to think there’s something nefarious going on here.

QUESTION: No, no, no. I’m – no, I’m not. That’s --

MS NAUERT: I’ve just pointed to --

QUESTION: I don’t think there’s something nefarious.

MS NAUERT: -- three statements that we’ve put out on this and I want to just say it one more time again before we --

QUESTION: It’s just that people notice when things don’t happen.

MS NAUERT: I get it. People seem to notice things. Let me just underscore one more time: The United States holds Russia responsible for the shoot-down of --

QUESTION: All right.

MS NAUERT: -- MH17 and let me leave it at that. Okay?

QUESTION: Thanks.

QUESTION: Heather --

MS NAUERT: Lesley.

QUESTION: -- I have a follow-up: Given the whole drama that’s gone on after the President’s visit to Helsinki, a lot of the allies – U.S. allies have believed that something – that the Secretary should have said something about it afterwards, specifically that the Secretary --

MS NAUERT: The Secretary should have said something about --

QUESTION: -- should have reacted afterwards to placate the allies over concerns they have on what the President said. What was the Secretary’s view of the President’s --

MS NAUERT: Well, let me just pause you right there and address that. I think what you’re referring to is the Secretary held a bilateral meeting after the President’s press conference – is that what you’re referring to? And after the bilateral meeting, a few reporters shouted questions. Is that what you’re referring to?

QUESTION: No, no, I’m not referring to that.

MS NAUERT: Okay.

QUESTION: I’m just saying – I’m asking what is the – what is the --

MS NAUERT: You’re saying you think that the Secretary should have spoken earlier.

QUESTION: I’m asking whether --

MS NAUERT: Yeah.

QUESTION: -- what was the Secretary’s feelings about what the President said? Does he believe that there is – that there was damage done to allies?

MS NAUERT: Well, it’s – what’s interesting about that is many folks in the Beltway seem to think that our phones have been ringing off the hook from diplomats around the world calling to complain. No, that is not the case that we are seeing here. The Secretary stands by his previous statements, as does the President, that Russia did indeed meddle in the 2016 election. The Secretary has made that clear many times before in congressional testimony and in interviews with many of you as well. The President indicated that very same thing yesterday, the day before, and I believe earlier today.

The Secretary spoke at the cabinet meeting earlier today. I have a few quotes for you I can certainly read to you in case some of you missed that. The Secretary also has full confidence in U.S. intelligence agencies. That is the very same thing that the President said. They both stand by their confidence in U.S. intelligence agencies. Our policy and our overall positions have not changed and we will continue to hold Russia responsible for its malign activities.

QUESTION: The – Senator Corker has invited the Secretary – he asked the Secretary to come and testify on Russia next week. Has he agreed to do that?

MS NAUERT: So the Secretary and members of Congress have, for a few weeks now, been going back and forth to find a time that works for all of them for the Secretary to brief on North Korea. There was a tentative date – I believe it was a few weeks ago – and that had to be pushed. This is, in fact, that meeting. Our legislative affairs team have been – has been working with the Hill to try to find a date that works for both. So that is the general topic for the conversation.

The Secretary will also read out his most recent trip, or actually two trips ago I should say, because we’ve been around a lot of places, in which he went to obviously North Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Afghanistan, United Arab Emirates, and then we ended up in Brussels. So the Secretary will read out his conversations regarding all of those trips. I imagine, as Senator Corker and others are interested in asking about Russia, the Secretary would certainly be happy to answer their questions. Okay?

QUESTION: Can I ask a follow-up on that?

MS NAUERT: Yeah. Hi, Nick.

QUESTION: Hi, Heather. There was a lot of frustration in the – Senator Corker said he – it – it had been a, quote, “pain in the back side” in getting the Secretary and other senior State Department officials up to testify. Do you have any response to that?

MS NAUERT: I guess I would just say the Secretary’s had a really busy schedule. I haven’t briefed here recently. That’s because I’ve been on the road along with the Secretary. And if I think my schedule is busy, his is really something else. So he’s been gone a lot. Every minute of the day as I look at that schedule, this guy is working. He’s working hard. Whether he’s on the phone or he’s traveling or conducting meetings, there’s a lot going on. So we’ve been working hard to try to find a mutually exclusive time to brief Capitol Hill, and I know Secretary Pompeo looks forward to doing that.

QUESTION: So that – to – that Wednesday date has not yet been confirmed? They said Wednesday at 2:30.

MS NAUERT: I don’t have a specific time for that, but I can double-check and get back to you on that. Okay?

QUESTION: Heather --

QUESTION: Just one quick – can I just --

MS NAUERT: Yeah.

QUESTION: -- have one quick follow-up on Russia? So when you said these were proposals that had been discussed, these three proposals, Vladimir Putin characterized them as agreements, and you’re saying --

MS NAUERT: I’m sure he did, and that is something that certain governments will do sometimes where there will be something that’s under discussion and a government says that it is an agreement. Those are proposals and we are – we will certainly take a look at that. Okay?

Hi, Barbara.

QUESTION: Can I follow up on North Korea?

MS NAUERT: Yeah, sure.

QUESTION: Just in terms of what Mr. Pompeo said today about the remains of the American service people coming back in the next couple of weeks, we know that there are going to be forensic tests when the remains are returned, but what do you know about the nationalities of those remains already? Are you quite certain they are Americans?

MS NAUERT: Barbara, I don’t have an answer for you on that. I can tell you we had two meetings this week. One was on Sunday the 15th – sorry, I’m going to get off on my dates here. Right, Sunday was the 15th?

QUESTION: No, Monday.

MS NAUERT: Monday was the 15th, the – Monday and Tuesday in which the United States had meetings with the North Koreans. And so those conversations continue. There’s a lot of work that has – is left to be done on a lot of different levels, and I’ll let you know when we have something more.

QUESTION: And then just a quick question about his meeting on – or his speech on Sunday addressing Iranian Americans. In a previous notice you mentioned that he would be meeting with members of the Iranian American community, and I didn’t see that on the latest notice that went out. Is that still happening? And if it is, who’s organizing that? Is the State Department organizing that?

MS NAUERT: Well, I can tell you the Secretary’s giving his speech. I haven’t looked at the full travel schedule just yet. I know that there are some members of the Iranian-American community who will be at that speech. Perhaps that’s what you’re referring to, but I just have to --

QUESTION: It was mentioned (inaudible).

MS NAUERT: -- I just have to go back and take a look – a closer look at the schedule. I don’t have an answer for you on that. We will be holding a background call at some point tomorrow, Thursday, and so we’ll be able to get you some more information about the specifics of that trip.

QUESTION: A follow-up on North Korea.

MS NAUERT: Okay, hi.

QUESTION: On the denuclearization of North Korea, the President yesterday said now there is no rush, there is no time limit for the denuke, which seems to be different from what was said before and just after Singapore and --

MS NAUERT: Well, we have not put timelines on this.

QUESTION: Yes, but --

MS NAUERT: You know that. We’ve been very clear about not projecting any timelines, saying --

QUESTION: -- but Secretary Pompeo said it had to happen without delay before the summit.

MS NAUERT: We have said --

QUESTION: And after that he said – they said it will happen quite quickly – very quickly. And --

MS NAUERT: We have said there’s a lot of work left to be done. The conversations continue. I’m not going to get ahead of those conversations, and I’m not going to be able to read out every single conversation that we have on this matter. But we’re working on it. We have teams in place that are working very hard on this issue every day.

QUESTION: And just a quick one on NATO: After the summit and after Helsinki, there were some criticism about some comments the President made about Montenegro, called it a very tiny, little country with very aggressive people, and the fact that he could question again the fact that the U.S. could defend NATO allies in case of an attack. So what --

MS NAUERT: Yeah, I – I would have to refer you to the White House to comment on the President’s comments about Montenegro. I can tell you that the President reiterated our ironclad commitment to NATO’s collective defense last week. The summit declaration that came out at the end of the summit stated clearly that any attack against one ally will be regarded as an attack against all as set out in Article 5 of the Washington Treaty. But beyond that, I’d have to refer you over to the White House.

QUESTION: Well, but he also said in this interview last night that Montenegrins are aggressive and they could cause World War III. What are the allies supposed to make of comments like that?

MS NAUERT: Matt, to my awareness --

QUESTION: I mean, is this a bad – an attempt at a bad – or a bad attempt at a joke?

MS NAUERT: Look, to my awareness we have not received any calls on this issue.

QUESTION: Do you remember how many Montenegrins, if any, were – troops were at Bagram when the Secretary visited the coalition forces there?

MS NAUERT: I don’t. I recall there being Polish troops there, and we thank them for --

QUESTION: No, Montenegrin. You’d know if there were any Montenegrin --

MS NAUERT: I am not aware of that.

QUESTION: And then just --

MS NAUERT: I know there were Polish forces there --

QUESTION: And then just --

MS NAUERT: -- and let me just while we’re talking about it, thank you for your contribution.

QUESTION: Just a last thing, in terms of the Hill, there is – some leading Democrats are demanding that the interpreter from the State Department who was the translator for President Trump in Helsinki testify. It’s my understanding that this kind of – that’s pretty much an unprecedented request and that has never happened before. Do you guys have a position on whether staff should be hauled in to testify before --

MS NAUERT: Yeah, we – and that’s the question that I asked, is there any precedent for this. We’ve not been able to find that just yet. I can tell you there’s no formal request to have the interpreter appear before any congressional committees at this point. Overall, as a general matter, you know we always seek to work with Congress, and that’s all I have on this.

Okay. All right. Hey, Rich.

QUESTION: Hey, Heather. Thanks. Was the Secretary involved in urging the President to make his statement yesterday or --

MS NAUERT: He was not.

QUESTION: He was not?

MS NAUERT: He was not. There were reports that he was; those were inaccurate reports. That was the President’s decision and his team’s decision to go out. The Secretary did not weigh in with the President on that matter.

QUESTION: And really quickly on the trip to the United Nations, is there any room in the schedule or any potential for a meeting with any North Korean officials while the Secretary is there?

MS NAUERT: I will be up there with the Secretary. I’ll be the first to tell you if there are any North Koreans up there.

QUESTION: Why didn’t he weigh in with the President?

MS NAUERT: It was the President --

QUESTION: I mean, his job is the top foreign policy advisor --

MS NAUERT: It was the President’s decision. I know that the Secretary met with the Vice President at the – over at the White House compound overall earlier this week, and that’s it. That’s it.

QUESTION: But he didn’t feel the need to talk with the President – I’m just wondering.

MS NAUERT: Matt, I wouldn’t read too much into this. I think the President has a ample staff that he consults with regularly, plenty of people, and he made that decision on his own. I’d refer you back to the White House. I think Sarah Sanders covered that one well.

QUESTION: Iraq. Iraq.

MS NAUERT: Hey, Laurie.

QUESTION: Yeah, hi. The UN has responded to the protests in Iraq by calling on the government to fully respect and address the people’s legitimate concerns. What’s your comment on those protests?

MS NAUERT: I’m sorry, the overall protests – you mean about the electricity and all the --

QUESTION: And the corruption is a big part of it.

MS NAUERT: Right. Overall I can just tell you we support people’s rights to peacefully protest. We certainly understand when there are electricity shortages, when there are oil shortages and things of this sort, that that is something that would be certainly upsetting to people. The Iraqi Government has said that it safeguards the right of its citizens to protest. They also have the right to maintain the security of public and private property in Iraq. They’ve expressed an intent to do more to address protesters’ grievances, including the lack of services of electricity and also economic opportunity. Overall, though, this would be an internal Iraqi matter of this.

QUESTION: Corruption is a big part of the problem. Are you – is the embassy there prepared to help the Iraqi Government deal with its corruption issue, find ways to improve that situation?

MS NAUERT: I – we have a excellent relationship with the Government of Iraq. We are in constant contact with areas that we may have concerns about. Some of that, Laurie, would be covered under our private diplomatic conversations, so I’m not going to get into that, but I can just tell you we have a lot of conversations with the Government of Iraq.

QUESTION: And if I could ask you a question about Turkey today, that the Turkish court rejected Pastor Andrew Brunson’s appeal to be released from prison – what’s your response to that?

MS NAUERT: I can tell you we have obviously been very closely engaged in Pastor Brunson’s case and with the Turkish Government on that case in particular. We’ve not seen any credible evidence against Pastor Brunson that he’s guilty of the crimes that the Turkish Government accuses him of. The case against him is built on anonymous sources, accusations, and a lot of speculation. It’s a concern of ours. We believe that he is innocent. We continue to call on the Turkish Government to quickly resolve his case in a timely and transparent and fair manner. I can tell you that our charge, Phil Kosnett, was – as well as other U.S. embassy officials – were present at the proceedings on the 18th for Pastor Brunson. If we have anything more for you, we’ll certainly let you know.

QUESTION: Wait, so you’re not calling for him to be – for his release?

MS NAUERT: Well, we always call for the pastor’s release. We would certainly like that to happen.

QUESTION: Well, I mean, at the NATO summit just last week, the President of the United States fist bumped President Erdogan and said keep up the good work and all this kind of thing. How is this --

MS NAUERT: Matt, I’m not going to be able to answer for everything that every – whether it’s the President or whether it’s Secretary Mattis or somebody else, I’m not going to be able to answer for that. I don’t --

QUESTION: Well, then I just wonder if that plays into the kind of kid gloves treatment that you’re giving to the Turks right now. Previous statements have been very hard.

MS NAUERT: I don’t think so, Matt. We have followed this case extremely closely.

QUESTION: Yeah.

MS NAUERT: Members of Congress are also following this closely. I can tell you it’s something that the Secretary cares deeply about, especially one’s religious freedom. We do have a religious freedom ministerial that’s coming up next week that is important to the Secretary. This is something we are actively involved with and care deeply about. You may not see all the actions, activities, conversations the United States Government is having on behalf of American citizens, so I’m not going to be able to say anything more to you on that. Okay.

And last question. Abbie, go ahead.

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

QUESTION: Afghanistan?

MS NAUERT: Yeah, sure.

QUESTION: There have been reports out over the last week that the U.S. is engaging or seeking to engage in direct talks with the Taliban. Do you have a response to that? Is that what the U.S. is doing?

MS NAUERT: Yeah. Abbie, I can just tell you that we’re exploring all avenues to advance a peace process in close consultation with the Government of Afghanistan. Our position on this hasn’t changed. Any peace and reconciliation talks have to be Afghan-led, Afghan-owned. We stand by that position, and that is something that we’ve not backed away from.

QUESTION: Heather --

QUESTION: So the U.S. would not engage in direct talks?

MS NAUERT: Abbie, that’s all I’m – all I’m going to say to you right now. We’re exploring all avenues to advance a peace process, but that peace process has to be Afghan-led, Afghan-owned. That’s very important in order to make it – in order to make it a long-term success. Okay.

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

MS NAUERT: Okay. Okay. Elise, and then we’ve got to go, last question. Hey.

QUESTION: Can I – sorry, I had to run out for live shot. Can you --

MS NAUERT: Are you going to ask me something that somebody already asked me?

QUESTION: No, I already made sure that no one asked you this.

MS NAUERT: Okay. Okay.

QUESTION: Can you please fill us in on the kind of phone calls and meetings that the Secretary has had to do follow-up on the NATO summit or provide allies any kind of readout of what happened this week in Helsinki?

MS NAUERT: I can tell you that there was a readout provided with Ambassador Huntsman and Ambassador Hutchison from the NATO summit. Beyond that, I’m not aware of any particular high-level calls or engagements that we’ve had. Okay?

QUESTION: Thank you.

MS NAUERT: All right, guys. We’ve got to leave it there. Thank you so much; we’ll see you soon.

(The briefing was concluded at 3:41 p.m.)

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Department Press Briefings : Department Press Briefing - July 3, 2018

Heather Nauert





Spokesperson


Department Press Briefing





Washington, DC





July 3, 2018











Index for Today's Briefing

DEPARTMENT



NORTH KOREA



VIETNAM



NORTH KOREA



DEPARTMENT



ISRAEL/PALESTINIANS



IRAQ



IRAN


TRANSCRIPT:

3:14 p.m. EDT

MS NAUERT: Good afternoon. How is everybody? Hi. Okay, a couple announcements to start off with this afternoon.

First, I would like to say that on Tuesday, June the 26th, our Deputy Secretary John Sullivan delivered the U.S. statement to the Fourth Special Session of the Conference of States Parties, urging the OPCW member-states to address the current crisis resulting from the rise and use of chemical weapons. We want to congratulate the United Kingdom and likeminded states on the successful adoption of the decision addressing the threat from chemical weapons use at the Conference of the States Parties. Eighty-two responsible states voted to provide the OPCW’s technical secretariat with additional tools to respond to chemical weapons use, including the means to identify the perpetrators of chemical weapons attacks in Syria. Efforts to delay and obstruct its passage by Russia, Syria, Iran, and China were unsuccessful.

The decision calls on the technical secretariat to establish arrangements for identifying the perpetrators of chemical weapons attacks in Syria by using all potentially relevant information regarding the origin of the chemical weapons for instances in which the OPCW’s fact-finding mission has determined chemical weapons were used. The decision also expands the OPCW’s ability to assist states parties in the event of chemical weapons use on their territory, it authorizes it to share information related to chemical weapons use with other investigative efforts, and it empowers it to further facilitate capacity building.

Attribution is a key step toward ensuring that chemical weapons cannot be used with impunity. The United States remains fully committed to a future free of chemical weapons and we look forward to the progress that will come from the adoption and the implementation of this decision. When we have more on that, we’ll let you know.

Second, I’d like to announce our Acting Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Stephen Mull’s travel to Brussels, Belgium and Vienna, Austria July the 3rd through the 5th. He’ll meet with his European counterparts there to discuss the transatlantic relationship. He arrives in Brussels on July the 4th for consultations with senior officials from the European Union’s European External Action Service. On July the 5th, the acting under secretary will be in Vienna for discussions with the European Union’s 28 political directors.

Next, I’d like to announce that the Secretary next week, after a whirlwind trip around the world, will be traveling to Mexico City on July the 13th. We anticipate that the Secretary will meet with President Pena Nieto, Foreign Secretary Videgaray, and also the President-elect Lopez Obrador. Secretary Pompeo will reaffirm the U.S. partnership with Mexico to combat transnational criminal organizations and also the opioid epidemic. He will also discuss efforts to enhance trade, curb irregular migration, and manage our shared border. The Secretary will discuss continued U.S.-Mexico cooperation with the Nieto administration throughout the transition. The United States looks forward to working closely with President-elect Obrador to continue strengthening the U.S.-Mexico relationship after the new administration takes office on December the 1st.

And lastly, I would like to say congratulations to a member of the State Department press corps. Many of you know Alicia Rose from NHK. She’s traveled on the road with us and has been here, I think, every day, at least since I’ve been here. Alicia will be leaving NHK to go to law school, correct, in Los Angeles?

QUESTION: Yes, ma’am.

MS NAUERT: So congratulations to you. We’re excited for you, and best wishes. God speed.

And then while I’m on that note, I’d like to congratulate Josh Lederman, your --

QUESTION: Former colleague.

MS NAUERT: Yeah, your former, like Ponch and Jon or like Bo and Luke Duke. Josh. (Laughter.)

QUESTION: Wow. And you --

MS NAUERT: It has now taken off.

QUESTION: And you said I showed my age with the Six Million Dollar Man reference. (Laughter.)

MS NAUERT: I’m sure many of you know who both of those – all those characters are.

QUESTION: Ponch and Jon, huh?

MS NAUERT: Anyway, so congratulations to Josh. Well-deserved success and good luck to you at NBC News, and welcoming Susannah once again.

And with that, I’d be happy to take your questions.

QUESTION: Heather, the Secretary, before he goes to Mexico --

MS NAUERT: Yes.

QUESTION: -- on the first – his first stop of the trip that he’s leaving on this week is in North Korea, as you know. The President tweeted this morning that if it weren’t for him, meaning President Trump, that we would be now at war with North Korea. Does the Secretary – does the State Department share that view?

MS NAUERT: Well, I think back to where we were one year ago today – actually, one year ago tomorrow. Many of you will remember the 4th of July. Many of you were contacted to have to return to work. I know I was in New York planning to go to fireworks with my family – had to hop on an earlier flight to come back to Washington. Why? Because there was an ICBM launch on the part of North Korea. So if we look back to where we were one year ago, we’re in a good position today and I think that’s what the President was simply referring to.

A lot of people were in panic. A lot of people around the world were very concerned about what would happen between the United States and North Korea. And the fact that our Secretary is now getting ready to go and have his fourth meeting with the North Koreans in less than three months I think is a testament to just how far we’ve come.

QUESTION: All right. And then just one last one on that same one. The Secretary is aware, right, that the Korean War ended not with a peace treaty but rather with an armistice. And so technically all the combatant parties to that conflict are still at war, right? He understands that, right?

MS NAUERT: I don’t understand why we’re doing a history lesson here, Matt. What’s – what’s your question?

QUESTION: Because the President, in his tweet, said “we would be at war with North Korea” if it weren’t for me. And because --

MS NAUERT: Matt, I think what the --

QUESTION: Because of the situation --

MS NAUERT: Come on. I think what the President --

QUESTION: No.

MS NAUERT: -- is referring to is where we were one year ago. And how many of your friends, how many family members asked you for your honest assessment about whether or not we would be in this situation? I would be willing to guess that a good number of people asked you that very question. We’re in a good spot today, and the Secretary’s looking forward to having meetings with his North Korean counterparts. And we’re going to this eyes wide open, but nevertheless we’ve made a lot of progress in the past year.

QUESTION: Last one. It’s just extremely tangentially related; it’s just a day. When did Steve Mull start as the acting?

MS NAUERT: He’s been sort of performing those functions for a few weeks now. When exactly he received the designations, that I don’t know.

QUESTION: All right. Thanks.

MS NAUERT: But we’re thrilled to have him back and on board.

QUESTION: Heather, follow-up on North Korea.

MS NAUERT: Okay. Let’s finish up on North Korea before we move on to something else.

QUESTION: Yes. I’ve got a --

MS NAUERT: Okay. Hi, Janne.

QUESTION: Yeah. Secretary Pompeo’s trip to North Korea – the name of the configured team – do you have any go with --

MS NAUERT: The name of what, I’m sorry?

QUESTION: Configured teams.

MS NAUERT: Who will be going?

QUESTION: Yes.

MS NAUERT: Well, the Secretary is going to be going. He’s leading. I’ll be along with him. I understand we’ve got six reporters who will be coming along with us as well. So those folks who will be on the trip will certainly see who will be a part of the delegation, I’ll call it, and I’ll just leave it at that right now.

QUESTION: John Bolton’s going with him, or --

MS NAUERT: Pardon me?

QUESTION: John Bolton is – NSC?

QUESTION: John Bolton.

MS NAUERT: Oh, is he going to North Korea? Not to my awareness, but I don’t speak for Ambassador Bolton.

QUESTION: Just ask you.

MS NAUERT: Yes, not – no. No. But I’d refer you over to the NSC for any questions about Ambassador Bolton’s travel.

QUESTION: North Korea?

MS NAUERT: Hey, how are you?

QUESTION: Could you just share with us the agenda of Secretary Pompeo’s talks to the DPRK and what are the expectations for these talks? Thank you.

MS NAUERT: Well, again, as I say, we go into this eyes wide open. We’re continuing our conversations and also our consultations with the North Korean Government about what the President and what Kim Jong-un agreed to at the Singapore summit. So we obviously have a whole lot to talk about. We have at least a day and a half of meetings planned, depending on how the schedule goes. I’m not going to get ahead of those meetings, so I know you all will want a ton of details, but we’ve got these meetings coming up. Ambassador Sung Kim had a good series of meetings when he was in North Korea to help plan for this, and so I’m just not going to be able to give you all the details about what we intend to do that very day.

Okay. Alicia, go ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you. Well, first, thank you for your kind words. It’s been a pleasure to work with everyone. And I wanted to ask how confident the Secretary is that he can get firm and specific commitments from the North Koreans on making progress towards denuclearization.

MS NAUERT: Yeah. I think the Secretary has addressed that extensively, in which he said that North Korea is very clear in terms of our expectations. We’ve had very clear conversations with them. There will be no surprises in terms of what we are asking them to do. Our policy remains the same today as it was going into the Singapore summit. So nothing in that regard has changed. The Secretary looks forward to having those additional meetings, and that’s simply where we are right now.

QUESTION: And you said that he would be there for a day and a half. Does that mean --

MS NAUERT: About, approximately or so. I haven’t done the math on it exactly, but yeah.

QUESTION: Does that mean that the Secretary will be spending the night in Pyongyang?

MS NAUERT: Again, that’s why I say we’re not exactly there yet. I haven’t done the math, but we’re spending a good bit of time there. Okay? Okay.

QUESTION: North Korea?

MS NAUERT: Hey, yeah.

QUESTION: Heather. So John Bolton was mentioned. As he told over the weekend in a media interview that North Korea could dismantle the WMD and ballistic missile program in a year. So my question for you is: Is one year the timeline? And since you mentioned last year, July 4th – what do you expect to see North Korea be doing on July 4th next year?

MS NAUERT: Well, I don’t know how they traditionally celebrate that – our holiday in North Korea, but I’m not going to speculate on anything that somebody may or may not do. The Secretary has said – and he’s been very clear about this, and I know it’s much to your frustration, but we’re not going to get into all the details about the discussions that are taking place. In terms of a timeline, I know some individuals have given timelines. We’re not going to provide a timeline for that. The Secretary’s looking forward to having his meetings.

A lot of work is left to be done, certainly. We go into this eyes wide open, very clear – with a very clear view of these conversations. And I’m just not going to get ahead of those discussions. Okay? You’ll be on the trip; a lot of you will be on the trip, and you’ll be able to ask some of those questions then.

QUESTION: One year – one – the Secretary --

MS NAUERT: Janne, let me move around and go to somebody else.

QUESTION: Can we move on?

MS NAUERT: Hold on.

QUESTION: No, not yet.

MS NAUERT: Hold on. Let me head over to Reuters, and you’re a summer intern, I understand, right?

QUESTION: Yes.

MS NAUERT: Okay. So it’s intern season here in Washington.

QUESTION: It is.

MS NAUERT: Well, welcome on board.

QUESTION: Thank you so much. Related to travel, what is the Secretary planning to accomplish in Vietnam? Why did he think it was important to include on this trip? And what are the preparations going into the Putin-Trump summit?

And then I’d like to change --

MS NAUERT: Let me take one at a time.

QUESTION: Okay.

MS NAUERT: Everybody will tell you I do one at a time. In terms of Vietnam, Vietnam is an important partner of the United States. Vietnam is an incredible example of a country, a communist country that has yet done very well, done well in terms of its economy, in terms of what it provides its people, in terms of the trade and the trade that the United States and many other countries do with Vietnam. So I think it’s just a good example of a country that’s doing well in the region, and that’s part of the reason why we’re planning to travel there. The Secretary has a lot of meetings planned while he’s there, also a dinner that he’ll be attending where he’ll be addressing some business leaders there, so – have a good chance to talk with him about that.

QUESTION: Sorry, is that the extent of the relationship? Vietnam also throws dissidents in jail – bloggers, et cetera – people who you --

MS NAUERT: And we have covered that, yep.

QUESTION: So is that going to be part of his visit as well or is it --

MS NAUERT: You know what, I don’t have a full readout on what exactly that visit will entail, but as you know, Matt, when we have conversations with other governments there are a whole host of things that come up and a lot of things that we discuss privately that we don’t discuss here every single day.

Okay. Yeah.

QUESTION: Also related to the travel, Daphne wanted to talk to you about Brussels stop on Syria, the discussions on Syria.

MS NAUERT: Okay. Let’s – okay, we’ll move on from North Korea and we’ll head over to Syria now then, okay? All right --

QUESTION: Can we ask a question about North Korea?

MS NAUERT: Okay.

QUESTION: Can you tell us what the Secretary --

MS NAUERT: We’ll come back to you, Daphne.

QUESTION: Can you tell us what the Secretary is going to be telling the North Koreans in relation to these reports that they are continuing their research in secret locations?

MS NAUERT: That’s why I say – and I’m not going to get into any intelligence matters; that’s not what we do at the State Department. We don’t talk about intelligence matters, but the Secretary – we’re all keeping a close eye – the U.S. Government keeping a close eye on North Korea, and the Secretary has been very clear and very blunt with the North Koreans about what he expects, and I’ll leave it at that.

QUESTION: One more on Korea.

QUESTION: Just one more on this.

MS NAUERT: Okay, okay.

QUESTION: One of the other issues that was a part of the joint declaration was the returning of Americans’ remains. The Pentagon and UN Command have said that carrying caskets are waiting at the DMZ for these remains to be returned. What’s the holdup? Why haven’t they been returned yet?

MS NAUERT: Well, I think that would be a DOD issue, because DOD has a department or a bureau that deals specifically with that issue, and so they apparently facilitated some of the materials that would be needed to transfer any remains in a dignified fashion. So I would just refer you over to DOD for that. We don’t have anything for you on that.

But I will say that would certainly be a good sign, if North Koreans were to fulfill that commitment, certainly. Okay?

QUESTION: They say it’s a diplomatic issue, though, because it’s the North Koreans who haven’t followed through on --

MS NAUERT: Who says it’s a diplomatic issue?

QUESTION: The Pentagon.

MS NAUERT: I would refer you back to the Pentagon. The Pentagon has a robust department that deals specifically with these issues each and every day in difficult parts of the world, so I would refer you back to the Pentagon for that, okay?

QUESTION: Sorry, one more (inaudible).

MS NAUERT: All right, let’s move on from North Korea now. Okay, go ahead. You wanted to talk about --

QUESTION: Syria.

QUESTION: I have a question --

MS NAUERT: Okay, go ahead. You wanted to talk about --

QUESTION: Syria.

MS NAUERT: Syria, okay.

QUESTION: Yes, and I have a question on Iran as well.

MS NAUERT: Okay. We tend to stick to regions before we move on.

QUESTION: Okay.

MS NAUERT: So we’ll go to Syria. If we get back to you with a question about Iran, we can do that.

QUESTION: Okay. How much and what does the Secretary want to accomplish in Syria – in southern Syria, where Russia is currently in peace talks with the rebels? And they – I understand they’ve reached an agreement to hand over their weapons and allow Russian military police to enter rebel-held towns.

MS NAUERT: Okay. I have not seen that specific report that you were referring to. The southwest ceasefire area is something that the United States has paid very close attention to over the past nearly one year. The United States, Russia, and Jordan have all been involved in trying to maintain a ceasefire that had held up until not too long ago. As many of you know, Secretary Pompeo spoke earlier today to Foreign Minister Lavrov. One of the issues that they did discuss with this – was this southwest Syria ceasefire situation.

As we have talked about the ceasefire over the past year, we have on numerous occasions highlighted the fact that humanitarian aid was able to get in as a result of that ceasefire, and we also said that lives were undoubtedly saved because of that ceasefire. And now as we watch the situation there, we have extreme concerns about the situation. There are ongoing airstrikes; some humanitarian aid had been stopped. We understand that some humanitarian aid may be getting back in again, at least for now, but it’s certainly not a safe situation. So we’re continuing to have talks with the Russians, we’re continuing to have talks with the Jordanians and express our extreme concern about the situation there.

Okay, anything else on Syria today?

QUESTION: No.

MS NAUERT: Okay.

QUESTION: Is there any meeting between Secretary Pompeo and the Russia Foreign Minister Lavrov being set up or being discussed? Because I understand Secretary Pompeo is going also to Middle East and also to Brussel. Is there a pull-aside meeting?

MS NAUERT: Is there a pull-aside? No. Nothing is on the schedule, at least not at this point.

All right. Said, go right.

QUESTION: Can we move on? Thank you, Heather. Yes. Seven former U.S. ambassadors to the United Nations submitted a letter to Secretary Pompeo yesterday, asking or urging him to reinstate the funding UNRWA. Could you share anything with us? Has he read it? Did he react to it? What is your position on this?

MS NAUERT: I can just tell you --

QUESTION: They’re both – they were both --

MS NAUERT: -- we don’t comment --

QUESTION: -- submitted by Democrats and Republicans.

MS NAUERT: As a general matter, we don’t comment on the Secretary’s correspondence, so let me start out by saying that. We certainly have seen the reports about former U.S. officials expressing their concern about the situation. No decision has been made on UNRWA funding at this point. We talked about this about a week and a half or so ago. We continue to express our concerns about the mismanagement of UNRWA, about the fact that UNRWA every year about this time has this emergency funding appeal where they come to all kinds of countries and say help, help, help, we need money. We feel that structural reforms need to be made and those reforms need to be put in place, and also that UNRWA should find some additional voluntary funding streams so that the burden-sharing is not just on the United States but on many other countries as well. There was a meeting back in Rome a few months ago that our Ambassador Satterfield had attended in which other countries had expressed their interest in providing some money, so we hope that some other countries in the region will step up to that.

QUESTION: I have couple more questions. Also on funding to the Palestinian Authority, there were reports two weeks ago that funding was cut off.

MS NAUERT: I’m sorry, there were reports what?

QUESTION: That aid to the Palestinian Authority was completely cut off or frozen. Could you share anything with us on that?

MS NAUERT: I don’t have anything for you on that, so I’m sorry. I can just tell you in terms of the UNRWA funding that that’s still under review.

QUESTION: And lastly, the Israelis denied entry to an American woman who was going in because of her activities. Is that something that you – that in any way disturbs you, that they disallow Americans from going in because of their political views or their activism?

MS NAUERT: I don’t know the details of this particular case. Countries are, however, allowed to admit or not to admit certain people into their countries. Just leave it at that.

QUESTION: But they said clearly that she was not allowed in because she supports BDS, which is really a peaceful movement. Is that --

MS NAUERT: Well, you know that we as a United States Government do not support --

QUESTION: Right.

MS NAUERT: -- what you call BDS.

QUESTION: Okay, that’s fine, but that’s --

MS NAUERT: Yeah.

QUESTION: -- still – I mean, it’s a peaceful protest kind of movement. It’s not in any way militant. You certainly will not deny --

MS NAUERT: And we value freedom of expression. You know that, yeah.

QUESTION: You don’t deny anyone for supporting BDS entry into the country.

MS NAUERT: Yeah. I don’t have the details on her particular case or on this particular case. We value the freedom of expression and we refer you back to the Government of Israel on that.

QUESTION: But this seems to have occurred time and time and time again, to the clergy, to professors and so on, and you are not bothered by that American --

MS NAUERT: Okay, last thing I will say is that countries are sovereign. They have a right to either admit or deny admittance to individuals at their border, okay?

QUESTION: Can you --

QUESTION: Nigeria.

QUESTION: -- excuse me, please – but when you do find out --

QUESTION: India.

QUESTION: -- more about this specific case, find out if there is a concern? Because she is a U.S. citizen and it is the mission of the State Department to assist Americans abroad in distress. It’s one of your primary functions, safety and security of American citizens. And because she is being – apparently being denied entry into an allied country because of free – her expression of free speech, that would seem to me that you might take more than just a casual interest. So when you do look into it, please get back to us. Thank you.

MS NAUERT: Certainly, Matt. Of course, always.

Laurie, go right ahead.

QUESTION: India.

QUESTION: Thank you. Are you concerned about the deteriorating security situation in Kirkuk? Because General Votel told us that the coalition, Peshmerga, and Iraqi Security Forces should all work together to address these problems. Is that your view too?

MS NAUERT: We – I would refer you to DOD, first of all, for any comments that General Votel may have made, but we certainly work with all of them to try to help ensure the security of Iraq.

QUESTION: And to renew cooperation between the two forces would be a good idea in your opinion?

MS NAUERT: I think – for the Iraqi Security Forces, for the Peshmerga, all of those various groups to be able to continue working together in conjunction with coalition partners, that’s certainly a good thing.

QUESTION: Okay. On Kirkuk – and this is your domain – relates to Iran, that Iraqi militias, which are part of the Iraqi Security Forces, are now transporting oil from Kirkuk to Iran and selling it there. That will soon be a violation of your policy on sanctions regarding Iran. Are you trying to stop that oil trade?

MS NAUERT: First, I want to – I want to make this clear: We can’t confirm that report. We’ve seen that report; we just can’t confirm it. Okay.

QUESTION: Okay.

QUESTION: (Off-mike)

QUESTION: Last one: Do you have a readout on the meeting that Administrator Green and Ambassadors Brownback and Silliman had with Prime Minister Barzani yesterday on protecting religious minorities?

MS NAUERT: That is a big thing for this administration. The Vice President has spoken about it numerous times. Secretary Pompeo I know is really looking forward to the religious ministerial – religious freedom ministerial that we’ll hold here at the State Department later this month. And then Ambassador Brownback, in conjunction with Mark Green, Administrator Green from USAID, just traveled over to northern Iraq to take a closer look at the plight of religious minorities in that part of the country, the Yezidis, the Christians and others. So when they return, I know that they will be debriefing the Vice President, and we’ll get a chance to hear from them too. So I’ll just wait until they’re able to return and get a chance to speak with the Vice President before reading that out.

QUESTION: Heather, just really quickly --

QUESTION: (Off-mike)

QUESTION: -- on Iran. Have you seen – are you aware of this bizarre story about an Iranian diplomat being arrested in Europe for being involved in an alleged plot to bomb the rally of an Iranian opposition group?

MS NAUERT: I did see that story, yes.

QUESTION: Do you guys have any thoughts or anything to say about either (1) the arrest of the diplomat, but also the plot in general, because it appeared to target an event at which a lot of Americans were – or at least a number of prominent Americans were attending.

MS NAUERT: Yeah, I think we probably would not get ahead of what investigators in France would be looking into. They would certainly play the lead role in looking into this in conjunction with any U.S. support that may be taking place. We’re closely monitoring that report; we’re certainly aware of it. We all saw it yesterday when it first came out. Overall, I can just say that we strongly condemn the Iranian Government’s use of terrorism, which has taken place around the world in many countries. We’re all too familiar with the Iranian attacks that have taken place, and we continue to condemn acts of terrorism that Iran has been involved with in the past. Okay? Okay.

QUESTION: (Off-mike)

QUESTION: On Iran?

MS NAUERT: Go ahead. Sir.

QUESTION: Can we stay on Iran?

MS NAUERT: Okay. Go ahead.

QUESTION: Does the State Department have any information to back up the President’s claim that the previous administration provided citizenship to 2,500 Iranians?

MS NAUERT: Yeah, I saw that report out earlier today. I – I’m certainly familiar with what you’re talking about. That’s under Department of Homeland Security. The Department of State does not grant citizenship to people from other countries, so I’d have to refer you to the Department of Homeland Security on that. Okay.

QUESTION: Do you have any announcement --

MS NAUERT: All right.

QUESTION: (Off-mike)

MS NAUERT: Go ahead, go right ahead.

QUESTION: NATO?

QUESTION: It’s about President Trump’s letter to NATO members about the increase of the military spendings. Did the State Department hear anything from the European countries about it? Their responses?

MS NAUERT: Their responses to which?

QUESTION: So President Trump’s letter to those NATO members about demanding the increase of their – yeah, spendings.

MS NAUERT: So – regarding the letter in general, I would have to refer you both to the White House and the National Security Council on that. Any letter would not have gone out from the State Department, but rather from the White House or from the NSC, so they will have to answer the questions.

However, I can tell you that burden sharing is something that the President speaks about a lot. Having NATO countries pay two percent of their GDP into defense is something that’s important to the President. The President feels that European security shouldn’t be more important to the United States than it is to those countries themselves. And so that’s one of the things that the President and others will be looking to ask of those European countries, to make sure they’re living up to those commitments that were made under the Wales Agreement some years ago.

QUESTION: So just this department hasn’t heard anything from the European countries about this letter?

MS NAUERT: I – listen, again, regarding this letter, if there was – if there is any letter, I’d have to refer you to the NSC and to the White House. I have nothing for you on that, but our policy about wanting countries to pay what they have already pledged to, what they have already promised to pay, is nothing new and that stance should come as no surprise. In terms of the Secretary – and I can speak to the State Department – we’re looking forward to heading to Brussels in support of the President and the President’s travels, and we’ll have some sidebar meetings as well on other issues, but we’re looking forward to be there backing the President. Okay.

QUESTION: (Off-mike)

MS NAUERT: Hi. Go ahead, go ahead.

QUESTION: Back on Iran, President Rouhani said today that the U.S. would not succeed in reducing Iranian oil exports and hinted at disrupting shipments from neighboring countries.

MS NAUERT: Yeah, I’m not – one thing you’ll come to learn about me and what we do here is we’re not going to comment on every comment that some foreign leader makes. You all heard the briefing – I think it was just yesterday – by Brian Hook. It feels like it was a week ago, but that was just yesterday, where Brian was talking about our goals and our goals regarding Iran and oil exports. And that’s something that’s important to us, an important part of our overall strategy, okay?

And we’re going to have to wrap it up in just a minute. Go ahead – right ahead, miss. How are you?

QUESTION: Good. Yesterday, Mr. Brian Hook said the diplomatic effort right now is focused on negotiation with European allies, but China, as the largest Iran oil buyer – why not the United States is engaging China right now? Without China’s support, how can you achieve your goal to reduce the oil export from Iran to zero?

MS NAUERT: Well, we have a lot of negotiations and conversations with the Chinese Government. In fact, Secretary Pompeo just spoke with the Chinese state councilor four or five days ago, four days ago or so. So we continue to have conversations with them on a lot of issues, from North Korea to Iran to other things as well. So we have a full plate that we’re discussing with China on other things.

QUESTION: And critics in China are saying that trade policy actually is a sovereign decision.

MS NAUERT: I’m sorry, that what is?

QUESTION: Trade policy actually is a sovereign decision. Why the United States can demand other countries to decide what to buy and what not to?

MS NAUERT: I don’t think that’s what the United States is doing. What the President and the Secretary of State have talked about is free, fair, and reciprocal trade, and for far too long, we believe that the United States Government and the taxpayers and United States businesses have gotten an unfair deal. So the President is looking to rebalance trade deals in that fashion.

I’ve got to wrap it up and leave it there, guys. Thank you, and we will look forward to seeing some of you on the road tomorrow. And have a happy Fourth of July.

QUESTION: Happy Fourth of July.

(The briefing was concluded at 3:41 p.m.)

DPB # 34

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Department Press Briefings : Department Press Briefing - June 21, 2018

Heather Nauert





Spokesperson


Department Press Briefing





Washington, DC





June 21, 2018











Index for Today's Briefing

INDIA



GERMANY



BAHRAIN



DEPARTMENT



CUBA



CHINA



CUBA



ISRAEL/PALESTINIANS



IRAN



TURKEY



SYRIA



IRAN



VIETNAM



NORTH KOREA


TRANSCRIPT:

3:18 p.m. EDT

MS NAUERT: Hi, everybody. Hi. Hi. Good to see you. A couple announcements to start out with – actually, several announcements. So get comfortable, as I say when we have a lot to go over.

First off, I’d like to wish all of you a Happy International Yoga Day. Last year I recall we had forgotten it, and so where are our friends here who practice yoga?

QUESTION: Goyal is the one who does yoga.

MS NAUERT: Goyal, yeah. Okay, there we’ve got one person in the back. (Laughter.)

Okay. Well, Happy International Yoga Day, everyone. It is celebrated around the world to recognize yoga’s many benefits to the mind and the body. The observance was launched by the United Nations in 2015 with U.S. support thanks to the initiative of Indian Prime Minister Modi.

Today we’re also celebrating another significant achievement with our Indian friends. I’m pleased to announce today that the United States will hold its India 2+2 Dialogue with the United States. It will be held here at the State Department on July the 6th. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis will host the Indian external affairs minister along with the minister of defense for meetings that will focus on strengthening the strategic and defense cooperation as the United States and India jointly address challenges in the Indo-Pacific region and also beyond.

Next, I’d like to say this on behalf of the entire State Department: I’d like to express our sincere gratitude and best wishes to German Ambassador Peter Wittig, who marked his last official day yesterday as German Ambassador to the United States. Over the course of nine years in which he has served here in the United States, he played a critical role in deepening mutual understanding and strengthening relations between our two great countries. Wishing him the best of luck in his next posting with his family.

Next, Matt, an issue I know that you’re following closely in Bahrain. I’d like to mention that we are following closely the case of Ali Salman, the former secretary general of the dissolved Al-Wefaq opposition political party, who was under investigation for allegedly collaborating with Qatar against the Government of Bahrain during the events of 2011. We welcome today’s verdict acquitting Ali Salman, along with his co-defendants. Today’s acquittal removes a potential barrier to political reconciliation in Bahrain, and we urge Bahraini prosecutors not to pursue an appeal of the judge’s ruling. We repeat our call on the Government of Bahrain to release Ali Salman from prison and grant relief from his previous conviction.

Next week --

QUESTION: Is that coming out as a written statement as well, or can it?

MS NAUERT: I’m not sure.

QUESTION: Can you put it out as (inaudible)?

MS NAUERT: Do you need it to? Do you need it to? Okay, we’ll look into that for you.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MS NAUERT: Easy enough.

Next, I’d like to announce our deputy secretary’s upcoming travels. Deputy Secretary John Sullivan will travel to the Netherlands, Denmark, Algeria, and Morocco. He will begin his trip in The Hague to lead the U.S. delegation to a special session on the Conference of the States Parties of the OPCW, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. He will underscore U.S. determination to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons, and also our commitment to ensuring that all responsible for the use of chemical weapons in Syria and elsewhere are held accountable.

Next, he’ll lead a delegation to Copenhagen to participate in Ukraine reform conference to reaffirm the U.S. support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity and its internationally recognized borders, and also reiterate our conviction that the success of Ukraine depends on the implementation of serious structural reforms. On the sidelines of that conference, the deputy will also meet with the Ukrainian prime minister and Denmark’s foreign minister to discuss bilateral and regional matters, including energy security.

The deputy will next travel to Algeria to meet with government officials and participate in the 5th annual U.S.-Algeria counterterrorism dialogue to reaffirm our strong partnership and shared efforts to promote regional stability and combat terrorism. His last stop will be Morocco, where he will meet with leaders to discuss a range of issues, including Morocco’s contributions to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.

Lastly, earlier today we had made plans to brief you and provide you with an update on a medical situation affecting our colleagues in Cuba; however, someone provided the information to the press before we could come out here. Why do I mention that? Because last year when we first learned about the health attacks that were affecting our colleagues in Cuba, I pledged to you personally that as soon as we learned new information that you needed to be aware of, that the public needed to be aware of, that I would bring that to you, and that was our intent today. There is now new information that is available. We learned about this about 11:30 or so earlier today.

On June 21st, following a comprehensive medical evaluation, one U.S. diplomat working at the U.S. Embassy Havana was medically confirmed to have experienced health effects similar to those that were reported by members of the U.S. Havana diplomatic community. This is the first medically confirmed case in Havana since August of 2017. The number of Americans now affected is 25. Previously, that number was 24; it is now 25. The health and well-being of our personnel remains our top priority here at the State Department. The investigation into the origin of these symptoms continues, and it is an interagency effort.

The interagency community continues to work diligently to determine the cause of the symptoms, as well as develop mitigation measures. We informed the Cuban Government of this occurrence on May the 29th of this year. The Cuban Government assured us that they will continue to take this seriously and are continuing their investigation. We strongly remind the Cuban Government of its responsibility under the Vienna Convention to protect our diplomats.

With that, I’d be happy to take your questions.

QUESTION: So – thanks, Heather. And I hope that when it comes to be International Yogurt Day, you will also remember that.

On Cuba, does this – this one person was one of the two who was most recently --

MS NAUERT: Medically evacuated to the United States, that is correct.

QUESTION: So does that mean that the other one was determined not to have --

MS NAUERT: Our other employee is still being evaluated at this time, so we don’t have any updates on his or her condition yet.

QUESTION: But – okay, but that means that then the testing continues and there has been no determination at all on that person.

MS NAUERT: That other employee is still being evaluated at this time, so if that number changes – and we certainly hope it does not – if it does, we’ll let you know.

QUESTION: And then the handful of people from China who were sent to – this is – these were – all these people were at the University of Pennsylvania?

MS NAUERT: I’m not going to confirm where they were sent.

QUESTION: Okay. Well, wherever it was they are, what about the people who were sent back with symptoms from China?

MS NAUERT: So some of our colleagues – and this is similar to the way that we handled it with Cuba – in Cuba – our colleagues who wanted a baseline medical evaluation, a screening, were able to receive that screening. We had sent medical professionals to China to assist with the evaluation. A number of people – a good number of people – were evaluated there at their request, and that’s something that we provided to our colleagues in Cuba as well. The number of individuals have returned to the United States from China. Some of them still do remain under evaluation at this point.

QUESTION: Okay. But – and again – then no determination has been made on those – so far from China, there’s just one.

MS NAUERT: We – in – from China we have one medically confirmed case at this point, one medically confirmed case. That does not mean that that number won’t change, but that is where it stands at this time.

QUESTION: On the Cuban Government, have you --

MS NAUERT: Yes.

QUESTION: What are the discussions with the Cuban Government about this latest person, and has there been – since you pulled out the diplomats and some have gone back, and where do things stand with the Cuban Government in terms of --

MS NAUERT: Well, I can just tell you that we’ve had conversations with the government, reminding them, of course, of their responsibility under the Vienna Convention. They have pledged to be of assistance in the investigation, and I’ll just leave it at that for right now.

QUESTION: Well, do you – they’ve pledged to. Do you find them cooperating?

MS NAUERT: I’m not going to characterize it in any way. I just want to state where things stand right now. All of this is still an ongoing investigation. As you all well know, we take this situation very seriously. If there’s anything more for you, I’d be happy to bring it to you.

QUESTION: No, I know you do, but there was a lot of intense criticism about the Cuban Government and its – whether its lack of cooperation or lack of sharing information. The Cubans maintain that they don’t know, but I’m just wondering if that kind of feeling that the Cubans were not upholding their responsibilities under the convention still exists.

MS NAUERT: I will let you know when we have something new for you on that.

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

QUESTION: So then there’s nothing new in terms of your assessment of how the Cuban Government is handling --

MS NAUERT: I have nothing new for you on that.

QUESTION: Heather, just to build on Elise’s question --

MS NAUERT: Okay. Hi.

QUESTION: -- the previous position last year on this had been we’re not saying Cuba did this, but we do not believe there’s any way that this could have happened in Cuba without the – at least the knowledge of Cuban officials.

MS NAUERT: And we talked about how it’s a small island --

QUESTION: Absolutely.

MS NAUERT: -- and they certainly would be aware of things going on on their island, we believe, yeah.

QUESTION: Right. Now that the U.S. Government has determined that something similar, if not identical, is happening on the other side of the planet in China, does that statement about the fact that this couldn’t have happened in Cuba without Cuba’s knowledge still – is that still an operative statement?

MS NAUERT: Are you talking about that with regard to Cuba or are you talking about that with regard to China?

QUESTION: Talking about that with – I guess the question is does the fact this is now happening in multiple places create any different opinion about whether it could have happened in Cuba without Cuba’s knowledge?

MS NAUERT: Look, I think our position on Cuba remains the same, and an investigation is still underway. We still don’t know to this date what is causing it and who is responsible. I want to make that very, very clear. With regard to China, there is an investigation also underway, and that is something that we will take very seriously, and when we have more information, when we have better information on what is causing this, who is responsible for it, then we will certainly let you know. But I don’t have anything more for you on that point.

QUESTION: And China obviously is also a country that has intense surveillance. Is the statement that it couldn’t happen in Cuba without Cuba’s knowledge true about China? Could it have happened in China without China’s knowledge?

MS NAUERT: I think we can’t combine the issues in that kind of way and assume that because one may have known, the other may have known as well. I can just share with you that the State Department has expressed its concern with both governments. Both governments have pledged their cooperation, and we expect that they will continue to cooperate with our investigations. When we have more, I’ll certainly let you know, okay?

Let’s move on to something else. Hi, Said. How are you?

QUESTION: Hi, Heather. Thank you.

MS NAUERT: Where do you want to start today?

QUESTION: I want to start with the Palestinian issue.

MS NAUERT: Okay.

QUESTION: Okay. With the --

MS NAUERT: Laurie, why are you laughing at Said?

QUESTION: With the delegation.

MS NAUERT: Sometimes he starts with Yemen. Sometimes he starts with other things.

QUESTION: That’s true. I can start with anything you want. I can carry on with Cuba if you want.

MS NAUERT: Okay.

QUESTION: But I wanted to ask you about the delegation that is on --

MS NAUERT: Yes.

QUESTION: That is touring the Middle East now. They met with the Jordanian king, they met with the crown prince in Saudi Arabia, but we don’t really know much about their activities. In the interim, in the meantime, there is war of words that is going on between Mr. Greenblatt and the Palestinians, and he’s saying that the Palestinian Authority, the Hamas people and so on, they’re basically bickering among each other and that does not allow for us to go forward. So I want to know your assessment. Are there any kind of contacts between the State Department or State Department officials, any Palestinians?

MS NAUERT: So Said, there are – I can certainly confirm that that travel is taking place. We addressed that the other day. There have been some readouts provided by the White House in terms of their meeting. So when you say we don’t know what’s going on, the White House has provided readouts, so I’d have to refer you back to those readouts.

There is a readout from Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt’s meeting with the president of Egypt. There is also one on their meeting with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. So I’d refer you back to those. They talked about a lot of things, including humanitarian relief to Gaza, the administration’s efforts to try to facilitate a longstanding – a peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. So there is information out there, and I’m sure the White House and Mr. Greenblatt’s office would be happy to provide that.

QUESTION: I have a couple more questions, one pertaining to UNRWA. You said on Tuesday that this is something that the Palestinians or UNRWA does every summer and every fall. So you think that UNRWA is exaggerating its appeal, its urgent appeal for more funds?

MS NAUERT: I think what they need to do is determine a way to better manage its budgeting and its finances, and that’s something – a concern that not just the United States has expressed, but other countries have expressed that concern as well, because every year around this time, late summer/fall, there are emergency appeals for more funding. So there needs to be a more sustainable way to have its funding not only come through but for them to manage their money. Again, it’s a concern that’s been expressed not just by the United States but other countries as well.

QUESTION: I know. But one of the reasons that there’s a shortfall this year is that you guys slashed your funding by --

MS NAUERT: Matt, there’s a shortfall every single year, so I think it’s unfair --

QUESTION: Yeah, I know. But the reason that it’s this big --

MS NAUERT: It’s unfair to put that responsibility on the United States. Let’s come up with a mechanism by which they can better manage their financing so there is not an emergency appeal year after year after year.

QUESTION: The problem is, is that you cut the funding by several – by like – I think more than half or almost half, and then you blame them for having a budget shortfall.

MS NAUERT: That would be --

QUESTION: Does that not defy logic?

MS NAUERT: That would be a fair criticism if it weren’t for every year there being an emergency appeal, and there is an emergency appeal every year regardless of the United States funding level.

QUESTION: Well, yeah, but it’s much bigger now and they’re going to have to shut down stuff and not open schools in September if they don’t get the money on --

MS NAUERT: And Matt, I think --

QUESTION: Like Monday they’re having – they’re having --

MS NAUERT: The United States and other countries have long expressed their concerns about their management. But also this administration has talked a lot about burden sharing, that we believe other countries should become just as involved as the United States has been. We remain such a generous nation and still providing money to many causes internationally, and it would be great if other countries were to step up to the plate as well.

QUESTION: All right, all that’s fine. Does this mean, though, that on Monday when they have their emergency pledging meeting in New York that there won’t be any additional money forthcoming from the United States?

MS NAUERT: I’m not going to preview any decisions or announcements that could be made.

QUESTION: Because I think they would argue, and others who are looking at it from the outside, that it is somewhat disingenuous for this administration to say that – to blame UNRWA for funding shortfalls that are partly or largely the fault of you guys cutting your funding to the organization regardless of whether it happens --

MS NAUERT: I’ll go back to saying this. Every year there is an emergency appeal for additional funding. This is not unique to this year or this administration alone. Okay?

QUESTION: One last one. I promise, one last --

MS NAUERT: Last one, and then we’ll move on to Laurie. Yeah.

QUESTION: Okay, that’s fine, that’s fine. I asked about the law that will prevent or prohibit taking pictures of Israeli soldiers with confrontations and so on. It passed its first reading. And you said you don’t want to prejudge or you don’t want to judge something before – while it’s being discussed or legislated. Now, isn’t it really more prudent to have – to warn against such a law before it becomes law? I mean, don’t you express your concern before this becomes the law?

MS NAUERT: Said, we don’t do that here in the United States, and I’m certainly not going to do that in Israel. Okay?

Let me go to Laurie, and I’ll come back to you. Hey, Laurie.

QUESTION: Hi. With the tougher line that you’ve been taking on Iran since leaving the JCPOA, would you support aiding Iran’s ethnic minorities like Kurds, Baloch, Arabs, as Representative Rohrabacher has suggested?

MS NAUERT: I’m not familiar with his – the legislation that he – has he proposed legislation?

QUESTION: It’s not legislation. He just suggested this in a hearing.

MS NAUERT: Okay. I’m sorry, I’d have to get a little bit more information on what exactly he is proposing, on what the congressman is proposing or suggesting. Sorry.

QUESTION: Okay. Well, leave the congressman out. But as a way of, say, bringing human rights and more democratic practices to Iran, would you support the – would you endorse the idea of supporting its ethnic minorities like the Kurds, like the Baloch, in gaining more rights in Iran?

MS NAUERT: Well, I think always underscoring and highlighting the rights of minority groups is something that’s important, whether it’s in Iran or whether it’s in Iraq or many other countries as well. China is another example of that where the rights and the dignities of minority populations need to be respected and should be respected.

QUESTION: Okay, thank you. And regarding Turkey, the foreign minister said today – and this is a two-part question.

MS NAUERT: Okay.

QUESTION: He said that YPG fighters will leave Manbij by July 4, that that’s part of the roadmap. But haven’t they left already? They said they’ve left. And he also threatened the United Nations that Turkey would attack the Makhmour refugee camp if it let the PKK stay there. What is that – what is your response to the foreign minister’s statement about attacking a refugee camp?

MS NAUERT: Well, I can tell you in terms of timelines and speculating on timelines, that’s something that we just aren’t able to do that we won’t get into. The current – nor can we get into the current status on the ground. We’ve agreed as a part of the overall roadmap in dealing with Manbij that the YPG will depart Manbij as part of that roadmap agreement. We’re continuing to work with our NATO ally Turkey on a common way forward in Manbij.

QUESTION: Can I go to Iran?

QUESTION: So you’re --

MS NAUERT: Okay. Hold on.

QUESTION: You’re saying that the YPG is still in Manbij? Because they said they left.

MS NAUERT: That is a – I can’t tell you exactly where they are. I mean, I – you may laugh at this, but I could refer you to the YPG to answer where exactly they are because that is not something that we can confirm. I can tell you, however, that they have agreed in that framework that they will depart Manbij, but I can’t confirm where they are at this point.

Okay.

QUESTION: Can I go to Iran?

QUESTION: Another Syria question?

MS NAUERT: Yeah. Okay. Hold on. Go ahead.

QUESTION: Syria. So in the statement that came out today on the violations for the southwest ceasefire in Syria, it said that there would be serious repercussions for those who continue to violate the ceasefire. So what do those repercussions entail? Can you give us --

MS NAUERT: Yeah. So part of this is we’re not going to preview a particular response the United States Government may or may not decide to take. So that’s first and foremost. I want to be clear that we’ve expressed our grave concerns with the Government of Russia. We’ve also expressed concerns and continue to have conversations with the Jordanians through the Amman monitoring center there.

Secretary Pompeo has raised these concerns directly with Foreign Minister Lavrov. He’s also had conversations with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about this. During the call over the weekend when the Secretary – or perhaps it was on Monday – spoke to Foreign Minister Lavrov, we talked about how important it is, how critical it is, for the mutual adherence to the arrangement, to the ceasefire arrangement, stood up nearly one year ago. This is something that we consistently had talked about, the success that humanitarian aid was able to get in. Lives were undoubtably saved in southwest Syria because of the ceasefire arrangement.

And now we start to see that Syrian regime military and also militia units have violated that de-escalation zone, the ceasefire zone, in southwest Syria. They’ve initiated airstrikes. There have been artillery and rocket attacks, and that’s a tremendous concern of ours.

QUESTION: And just to clarify, like, timing-wise --

MS NAUERT: Yeah.

QUESTION: -- after Pompeo and Lavrov spoke over the weekend, were there violations that then followed throughout the week that led to this statement?

MS NAUERT: I don’t have any specific information that I can provide you right here today, right now, about the timing of attacks and things that we have followed. But if I have anything more for you, I’ll certainly let you know.

QUESTION: Heather?

QUESTION: Just on the repercussions thing?

MS NAUERT: Yeah.

QUESTION: You said that you’re not going to preview what may or may not happen. The statement that came out a week ago on this very same subject said very specifically that if there were violations, the U.S. would have a firm – quote, “firm and appropriate response.” Not “may or may not have.” So are – is there some backsliding here that you might not do anything?

MS NAUERT: I have nothing more for you on that, Matt. Thank you.

QUESTION: Can I go to Iran?

MS NAUERT: Nadia, go right ahead.

QUESTION: Can I follow up on the visit? You said that the White House --

MS NAUERT: I’m sorry, on the what?

QUESTION: On the visit, on Mr. Kushner and Greenblatt --

MS NAUERT: Oh, okay.

QUESTION: -- to the region. You said that the White House already issued the statements and they talk about the focus on Gaza and the humanitarian crisis. How are you going to do that without dealing with Hamas in Gaza? And is his visit to countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar and elsewhere and Egypt a way to coordinate with these countries to bypass dealing with Hamas?

MS NAUERT: Yeah, I can’t answer the question to that. I’d have to refer you to Mr. Kushner and Mr. Greenblatt’s office. When they are finished with their meetings we will get a full readout, and perhaps I can then bring you some additional information on that. I’d be --

QUESTION: But anybody from the State Department also coordinating with --

MS NAUERT: We covered this the other day. We have folks from the State Department. As we always do when we have people visiting different posts, different consulates and the like, we facilitate, help facilitate those meetings and are involved in their travel in that regard. But if I have – get something more for you, I’ll let you know.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MS NAUERT: Okay.

QUESTION: Can I go to Iran?

MS NAUERT: Nick, hi.

QUESTION: The Secretary issued two tweets yesterday on Iran, one on protests being up on the – and the other on the unemployment rate. Did he send those two tweets himself?

MS NAUERT: The Secretary closely follows his Twitter account, yes.

QUESTION: So what was the message that he was trying to convey with those two tweets?

MS NAUERT: I think, look, as we look at the situation in Iran and we see the frustration that regular Iranians feel and are expressing, we’ve seen so many protests over the past year. I think the Secretary was merely pointing out the fact that these protests continue. We have seen the Iranian population tremendously concerned with their lack of economic progress. We’ve seen the Iranian regime pledge that regular Iranian people would see the benefits of their economy, and they certainly have not seen that, they’ve not experienced that. So we start to see people express their frustration through freedom of speech, through these types of protests, and I think – just highlighting the fact that those continue. We’ve seen people continue to be oppressed there. Women who protest the forced wearing of a hijab, they protest. We’ve seen some of them thrown in prison. Iranians appear to be increasingly frustrated, and I think he’s merely pointing that out.

QUESTION: So – but this is not – I mean, in his Iran speech several weeks ago, there also were these similar references to how the people of Iran must be upset with their government, and it raised a lot of questions about whether he was advocating regime change in Iran. Is – does he believe that Iranians would be better served by a different government?

MS NAUERT: We are seeking a change in the regime’s behavior. I think that is what most people would want, a change in the behavior on the part of the regime.

QUESTION: On the – on --

MS NAUERT: Okay. Yeah. (Inaudible.)

QUESTION: Can I change the subject?

QUESTION: Well hold on, just on that one tweet with the graph. He captioned it, “Can this be explained,” and I’ve got to tell you that a lot of people looking at that graph were wondering if – that – it needs – that in itself needed to be explained. That graph – obviously the X-axis was time, but there was no label on the Y access – axis. It’s not clear if he was trying to refer to the size of protests or the numbers of protests, just said trend. And there was no source for this information. Can you answer --

MS NAUERT: U.S. Government is the sourcing of that information.

QUESTION: Since you have no embassy and no one in Iran, how did – where’s this information coming from?

MS NAUERT: Those are U.S. Government statistics that the U.S. Government has been able to pull together.

QUESTION: From what?

MS NAUERT: U.S. Government sources that the U.S. Government has been able to pull together, and we provided that to all of you.

QUESTION: From – from Iranian opposition people’s Twitter feeds? I mean --

MS NAUERT: Matt, I’m not going get into all of the details --

QUESTION: Where --

MS NAUERT: -- about where all our information comes from.

QUESTION: (Inaudible.)

QUESTION: Well, it obviously (inaudible) intelligence --

MS NAUERT: Our information comes – excuse me, Elise. Our information comes from a broad array of sources, and I’ll leave it at that.

QUESTION: All right. Well, in the future, could that – could those kinds of basic things for when you’re going to tweet a graph or even publish one, like the – what the actual Y-axis means and the source of the data that you’re using be included?

MS NAUERT: You can put down at the bottom – in fact, you can use that graph if you like, and then you can put, source, colon, U.S. Government there.

QUESTION: Well, I notice that you thought enough about it, because the photograph that accompanied it in the background was an AP photograph, and that was --

MS NAUERT: Oh, was it an AP photograph?

QUESTION: Yes, and there was a credit to AP there. (Laughter.) So someone was thinking – someone was thinking a little bit about the small things, but it really would help if we knew what the source of the information was and what the actual information purports to show.

MS NAUERT: U.S. Government sources, and I’ll leave it at that.

QUESTION: All right.

MS NAUERT: Elise, go right ahead.

QUESTION: Well – I just will point out that when you do have reports and stuff, you do make citations of what your sources are. But anyway, this question is about Vietnam. Is there anything new about the arrest of William Nguyen in Vietnam? There was a consular visit last week. Has there been a new one?

MS NAUERT: And thank you for asking about the case. This is a case of an American citizen who’s been detained in Vietnam, and I have a little bit of new information for those of you who are following this case. Our consular officers have now engaged with the Vietnamese Government. They engaged, in fact, as soon as they learned of Mr. Nguyen’s case, and as soon as they learned of his arrest. He still has not been charged by the Government of Vietnam. Our understanding of the law there is that Vietnam will conduct an investigation before they actually charge someone. This, I think, is a good reminder that the rules and the laws that we have here in the United States are often very different from the rules and laws in other countries. It’s a good reminder for Americans and all people who travel to other countries that what may seem like a normal law here may not be a normal law in another country, and that you are subject to the laws of the country in which you are visiting. Our consular officers visited Mr. Nguyen at the first available opportunity. The Vietnam Government permitted our consular access to Mr. Nguyen on June the 15th. Our ambassador and other department personnel are now engaged with congressional representatives on his case, and we are continuing our conversations with congressional representatives. We’re deeply concerned by videos that show injuries, and the initial treatment of him on June the 10th. That was in Ho Chi Minh City; that’s the time that he was taken into custody. We’ve made those concerns known to the Vietnamese authorities. His safety, and the safety of all U.S. citizens in the United States – of the United States, rather, is of utmost concern, and we’ll continue to watch for this.

Also, this is a good reminder, and just as a general matter, that when Americans, or anybody for that matter, travel to another country and there’s a demonstration or a protest taking place, those things can very quickly go from something that is peaceful and seemingly peaceful, and it can quickly turn. So we’d just like to caution, take this opportunity to caution American travelers on that as well.

QUESTION: So about those videos – so there was a concern about the treatment in which he was arrested, but when you had your consular visit on June 15th, was there concern about his treatment in prison?

MS NAUERT: I don’t have any information for you on that, but I can just tell you that our consular officers did visit him --

QUESTION: And the family --

MS NAUERT: -- and some of that information we would keep private anyway and wouldn’t disclose publicly.

QUESTION: Three congressmen from his district have sent a letter to Secretary Pompeo asking for a meeting to talk to him about it. Do you know if that’s been scheduled?

MS NAUERT: I don’t have any information on that for you.

Hi.

QUESTION: Can I move to North Korea?

MS NAUERT: Certainly.

QUESTION: Can you tell us where we are almost 10 days after the summit? Last week President Trump said that the negotiation, follow-up negotiations will start this week, that it will be led by Secretary Pompeo. So have there been some engagement with the North Koreans this week and some progress?

MS NAUERT: On Tuesday of this week, I confirmed that we have been in communication with the Government of North Korea. Secretary Pompeo will be meeting with them and talking with them at the earliest possible date to try to implement the outcomes of the U.S.-DPRK summit. We don’t have any meetings or travel to announce at this time. As soon as we do, I promise I will let you know. I know you all have a lot of interest in that.

QUESTION: There are reports from the region that Secretary Pompeo might go there in – back in Pyongyang this weekend or next week. You don’t have any --

MS NAUERT: I don’t have any meetings or any travel for you to announce.

QUESTION: And President Trump today said that there were many progress on denuclearization made the last days. Do you have some steps made by the North Koreans --

MS NAUERT: This is the kind --

QUESTION: -- some decision taken, some --

MS NAUERT: Yeah, so North Korea had agreed to denuclearization. That is certainly a promising step. Other countries are agreeing to that and continue to endorse our policy and our priorities of denuclearization. It will be a lengthy process in terms of these conversations and the meetings that we will have with this government. I’m not going to be able to provide you with a tick-tock of every step along the way. There’s a lot of work ahead of us, a lot of work left to be done, and when I have something to announce, I’ll certainly let you know.

QUESTION: And what President Trump was referring to when he said there were many progress made in the last few days? I mean, if there are progress, you can tell us if there are some steps, decision taken?

MS NAUERT: I’m not – I don’t have anything to share with you on that.

Okay. Yeah.

QUESTION: Just on that, when you say that they’ve agreed to denuclearization, it doesn’t seem that in the statement that came out of the summit that there was agreement on the actual definition of denuclearization and what that means. I mean, to the United States, it could mean something very different than it does to North Korea. So when you say that the North Koreans have agreed to denuclearization, how do you define what denuclearization --

MS NAUERT: Yeah. The United States and North Korea affirmed and underscored to work toward complete – and I’m just reading from the document itself – to work toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. That is our agreement. That is what we’re working to do. Granted, we have a lot of work ahead of us. Our eyes are wide open as we go into this, but we’ll keep pushing forward and keep pursuing it.

QUESTION: But I mean, according to the Nonproliferation Treaty and other things, complete denuclearization to the North Koreans, as they expressed in the past, is after all nuclear states are at zero themselves. So, I mean, obviously the United States doesn’t think that it’s going to wait for denuclearization of North Korea after the U.S. has a complete denuclearization of itself.

MS NAUERT: Elise, you’ve seen our policy, you know what our policy is. We’re working hard toward that goal, okay?

Rich.

QUESTION: What – just to follow up.

MS NAUERT: Let me just go to Rich. Rich hasn’t gotten anything yet.

QUESTION: Real quick and on the same thing.

MS NAUERT: Yeah, yeah.

QUESTION: When the President does say it’s already started – and I know you don’t want to give a step-by-step, but is the relationship with North Korea at the point where there is any type of international presence there to verify whether that’s already started?

MS NAUERT: I’m not going to get into who’s – who may or may not be on the ground there, but it’s something that we’re in communication with that government and we’re working hard toward this goal.

QUESTION: Can you explain why the --

QUESTION: Heather, can you --

MS NAUERT: Matt, let me get to some other people too.

QUESTION: Sure.

MS NAUERT: Abbie, go right ahead.

QUESTION: Are there any meetings that are occurring right now or have occurred since then between the U.S. and North Korea --

MS NAUERT: I can just tell you we’re in communication --

QUESTION: -- any discussions or working groups?

MS NAUERT: -- we’re in communication with the government.

Yeah.

QUESTION: At what level?

MS NAUERT: Elise, I’m not going to get into all of the details about who, what, where, when, why, how, what flowers – Matt likes to know what flowers are going on the table. I’m not going to be able to provide you with that information, but when I have something --

QUESTION: So you’re not going to be able to help us with the who, what, where, why, and when, which is exactly the idea of what we do for a living, right, is trying to say who, what – so you’re saying you’re going to be unhelpful.

MS NAUERT: But what we’re doing for a living here is working toward a goal, and the goal is denuclearization and following through on the commitments that were made. And sometimes that can be difficult when we’re distracted by all of the questions going on, though.

QUESTION: Just a quick follow – when you say that there are contacts with North Korea --

MS NAUERT: Yes.

QUESTION: -- does that mean there are just contacts or there are contacts about the specific charge of setting up a negotiating process?

MS NAUERT: Elise, I’m not going to get into that, okay?

QUESTION: So there could be – there were contacts before the summit and there were contact – there have been contacts through --

MS NAUERT: You can conclude whatever you want out of that, but I can tell you we are in --

QUESTION: So then we can conclude that nothing has changed since the summit because if there was contact with North Korea before --

MS NAUERT: If that is the assumption you want to make, go right ahead.

QUESTION: Would you say that --

MS NAUERT: Go right ahead if that’s the assumption that you want to make.

QUESTION: Even if you don’t want to say --

MS NAUERT: I’m not going to get – I’m not going to get into the details, but the reality is that we are having – we are in contact, we are in communication with that government. And by the way, let me just point out that we are a significant step ahead from where we were six months ago, one year ago. I mean, think of --

QUESTION: So since --

QUESTION: Are those the contours of those conversations, or are those just like the typical New York Channel type of discussions that have nothing to do with bilateral relations?

MS NAUERT: Elise, I’m not going to characterize those conversations or the communications. Okay? I’m sorry.

QUESTION: On the question of --

QUESTION: Would you just – would you say that --

MS NAUERT: Okay. And I’m going to have to go. Let me just go to Kylie last --

QUESTION: Would you say (inaudible) conversation (inaudible)?

QUESTION: Yeah. So still on North Korea.

MS NAUERT: Yeah.

QUESTION: There was a report in Reuters that there was an agreement to shut – to close the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground, which is one of the sites that is apparently a vehicle for the ICBMs that can hit the United States. Can it be confirmed that they have taken steps to tear this down, and do we know if it’s happened yet or if it will happen?

MS NAUERT: Mm-hmm. And I appreciate the question. I mean, that is something at – at the State Department, we can’t answer at that point. I’ve certainly seen that report; we’ve seen that report. I would imagine there would be other government entities who would be involved in trying to clarify that and determine exactly what’s taking place. But here at the State Department, we can’t confirm that that’s the case.

I’ve got to go. Guys, I have a meeting in just a few minutes. I’m sorry. Yeah, thanks.

QUESTION: Thank you.

(The briefing was concluded at 3:53 p.m.)

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Department Press Briefings : Department Press Briefing - May 29, 2018

Heather Nauert





Spokesperson


Department Press Briefing





Washington, DC





May 29, 2018











Index for Today's Briefing

VENEZUELA



DEPARTMENT



SYRIA



DEPARTMENT



SYRIA



NORTH KOREA



ISRAEL/PALESTINIANS



SYRIA



TURKEY



SYRIA



CUBA



PAKISTAN


TRANSCRIPT:

3:13 p.m. EDT

MS NAUERT: Hi, everybody. How are you today?

QUESTION: Hello.

QUESTION: Hi.

MS NAUERT: Hope everyone had a nice weekend. It’s good to see you again. Get comfortable. I have a bunch of announcements for you.

You probably – I know many of you followed this closely over the weekend, and that was the release of our U.S. citizen from Venezuela, Josh Holt. He had been held at a prison for nearly two years. This was a case that we continued to call for his release on humanitarian grounds for a very long time. You heard us speak about that frequently here. I’d like to thank our colleagues at our U.S. embassy in Caracas, I’d like to thank my colleagues in Consular Affairs, and especially I’d like to thank our Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Tom Shannon for his efforts on this case over the past two years.

Under Secretary Shannon helped lead the efforts of the entire department, to include CA, Legislative Affairs, and Western Hemisphere Affairs teams, to secure the humanitarian release of the Holt family from Venezuela. Under Secretary Shannon coordinated with members of Congress, advising them on what proved to be a successful strategy on the part of our colleagues. Such teamwork and trust is essential to managing these incredibly difficult cases and seeking progress however we can.

Next, I have another announcement related to an under secretary, and that is Andrea Thompson. I look forward to introducing each of you to her at some point in the near future. She is the Under Secretary for Arms Control in International Security, otherwise known here at the State Department as the T family. Andrea Thompson represented the United States at the 15th anniversary of the Proliferation Security Initiative on May 15th along with senior representatives from 77 nations. At the – at that event, Under Secretary Thompson delivered President Trump’s letter acknowledging the contribution of PSI in the fight against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. More than 58 states endorsed four joint statements which communicated the signatories to specific actions such as strengthening domestic legal authorities to take strong action and timely actions under PSI and enhancing critical capabilities and practices.

The Under Secretary also participated in the ministerial meeting of the Partnership Against Impunity for the Use of Chemical Weapons. That was hosted by the French Foreign Minister Le Drian on May the 18th. That included the UK Foreign Minister Boris Johnson. The partnership issued a joint statement, which included specific references to the Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons in Douma, Syria, and the Russian attack in Salisbury, UK. The meeting highlighted the international coalition’s determination to hold a special OPCW conference of state parties meeting on attribution in late June.

Next, I have some more news from our seventh floor, and that is I’m pleased to make a personnel announcement today. We’re pleased to announce the appointment of Ambassador Michael McKinley as senior advisor to Secretary Pompeo. Ambassador McKinley brings a broad range of experience on global issues. He most recently served as the U.S. ambassador to Brazil and has previously served as ambassador to Afghanistan, Colombia, and Peru. He’s also served as deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels and deputy assistant secretary in the Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. He’s a senior Foreign Service officer.

Ambassador McKinley was born in Venezuela. He grew up in Brazil, Mexico, Spain, and the United States, and he has a doctorate from Oxford University and has published a book on the colonial history of Venezuela. I know the Secretary’s looking forward to having him join him on the seventh floor as a senior advisor.

In addition, I’d like to extend my congratulations to Randy Evans, who was confirmed late last week as the new U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg; David Cornstein, confirmed as the new U.S. ambassador to Hungary; Jonathan Cohen, confirmed as the deputy representative of U.S. Mission to the United Nations with the rank and status of ambassador and the deputy representative of the U.S. in the Security Council of the United Nations.

And finally, Francis Fannon, who was confirmed as the first assistant secretary of state for energy resources. He will lead the department’s efforts to forge international energy policy, strengthen U.S. and global energy security, and respond to energy issues on behalf of the U.S. Government.

Next, I’d like to talk about Syria, and that is the assumption of the presidency of the Conference on Disarmament. Andrea, this is what you had asked me about earlier. Syria’s turn to serve as president of the Conference on Disarmament from May 28th to June the 22nd – we are outraged at the Syrian regime’s blatant disregard for human life, its serial violations of and contempt for its international obligations, and its audaciousness in assuming the presidency of an international body committed to advancing disarmament and nonproliferation. Syria lacks the credibility to assume the presidency, a point tragically illustrated by Assad’s repeated regime – repeated use, pardon me, of chemical weapons against the Syrian people. The regime’s blatant violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, the failure to correct its violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, and its violation of its safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency all demonstrate the regime’s disregard for its obligations in nonproliferation and disarmament.

It will not be business as usual while Syria presides over this body. During the next four weeks, we will limit our participation during CD plenaries. However, we will still represent and protect the interests of the United States. We encourage other responsible nations to work with us to counter Syria’s presidency and to hold the regime accountable for its brutal attacks on the Syrian people and its disregard for international arms control and nonproliferation obligations.

A couple more announcements. We’re still – got a few more. Today marks the 70th anniversary of UN Peacekeeping, so I’d like to pay tribute to the sacrifice of more than 3,700 peacekeepers who have given their lives in the name of peace. The United States commends the efforts of more than 100,000 troops, police, civilians currently serving in UN Peace Operations. UN Peacekeeping Operations are an essential tool for the maintenance of international peace and security and a powerful mechanism for addressing many of today’s global crises. Over 70 years, the international community has worked together in U.S. Peacekeeping to bring stability, to protect civilians, to mitigate the expansion of terrorism and illicit activities, and also help alleviate human suffering – objectives that we all share.

The United States will continue to strive for better, smarter peacekeeping operations that are more effectively and efficiently able to address conflicts, support political solutions, and meet the needs of people on the ground. We’re committed to reforms that create a culture of performance in U.S.1 Peacekeeping, reforms that enhance the safety and security of peacekeepers and increase the operational effectiveness of missions. Through programs such as the U.S. Global Peace Operations Initiative, GPOI, and the International Police Operations Support, we build partner country’s capacity to train, to equip, to deploy, and sustain military and police personnel. We emphasize effective leadership, peacekeeping competency, and gender integration. So today, we’d like to thank the men and women who have served and continue to serve under the flag of the United Nations with peace.

And lastly, I’d like to provide an update on the Secretary’s trip to New York tomorrow. Since the President’s May 24th letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the North Koreans have been engaging with the United States. The United States continues to actively prepare for President Trump’s expected summit with Leader Kim in Singapore. President Trump will meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan on June the 7th at the White House. I know Secretary Pompeo looks forward to being a part of those meetings.

North Korean Vice Chairman of the Central Committee Kim Yong-chol is arriving in New York and will meet with Secretary Pompeo later this week. We also have a U.S. delegation meeting with the North Korean delegation in the DMZ. The United States delegation consists of Sung Kim, U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines, Allison Hooker, Director of Korea for the NSC, and Randy Schriver, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs at the Department of Defense. They plan to have additional meetings later this week.

Separately, Joe Hagen, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, and the U.S. pre-advance team, including members from the State Department, are in Singapore this week, where they’re conducting logistics of the expected summit.

And with that, I’d be happy to take your questions. Thanks for bearing with me through all of that.

QUESTION: Pre-advance team?

MS NAUERT: Pre-advance team.

QUESTION: Can’t it just be an advance team? (Laughter.)

MS NAUERT: Grammarian. Go right ahead, Matt.

QUESTION: Well, I don’t know. I just had one thing on the Syria and the COD, the Disarmament Conference. When you say you’re going to limit your participation, what does that mean?

MS NAUERT: Well, I think that means – and pardon me, I almost called – or Ambassador Haley referred to this earlier today. She put out a statement in which she talked a little bit about her concerns about this. I think that means that the United States may not as fully cooperate as it normally does. However, we will continue to address and represent U.S. interests at those meetings.

QUESTION: Well, does that mean you’re not going to go to certain meetings or you’ll have a lower level representative or --

MS NAUERT: I’m not going to get ahead of what that exactly is going to look like. But we remain very concerned about this issue. And I would refer you to Ambassador Haley’s statement and our statement as well for that.

QUESTION: Okay. On North Korea – what day is the meeting in New York with the Secretary? And what exactly – you’ve got two different teams, one in the DMZ with Sung Kim and the other one the pre-advance in Singapore. Can you give us a – what is each group doing, specifically?

MS NAUERT: So I know all of you would like a detailed play-by-play of all the meetings, the conversations that we’re having, what happened when, what did they eat, what kind of flowers were there and all that.

QUESTION: No, I don’t actually care about --

MS NAUERT: We’re not going to get into all of the nitty-gritty and conduct that here from this room. I can just tell you that the Secretary looks forward to his meetings. He will be heading up to New York tomorrow. I believe a media note is being put out to all of you, if it hasn’t gone out already, that we are still finalizing exactly what these meetings will look like, but the Secretary will be heading up to New York tomorrow and I believe returning some time on Thursday.

QUESTION: So does that mean the meeting is – hasn’t been set yet?

MS NAUERT: We have meetings scheduled. We’re still working out all the final details of that.

QUESTION: All right. And you can’t really even get into just what the basket of issues that each – I mean, I hope they’re not all talking about the same thing, right. I mean, that would seem to be --

MS NAUERT: For each of the groups that are meeting?

QUESTION: Yes.

MS NAUERT: I think that each of the groups that are meeting, such as our colleagues who are in Singapore right now, our colleagues who are at the Demilitarized Zone, are all having meetings about different pieces in which they have an expertise.

QUESTION: Right. So --

MS NAUERT: I’m not going to get into all of the details of that, but I think it’s pretty impressive, thinking about where we were one year ago – where we were even six months ago, for that matter. And now we have three simultaneous meetings taking place on this matter to talk about the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

QUESTION: All right. The last one. Is it your view – is it the administration’s view that none of this flurry of activity would have happened but for the letter the President sent?

MS NAUERT: Matt, I’m not going to get into that. We are where we are today. We know we’re looking forward to participating in those meetings as we prepare for President Trump’s summit in June. Okay.

QUESTION: Follow up on this?

MS NAUERT: Lesley. Hi.

QUESTION: A follow-up. Apparently – well, according to the Treasury’s website, this official, Kim Yong-chol, is under U.S. sanctions. Did he need to get a special waiver to come to New York?

MS NAUERT: My – and we’ve talked about these types of things before: When people from certain countries come to the United States, how exactly does that all work? There is an interagency process that allows for this kind of travel, this type of official travel to take place. We are making sure that we are in compliant with all of our own rules.

QUESTION: Which means that he did get a waiver, then?

MS NAUERT: I would imagine that whatever was necessary was, in fact, done.

Hi.

QUESTION: And can I have a follow-up --

MS NAUERT: Yeah, sure.

QUESTION: -- from this morning’s briefing with the ambassador?

MS NAUERT: Let’s – is this about North Korea?

QUESTION: Yeah.

MS NAUERT: Okay.

QUESTION: It’s just something that he said that’s left a little bit of confusion. When he was asked specifically whether rights abuses were going to be raised with the North Koreans, he said “it is a matter of discussion.”

MS NAUERT: Well, I think what he meant is that he’s not going to get ahead of the Secretary’s meetings and isn’t going to get ahead of the President’s meetings on this. We have a lot of very important matters to discuss with the Government of North Korea, chiefly the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Beyond that, I’m not going to get into any of the specifics. We’ll see how all of this goes. Okay?

QUESTION: So you don’t think it’s going to be included?

MS NAUERT: I’m not saying that it will be; I’m not saying it won’t be. We’re just not going to get ahead of the Secretary’s meetings that start this week.

Hi, Andrea.

QUESTION: Can you let us know whether the acknowledged expert on North Korean nuclear facilities, Dr. Sieg Hecker from Stanford’s report, is at all part of the information that is being looked at by the administration going into this?

MS NAUERT: I can tell you I’m not personally familiar with the report that you referenced. I can look into that and see if I have anything for you on that.

QUESTION: It’s a report today that says that it would take 15 years to denuclearize.

MS NAUERT: Ah, okay. I haven’t reviewed it; I’m not sure if anyone here at the State Department has reviewed this outside professor’s report. If we have anything on it – for that on you, I’ll let you know.

QUESTION: And can you give us some idea of what we can expect in terms of any kind of public press coverage of these meetings in New York?

MS NAUERT: I can tell you there will be press engagement. We’re still working through all the details. We are heading up there tomorrow sometime in the day, and I’ll let you know as we get more clarity on what those exact timelines will look like, and the events.

QUESTION: Heather --

MS NAUERT: Okay. Hey, Nick, I think you were next.

QUESTION: Do you have any sense for what accounted for the North Koreans changing position? I mean, the Secretary testified last week that all the U.S. was getting was dial tones, and now suddenly there seems to be this fulsome dialogue.

MS NAUERT: I’m not going to presume to know why the North Koreans and the United States started having conversations again. It’s not my place to do so. I can just tell you now that we are looking forward to having these meetings, and I think we’ve seen a tremendous amount of progress over the past few days alone.

QUESTION: Okay. And just one more. Is it your belief now or the State Department’s belief that the Singapore summit will go ahead on June 12th?

MS NAUERT: That is what we’re planning for, but we’ll see what happens. Okay?

Francesco.

QUESTION: Just a follow-up to Matt question. Can you at least tell us if Secretary Pompeo meeting in New York will be about setting the agenda and talking about what denuclearization mean for each part and each country?

MS NAUERT: Well, this will be the Secretary’s third meeting with Kim Yong-chol. They’ve had obviously very deep conversations, where they’ve talked about a lot of detail about what the United States expectations are. Again, I’m not going to get ahead of those meetings. I’ll let the Secretary handle it with him, and I’m not going to debate it here from the podium with all of you.

QUESTION: But it’s not on logistical matters; it’s more on the agenda?

MS NAUERT: We’ll see. We will see. I have not asked the Secretary that question personally, what exactly is going to be discussed. I think the primary conversation is going to be as we lead up to this meeting that we’re planning for June the 12th. Okay.

QUESTION: Can I follow up?

MS NAUERT: Yeah, go ahead.

QUESTION: Yes. If he’s – if Kim – Yong-chol is provided with a waiver by the State Department, has he also been approved to travel anywhere other than New York within the U.S.?

MS NAUERT: I believe that if anyone were to travel beyond New York that they would need additional waivers for that. I don’t have any – or they would need some sort of an approval for that. I don’t have anything for you more on that.

Go ahead.

QUESTION: And why have the meetings in the U.S. and not elsewhere?

MS NAUERT: That’s where they’re being held. I think it’s great. Easy trip up to New York, and you all can get up there easily too.

QUESTION: Heather?

MS NAUERT: Hi, Janne.

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

QUESTION: Hi, thank you. North Korea asking United States to guarantee their safety. Is it a system – system guarantee for North Korea or regime guarantee? What is it?

MS NAUERT: A what guarantee?

QUESTION: What is the – yeah, guarantee for the what?

MS NAUERT: I’m sorry, state the last part again?

QUESTION: Guarantee for the what? Is that a system guarantee for their regime, or what is --

MS NAUERT: Will they be protected while they’re here in the United States? Is that what you’re asking?

QUESTION: Yes.

MS NAUERT: Yes, that is something that our security apparatus affords to every foreign leader coming into the United States when they come in for meetings.

QUESTION: But why is it – why it’s guaranteed for the – what is it? I mean --

MS NAUERT: Pardon me?

QUESTION: Is it security guarantees or economic --

MS NAUERT: There is no talk about economic guarantees, but we do provide, to answer your question, security, security protection, when foreign officials do travel here to the United States, especially at a high level.

Hey, Nick.

QUESTION: Hi. There’s reporting today that the U.S. was prepared to unveil a new round of sanctions on North Korea but has postponed that indefinitely. It was set to be unveiled as early as today. Do you think that kind of contradicts the idea or the notion that maximum pressure will continue until there is complete, verifiable --

MS NAUERT: No, I think this was something under discussion at the Department of Treasury. I’d just have to refer you to them on that. I think it speaks volumes the fact that we’re having meetings right now and the importance of the denuclearization, our policy on that.

By the way, while we’re talking about this issue, I just want to highlight the great work that the Government of Singapore has done and how much assistance that they have provided to the United States, especially Prime Minister Lee in particular, who has been gracious with his time, gracious with all their efforts in helping the United States to plan for this summit. They’re obviously our strategic partner, and they have just been incredibly generous in agreeing to host an upcoming meeting, so I just wanted to highlight that and thank the Government of Singapore for that.

QUESTION: On that point --

MS NAUERT: Yeah.

QUESTION: -- can we assume that the other side did show up in Singapore, that our pre-advance group is actually working with North Koreans?

MS NAUERT: I don’t have any information for you on that, but if I do, I’ll let you know.

QUESTION: Can I move on?

MS NAUERT: Hi, Said.

QUESTION: Yes.

MS NAUERT: Can we do one more question on Korea?

QUESTION: Sure.

MS NAUERT: Oh, sure.

QUESTION: Can we just go back to the location for a second? Just in light of symmetry, why is this meeting happening in New York versus D.C., and why isn’t there an opportunity for the equivalent of Pompeo to meet with Trump when Pompeo did meet with Kim Jong-un?

MS NAUERT: I think it’s important that we’re going up to New York. I know the Secretary looks forward to engaging him in New York, and that’s all I have for you on that, that we’re going to be in New York and we look forward to those meetings.

QUESTION: But what message does that send that it’s New York and not D.C.?

MS NAUERT: I don’t think it sends any kind of message. I mean, if you’re the North Koreans, you’re traveling a really far distance regardless of whether it’s Washington, D.C. or New York City. And I think it shows the importance of this meeting to look forward and look ahead to the planned meetings that the President would have with his counterpart in the future.

Said, hi.

QUESTION: Can we move to the Palestinian issue?

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

MS NAUERT: Okay, final one on DPRK, then we’re going to move on.

QUESTION: How long are you going to be at the UN in New York?

MS NAUERT: Sir, I don’t have any information for you on that. As I said, we’re still finalizing all the details. Okay.

Hi, Said.

QUESTION: Just very quickly on the Palestinian issue, two quick questions. The Israelis are introducing a bill that would ban photographing soldiers in action, apparently while they’re putting down the demonstrations and so on. Does that concern you in any way? Does that in any way compromise the integrity of the press?

MS NAUERT: Said, you have a hard enough time getting me to comment on pending legislation here in the United States. We’re certainly not going to comment on that pending legislation. I would just have to refer you to whoever proposed that, the sponsors of that legislation.

QUESTION: But you’re a champion of the free speech and freedom of the press. Would you – I mean, would you – how do you --

MS NAUERT: Said, I don’t have the specifics on that matter. I’d just have to refer you back to them.

QUESTION: Okay, one last question. It seems that the Palestinian intelligence chief, Majid Faraj, has met with Secretary Pompeo before he became Secretary most recently. Are these talks ongoing? Is there any kind of talks between the Palestinians and the Secretary now?

MS NAUERT: Well, first I would say you presume that that did, in fact, happen. I don’t speak for the Central Intelligence Agency. I’d have to refer you back to the Central Intelligence Agency for anything related to the Secretary’s time before he became Secretary of State, when he was still serving as that director.

QUESTION: But that was in April sometime, mid-April.

MS NAUERT: Said, I don’t have anything for you on that. You’d have to contact the agency for that.

Okay. Hi, Laurie.

QUESTION: Hi. On Friday, you warned Russia and the Syrian regime about moving into the southern de-escalation zone in Syria. Do you still have concerns about that, or do they seem to have taken your warning into account?

MS NAUERT: Yeah. First, let me just say this remains a tremendous concern of the United States Government. How many times have you heard me standing at this podium talking about the success of the de-escalation zone, what we often refer to as the ceasefire zone, the one in southwestern Syria. This has been successful; for the most part, the ceasefire has held since July of last year. This is the most crowded population area that has been the safest in all of Syria. Again, I’m saying a populated area.

The notion that anyone would attack or threaten to attack is tremendously concerning to the United States Government. This is an issue that we have raised with the Russians through our Amman monitoring channel. Those conversations are ongoing. I know we’re continuing to talk with the governments.

But this area has helped keep this section of Syria stable. It has also undoubtedly saved lives. We have been able to get humanitarian aid in that area. And so the idea that any country would threaten that stability is very shameful and is of great concern to the United States.

Let me also just mention that Russia, in agreeing to this ceasefire zone, has agreed to help bolster it and protect it and all of that. So that’s something that we continue to remind the Russian Government of their responsibility as a unique guarantor of the ceasefire zone and having a very special relationship, indeed, with Government of Syria.

QUESTION: Thank you. And if I could ask you about Turkey.

MS NAUERT: Yeah.

QUESTION: Turkey and the U.S. --

QUESTION: Can I stay on Syria?

MS NAUERT: Hold on. I’ll come back to you, Laurie. Go right ahead.

QUESTION: On Syria. I don’t know if you are aware of some reports circulating that there is a Russian-Israeli deal whereby they will push the Iranians and Hizballah militia from the border of the Golan Heights about 25 kilometer. Is this something that’s being discussed with the State Department, considering also there’s some reports that an Israeli official’s meeting with the National Security Advisor, Mr. Bolton, at the White House today.

MS NAUERT: Sorry. I’m sorry, I don’t have anything for you on that. If I do, I’ll let you know.

QUESTION: There is nothing at all in terms of --

MS NAUERT: I don’t personally have anything for you on that. I don’t have any information on that.

QUESTION: Okay.

MS NAUERT: Laurie, go right ahead.

QUESTION: Yes. Turkey and the U.S. seem to have reached agreement on a roadmap for Manbij, but the Turkish account of that agreement goes further than the U.S. account. Turkish press has said the SDF will – the Syrian Democratic Forces will withdraw from Manbij, and Turkish and U.S. troops will provide security, but your account just says we’ve agreed on a roadmap. Is the Turkish account correct that there’ll be no role for the Mabij military council?

MS NAUERT: Here’s what I can tell you. We don’t have any agreements yet with the Government of Turkey. We announced previously that the United States and the Turkish working group met in Syria – I’m sorry – the group on Syria met in Ankara on Friday of last week. We’re continuing to have ongoing conversations regarding Syria and other issues of mutual concern.

The two sides then had outlined the contours of a roadmap for further cooperation, and that includes on Manbij. I know that the Secretary looks forward to hosting Foreign Minister Cavusoglu on June 4th here in Washington for those conversations to continue.

QUESTION: And final question. Turkey’s interior minister today slammed the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, who before was in Turkey, saying he was responsible for the flow of drugs and refugees from Afghanistan. What’s your response to that?

MS NAUERT: I think it’s an absolutely ridiculous accusation.

QUESTION: Heather, Syria?

MS NAUERT: Okay. Hi, sir. Go right ahead.

QUESTION: Do you have anything --

MS NAUERT: I’m sorry. You are – what is your name?

QUESTION: My name is David. I’m from Georgian television, Washington bureau, Rustavi 2.

MS NAUERT: Hi, David. Welcome.

QUESTION: Do you have anything to – oh, thank you so – thank you very much. Do you have anything to say about the decision of the Assad regime to recognize Russian-occupied Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states?

MS NAUERT: Yes, we certainly do. Bear with me one second while I just find my information in this big old book here. Thank you.

Yeah, I think in terms of the news why Syria has now recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia, this isn’t a complete surprise to us simply because Bashar al-Assad is propped up by the Russian regime. The Russian-occupied regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia are integral parts of Georgia. We continue to support Georgia’s sovereignty, its independence, its territorial integrity, within its internationally recognized borders; and the Assad regime’s – we’d call it an ill-advised decision, to say the least – has nothing to do to change the reality or our position on the matter.

Okay, thank you.

QUESTION: Heather.

MS NAUERT: Hi. Yeah, go ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you very much. Today was the report on International Religious Freedom. You can give us any idea regarding Cuba? And you also had mentioned that you would be checking with Western Hemisphere regarding the trips or the visas that will be extended to Cubans who travel to Guyana. Do you have any update on that, please?

MS NAUERT: Yes. So first, our International Religious Freedom Report is posted online, so you can take a look at the report and you can go country by country to see the information that our colleagues have compiled over the past year. So I’d just refer you to that report on where things stand in the country of Cuba. With regard to your question about visas, I’ll have to check back with my colleagues from Western Hemisphere to see if we have anything new on that. Okay?

Hi, Michel.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MS NAUERT: Way in the back here. Go ahead, Michel.

QUESTION: Yeah. On Libya, rival factions have agreed today in Paris to hold parliamentary and presidential elections on December 10th. Do you have any comment on that?

MS NAUERT: I’m afraid I don’t have any updates for you, but I’ll get back with you and let you know. Okay?

QUESTION: And another one on Syria: Russia called for a meeting with the U.S. and Jordan to discuss the future of the southern Syria. Are you willing to attend the meeting?

MS NAUERT: Is this the meeting that you’re referring to in Sochi? Is that what you’re --

QUESTION: No, in Jordan, maybe --

MS NAUERT: Oh, the – this is what you’re referring to, the southwestern ceasefire --

QUESTION: Yes.

MS NAUERT: -- that we just spoke about. Yeah, we just covered that. We continue to have conversations through that channel where we talk with the Jordanians and the Russians and remind everybody involved that they are responsible for upholding the ceasefire arrangement that’s held since last summer.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MS NAUERT: Okay. And we’re going to have to wrap it up pretty soon. Go ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you. Thank you so much. Jahanzaib Ali from ARY News TV, Pakistan. Just wanted to get some update on already tense relations with Pakistan, while secondly an American diplomat was involved in a traffic accident in Islamabad, Pakistan. One person was injured there; another was seriously injured. We know that he got the diplomatic immunity in Pakistan but he’s now back in the town – Mr. Joseph, I think, the name of the American diplomat. So is there any kind of investigation at the department level on that?

MS NAUERT: I will have to look back into that for you and see what I can get for you on that one, okay? I don’t have any updates to provide beyond what we’ve provided already. Okay?

QUESTION: Thank you so much.

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

MS NAUERT: Yeah. Hi, sir. Sorry, the gentleman in the back. He’s new here.

QUESTION: My name is Wajid. I’m with Geo TV Pakistan. While we are on Pakistan, the --

MS NAUERT: Welcome. This is your first time here, right?

QUESTION: Yes.

MS NAUERT: Okay.

QUESTION: The current government is completing its term in two days and the general elections have been announced for July. What are U.S. expectations and are you going to send any observers on the ground?

MS NAUERT: I’m not aware if we would send any observers on the ground. We tend to support international organizations that do participate as observers. The United States supports free, fair, and transparent, accountable elections in Pakistan as we do in other countries around the world. The United States along with other international partners has supported Pakistan’s implementation of its historic 2017 electoral reforms law. My understanding is that this is the first time that that law will actually be put into effect for these elections. We hope that the new comprehensive and transparent legal framework facilitates the peaceful transfer of civilian power to a democratically elected government. I’ll let you know if we have anything on monitors for you.

Okay, hi, sir. Go right ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you. Claudio Salvalaggio, Italian news agency ANSA. One question about the situation in my country: Do you have any fears about the political and economic crisis in Italy, about the trouble to form a new government in Italy after almost three months since the last general election? Are you monitoring the situation because --

MS NAUERT: We always monitor those – those issues. I’ll check with our Italian desk officer to see if we have anything new for you on that. Okay?

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

QUESTION: Do you have any fear about the --

MS NAUERT: Pardon me?

QUESTION: Do you have any fear about a potential populist government?

MS NAUERT: Sir, I’m not going to get into it right now. I’ll check with our officers to see if we have anything new on that.

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

MS NAUERT: We always monitor those situations. Thank you, everybody. We have to leave it there.

(The briefing was concluded at 3:43 p.m.)

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