White House briefing after US sinks Iranian warship

[0:00] That's why they have no more cavity, I'm like, I know of that. [0:31] I don't know. [0:59] I don't know. [1:27] I don't know. [1:29] I don't know. [1:37] I don't know. [1:47] I don't know. [1:57] I don't know. [2:07] I don't know. [2:17] I don't know. [2:29] I don't know. [2:39] I don't know. [2:49] I don't know. [3:09] I don't know. [3:19] I don't know. [3:29] I don't know. [3:41] I don't know. [3:51] I don't know. [3:53] I don't know. [4:05] I don't know. [4:15] I don't know. [4:25] I don't know. [4:35] I don't know. [4:45] I don't know. [4:47] I don't know. [4:57] I don't know. [4:59] I don't know. [5:09] I don't know. [5:11] I don't know. [5:21] I don't know. [5:23] I don't know. [5:37] I don't know. [5:53] I don't know. [6:09] I don't know. [6:29] I don't know. [6:45] I don't know. [6:49] I don't know. [7:03] I don't know. [7:14] I don't with Google. [7:17] Thank you. [7:47] Thank you. [8:17] Thank you. [8:47] Thank you. [9:17] Thank you. [9:47] Thank you. [10:17] Thank you. [10:47] Thank you. [11:17] Thank you. [11:47] Thank you. [12:17] Thank you. [12:47] Thank you. [13:17] Thank you. [13:19] Thank you. [13:21] Thank you. [13:23] Thank you. [13:25] Thank you. [13:31] Thank you. [13:33] Thank you. [13:35] Thank you. [13:37] Thank you. [13:39] Thank you. [13:43] Thank you. [13:45] Thank you. [13:48] Thank you. [13:56] Thank you. [13:58] You've gotten here a little bit. [14:28] You've gotten here a little bit. [14:58] You've gotten here a little bit. [15:28] You've gotten here a little bit. [15:59] You've gotten here a little bit. [16:01] You've gotten here a little bit. [16:05] You've gotten here a little bit. [16:07] You've gotten here a little bit. [16:09] You've gotten here a little bit. [16:11] You've gotten here a little bit. [16:13] You've gotten here a little bit. [16:19] You've gotten here a little bit. [16:25] You've gotten here a little bit. [16:31] You've gotten here a little bit. [16:33] You've gotten here a little bit. [16:37] You've gotten here a little bit. [16:39] You've gotten here a little bit. [16:43] You've gotten here a little bit. [16:44] You've gotten here a little bit. [16:45] You have to Detroit. [16:49] Thank you. [17:19] Thank you. [17:50] Thank you. [18:20] Thank you. [18:51] Thank you. [19:23] Thank you. [19:53] Thank you. [20:23] Thank you. [20:53] Thank you. [21:23] Thank you. [21:53] Thank you. [21:55] Thank you. [21:57] Thank you. [21:59] Thank you. [22:01] Thank you. [22:03] Thank you. [22:07] Thank you. [22:09] Thank you. [22:11] Thank you. [22:15] Thank you. [22:17] Thank you. [22:21] Thank you. [22:51] Thank you. [23:22] Thank you. [23:52] Thank you. [24:22] Thank you. [24:52] Thank you. [25:22] Thank you. [25:52] Thank you. [26:22] Thank you. [26:52] Thank you. [27:25] Thank you. [27:56] Thank you. [28:31] Thank you. [29:01] Thank you. [29:32] Thank you. [30:02] Thank you. [30:32] Thank you. [31:02] Thank you. [31:33] Thank you. [32:03] Thank you. [32:33] Thank you. 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[41:01] of the fake news headlines produced by people in this room that this action was unjustifiable again [41:08] this is a rogue terrorist regime that has been threatening the united states our allies and our [41:13] people for 47 years and the american people are smart enough to know that and they've also been [41:18] smart enough to listen to the president himself not just over the past year in the second term [41:23] but during his first term as president and also for the past 40 years of his life this is a [41:29] president who has been remarkably consistent on this issue that iran can never obtain a nuclear [41:34] weapon and the president tried peace through diplomacy exhaustively and extensively he and [41:40] his team gave it their best go and the president ultimately came to the termination of that peace [41:45] was not a pursuable path the iranian regime they want death they want destruction they want to kill [41:50] americans and that's unacceptable to this president it's intolerable to him as commander in chief [41:55] jackie thank you caroline um obviously seen the update from the state department on the 17 500 [42:01] americans that have already come back including some 8 000 just yesterday there are still 6 000 that [42:07] are looking to get out as i understand it and just in the context of what you just told garrett about [42:12] the president's decision on a timeline if he had decided to do this strike before receiving you know [42:17] the specific intelligence about the meeting on saturday should there have been more done in advance of [42:24] the strikes to try to get those americans in the region resources and information to get home [42:30] before day three of the war there was many signs put out by the state department and i wish that [42:35] everyone in this room would report on them the secretary of state issued level four travel advisories [42:41] dating back to january for many of the these countries in the region on january 14th the u.s mission [42:47] to saudi arabia advised personnel and americans to exercise increased increased caution and limit [42:53] non-essential travel to any military installations on february 11th the u.s department of state consular [42:59] affairs shared a list of countries with level four do not travel advisories you can't be much more [43:05] clear than that do not travel to these following countries on february 23rd the u.s embassy in lebanon [43:12] ordered non-emergency government personnel and family members to leave lebanon due to safety risks and we [43:17] helped them do that on march 2nd the state department urged u.s citizens to depart lebanon [43:22] immediately and with respect to iran on february 27th the secretary designated iran as a state of [43:29] sponsor of wrongful detention and stated no americans should travel to iran for any reason [43:35] and again on february 27th the u.s ambassador to israel warned americans to leave iran and they [43:42] provided travel advisory alerts through the u.s embassy in jerusalem so the state department was [43:47] all hands on deck on advising extreme caution and do not travel alerts to americans in the region [43:53] with respect to the americans who are still in the region now again the state department is asking [43:58] that they register at the website so they can directly identify you and we are actively and [44:03] rapidly working to charter flights there is some commercial flights that are taking off intermittently [44:09] from these countries and we plan to get americans on board as quickly as possible again free of charge to [44:14] them and we have some additional measures that i think will be announced in the coming days again [44:18] i can also reiterate from the president's perspective this is something he's brought up [44:22] directly with our allies and partners in the region that we expect their help in getting americans home [44:27] and we will do that and we will not rest until every single american is returned home safely thank you [44:32] and then one follow-up just on how people might be experiencing this at home with respect to the economy [44:39] um and the cost of oil spiking is there a need to start those navy escorts in the strait of hormuz now [44:46] to sort of blunt the impact to people and also because spain is a member of the eu [44:52] does that at all put a wrinkle in the president's plan for a trade embargo with them [44:57] with with respect to spain i think they heard the president's message yesterday [45:03] loud and clear and it's my understanding over the past several hours they've agreed to cooperate [45:08] with the u.s military and so i know that the u.s military is coordinating with their counterparts [45:13] in spain but the president expects all europe all of our european allies of course to cooperate in [45:19] this long sought-after mission not just for the united states but also for europe to crush the rogue [45:24] iranian regime that again not only threatens america but also threatens our european allies as well [45:30] with respect to oil prices in the economy here at home of course this is something that secretary [45:35] besant secretary wright the national economic council of energy that is led by governor burr [45:40] secretary burgum excuse me has been long working on in well in advance yesterday president trump [45:46] announced the u.s development finance corporation will provide political risk insurance at a very [45:51] reasonable price for crude carriers and cargo ships operating in and around the gulf and as you pointed [45:57] out jackie the president said if necessary and when appropriate the u.s navy will begin escorting [46:03] tankers through the strait of hermuz i think it speaks to why this action was so necessary that [46:09] ultimately the energy industry is going to benefit from the president's actions with respect to iran [46:15] because iran will no longer be controlling uh the strait of hermuz and restricting the free flow of [46:20] energy which as you all know controls 20 of the world's global uh oil supply sure thanks caroline [46:27] the president said yesterday there wasn't time to make evacuation plans because this all happened so [46:32] quickly given how critical the president has been of the chaotic evacuation from afghanistan by the [46:40] last administration five years ago why wasn't there more of a focus on evacuation plans from the middle [46:48] east that could have been at least put in place ready to go before the strikes this weekend again i just [46:54] laid out for you that there have been plans in place and that the state department has been very [46:58] clear to the american people traveling within this region not to travel to these regions we gave [47:05] notices to leave immediately the countries where these americans were within and unlike the previous [47:10] administration we actually have a number we actually have identified the number of people in the [47:15] region who have requested help we are in direct contact and engagement with them and you have to keep in [47:21] mind there's a few thousand people who have requested assistance to come home in comparison to the [47:26] millions who we understand are in the region so we will we will help every single american who wants [47:31] to come home uh if they're making that request of the state department americans who called the state [47:35] department hotline as recently as last night were being told we can't help you you have to make your [47:41] own plans well the line was updated and i expect every single person in this room to report on that [47:47] accurately so that information can be relayed appropriately to your audiences and to the american [47:52] people i think as journalists you all have a responsibility to let them know that the line [47:56] has been updated accordingly with the proper guidance because i saw many people in this room very quick to [48:01] do selfie videos with the line yesterday but not so quick to report on the corrected message today and [48:07] so that is something the administration quickly worked to address and we have fixed that problem however [48:12] we're also pointing to people to the website again to register so that we know exactly where you are so [48:18] when there are commercial flights moving into that area when there are chartered flights moving into that [48:23] area we can get americans on planes as quickly as possible do you have any details on how many [48:28] charter flights have been able to get out of the region so far with americans on board i don't have an [48:32] exact count for you but i know that we're working on counter uh chartering many flights as soon as we were [48:37] doing it yesterday we're doing it again today and i don't you should not expect us to detail exactly [48:43] when these flights are taking off for obvious reasons the iranians have shown that they are not [48:49] going to hesitate to target civilians in the region which is completely intolerable but for safety and [48:54] security reasons we're not going to be broadcasting when flights full of americans are going to be [48:58] taking off obviously danny um at the top there you said that the iranian regime is being absolutely [49:05] crushed can you explicitly say then whether or not regime change is a goal of president trump's [49:12] operation the goals of this operation have been made very clear danny and the president has said [49:18] them in his speech when he launched this operation and released that video in the middle of the night [49:23] to all of you and to the world the stated military objectives of operation epic fury are as follows [49:29] eliminate iran's ballistic missile threat destroy their naval capability disrupt missile and drone [49:34] production infrastructure sever their pathway and end their pathway to nuclear weapons and i can report [49:41] as you all saw from the pentagon today that thus far this operation has been remarkably successful [49:46] again we're moving towards complete and total control of iranian airspace we have continuous 24 7 [49:53] operate strike operations ongoing we've had more than 2 000 targets that have been struck nearly 2 000 [50:00] munitions have been employed the first 24 hours of this campaign were described nearly as twice the [50:05] scale of the 2003 shock and awe campaign and we've seen that our the the enemy the iranian uh rogue regime [50:14] their retaliatory strikes against the united states and the threat reduction has reduced significantly if you [50:22] look at the iranian ballistic missile launches they're down 86 percent from day one levels so while the united [50:28] states military continues to increase its complete dominance over this rogue regime they are weakening [50:35] day by day is not a phrase that you would want to use again operation epic fury i just detailed the [50:43] goals and objectives of this very quickly but obviously as the president has said numerous times [50:48] do we want to see iran being led by a rogue terrorist regime no of course not so any day the united states [50:54] of america is taking out a terrorist is a good day for our country and a good day for our people [50:59] given that point that you just make about the united states um wouldn't mind seeing the the [51:05] government overthrown certainly president trump has talked about wanting to see iranians overthrow [51:09] the government has the president considered at all kind of how he views a u.s role if any in iran post [51:15] conflict i think it's something the president is actively considering and and discussing with his [51:20] advisors and his national security team but again right now the focus minute by minute hour by [51:26] hour day by day is on ensuring the the quick and effective success of operation epic fury sure go [51:33] ahead i want to ask you about the u.s munitions i don't even know who's speaking because i wasn't [51:37] looking at you you can ask a question and then i'll go to you i want to ask you about the u.s munitions [51:42] stockpile president trump posted on truth social on monday that the u.s still has a good supply of weapons [51:47] but that we still uh we're not where we need to be what does he mean by that and does president [51:53] trump then want to ask on congress to pass the supplemental to increase funding for missile [52:00] interceptor systems like the ones being used to defend u.s bases in the middle east from iranian [52:05] missiles i don't have any updates for you on congressional asks from the president as you know [52:09] under this president we have significantly increased our defense budget which is a good thing [52:14] for the united states for our national security and for protecting our homeland with respect to [52:18] munitions ammunition weapon stockpiles the united states of america has more than enough capability [52:24] to not only successfully execute operation epic fury but to go much further and we have weapon [52:30] stockpiles in places that many people in this world don't even know about however the president in [52:35] that post was pointing out that unfortunately we had a very stupid and incompetent leader in this [52:40] white house for four years who gave away many of our best weapons for nothing for free to another [52:46] country very far away by the name of ukraine so the president was pointing out how that was an [52:50] unwise decision but nevertheless don't doubt the strength and the might of the american military [52:56] and i will also add president trump has rightfully been calling on defense contractors in this country [53:01] to rapidly and aggressively produce american-made weapons because they are the best in the world and the [53:07] president always likes to get things done as quickly as possible and so he's been quite vocal in his [53:13] efforts to try to speed up our defense industry to protect our homeland [53:20] go ahead caroline could you tell us about the president's current thinking about ground troops and [53:26] and whether they could be used if they were to be sent into iran what would they be used for what's [53:31] the situation well they're not part of the plan for this operation at this time but i certainly will [53:36] never take away military options on behalf of the president of the united states or the commander-in-chief [53:41] and he wisely does not do the same for himself i know there's many leaders in the past who like to [53:46] take options off of the table without having a full understanding of how things could develop so again [53:51] it's not part of the current plan but i'm not going to remove an option for the president that that is [53:56] on the table sean did the united states air strike at girls elementary school and kill 175 people [54:02] uh not that we know of sean and the department of war is investigating this matter and i would just [54:08] tell you very strongly the united states of america does not target civilians unlike the rogue iranian [54:13] regime that targets civilians that kills children that has killed thousands of their own people in the [54:19] past several weeks and uses propaganda quite effectively and unfortunately many people in this [54:25] room have fallen for that propaganda so i would caution you from pointing the finger at the united states of [54:30] america when it comes to targeting civilians because that's not something that these armed forces do [54:35] reagan thanks carol prior to the iran conflict the save act was really the focus of the news cycle [54:41] is the save act still a priority for the administration absolutely just provide an update [54:47] on the administration's talks with congress to get the save act through save act is absolutely still a [54:52] priority for this president and the administration the the focus of course of much of the president's [54:57] time right now is on ensuring the success of operation epic fury but the president can walk [55:03] and chew gum at the same time and he's very much continuing to focus on the issues that matter here [55:08] at home for the american people including the passage of the save act including on bringing down the cost of [55:13] living which is why you'll see the president in about an hour and a half at the ratepayer protection pledge [55:18] roundtable where he will be sitting with big tech companies with ai companies who are building in [55:24] communities across the country and have pledged to pick up the cost of the electricity tab in these [55:29] small towns and communities across the country which is a great thing for american consumers so you'll [55:34] be hearing from the president directly on this very important domestic agenda item later this afternoon [55:39] and it's something that he mentioned in his state of union address so check it off the list as [55:44] another promise made and kept by this president sure go ahead thanks caroline i just wanted to get back to [55:49] danny's question so those four objectives that you read out do not explicitly include regime change if [55:59] those objectives were achieved and the islamic republic still existed would that be an acceptable outcome [56:07] that's a hypothetical question that i'm not going to engage in again right now the president and [56:11] the commander-in-chief are focused on executing the success of operation epic fury which we are do so [56:17] we are already doing so in a very tremendous and impressionable way stephen thank you caroline two [56:23] questions um the trump administration reported reportedly is considering arming kurdish uh forces [56:30] in the hopes of inspiring a popular uprising in iran could you comment on that report i can comment on [56:35] the fact that the president has held many calls with partners allies and leaders in the region in the [56:41] middle east he did speak to kurdish leaders with respect to our base that we have in northern iraq but [56:48] as for any report suggesting that the president has agreed to any such plan is completely false and should [56:55] not be written president trump was saying yesterday that he's okay with someone from within taking over in [57:02] iran he spoke about how venezuela he saw as a successful model where delcy rodriguez took over and had a better [57:09] relationship um iran's president is ashki and uh he took office in 2024 as a relative reformer he's [57:17] part of a three-man council now replacing the supreme leader does president trump see him as a potential [57:23] successor who is more pliable again that's another hypothetical and i haven't spoken to the president [57:28] about this specific individual so i don't want to get ahead of him of him on any assessments that should [57:32] be made thank you um yesterday the president acknowledged that oil that oil prices will be a [57:39] bit high um as for gas prices here in the u.s what is the admin doing right now to counter that i mean [57:46] should they skyrocket is there a plan to help you know americans right now with those higher gas prices [57:51] and then a second question um on the rash that was on the president's neck the white house physician said [57:56] it was a preventative skin cream that he was using but why is the president using this cream is what what are [58:02] they trying to prevent with this cream to your second question i don't have anything additional [58:07] to add to the physician statement that we provided to all of you on those questions but i know the [58:11] statement said that the redness on the neck will dissipate within the next couple of weeks to your [58:16] first question about oil prices thank god we have a president who has exuded american energy dominance over [58:22] the past year uh an administration that is wholeheartedly focused on keeping prices stable [58:28] as best as we can of course this operation is temporary to protect the homeland but crude oil [58:34] prices did fall yesterday they remain stable today after the president announced steps to ensure the [58:39] stability in global energy markets again those include the dec offering reasonably priced political [58:45] risk insurance and the potential for the u.s navy to provide protection for the flow of energy through [58:50] the state uh through the strait of humus it is the president's belief and his economic team's belief [58:56] that the economy continues to be very strong it's robust and will be able to weather any of the [59:01] temporary impacts of operation epith fury john thanks a lot caroline uh just to follow up to that [59:08] the timeline for making the strait of humus safe for oil tankers to transport their oil through the [59:16] strait what is that timeline and what can the president do to speed up that timeline i don't want to commit [59:22] to a timeline but certainly it's something that is being calculated actively by both the department [59:27] of war and the department of energy they're working very closely both secretaries are in [59:32] all of the briefings on this subject with the president and this is again something they're [59:37] monitoring and if and when necessary u.s the united states navy will provide assistance to escort oil [59:43] tankers through the strait sure in the blue thank you thank you caroline you're not in blue andrew go [59:50] ahead yeah thank you well i guess you are sort of you had mentioned about the commercial aircraft [59:58] being used for the evacuations what about the use of military aircraft would that happen in conjunction [1:00:04] with correct or subsequent to that is something that is definitely uh underway uh and of course we're [1:00:11] going to use that in conjunction we want as many planes whether they're chartered commercial or military [1:00:15] uh taking americans out of the middle east and returning them safely home so yes andrew go ahead [1:00:22] you're welcome at the top of the briefing you listed a long list of grievances against the iranian [1:00:29] government going back to the takeover of the embassy in 79 uh barracks bombing in the 80s etc but no one from [1:00:39] the administration has laid out the imminent threat that was supposed to be taken care of by this [1:00:49] and the rationales offered by say secretary rubio the president's national security advisor said that [1:00:54] the threat was retaliation against american uh interests from iran after and after israeli strikes [1:01:03] the president says it's his it was his own feeling that iran was going to attack why is it that across [1:01:12] the administration you can't say what the imminent threat against the united states was that required [1:01:19] us to launch this and also prime minister starmer told parliament today that his reason that he didn't [1:01:26] allow the use of british bases was that he was not satisfied that there was a lawful basis and a viable [1:01:33] thought-through plan was there an attempt to provide the uk government with a legal basis for these [1:01:41] strikes and a viable thought-through plan to the first question i completely reject the premise of [1:01:47] your question you have had the president of the united states the secretary of war the chairman of the [1:01:52] joint chiefs the vice president of the united states the secretary of state and now i am out here today [1:01:58] to explain to you exactly what led the president to make the decision [1:02:02] to launch operation epic fury and president trump does not make these decisions in a vacuum [1:02:07] this decision to launch this opera operation was based on a cumulative effect of various direct [1:02:14] threats that iran posed to the united states of america and the president's feeling based on fact [1:02:20] that iran does pose an imminent and direct threat to the united states of america based on the fact that [1:02:25] they are the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism based on the fact that they were rapidly [1:02:31] and aggressively building up their ballistic missile missile program to give themselves immunity within [1:02:39] their country alongside their navy so that inside their country they could continue to create nuclear [1:02:45] weapons and nuclear bombs which would of course pose a risk to americans in the region and even americans [1:02:52] one day here at home and then another point on this is the president found that through these extensive [1:02:57] exhaustive failed negotiations with iran that they were hell-bent on death and destruction so again [1:03:04] the president was not going to be just another president on a very long list who sat back and [1:03:08] stood by and passed the buck of this direct threat to the next administration the president had a feeling [1:03:15] again based on fact that iran was going to strike the united states was going to strike our assets in the [1:03:20] region and he made a determination to launch operation epic fury based on all of those reasons and i would [1:03:26] like the media to actually report on all of them rather than just picking sound bites from one person [1:03:31] in this administration and saying oh they're contradicting the other person no again these [1:03:36] decisions are not made in a vacuum they are made by the president's feeling that iran was going to [1:03:41] strike the united states and our assets in the region and he was not going to sit back and watch that [1:03:46] happen the determination was made that the president was going to strike first alongside israel and that [1:03:52] has obviously been proven to be the right decision and an effective one at that libby libby go ahead [1:03:59] can i thank you caroline a two-part question for you first has the president spoken with the family [1:04:04] members of those u.s service members that were killed second given what you've outlined throughout [1:04:08] this entire breaking i mean the united states has sunk a bunch of navy ships we've hit all of these [1:04:13] targets what can americans expect the goal to be moving forward now that the u.s has accomplished all of [1:04:19] this what is victory given we've even taken out iran supreme leader that was an explicit goal [1:04:24] again victory will be determined by the commander-in-chief once the goals and the objectives that [1:04:28] we have repeatedly laid out are fully realized again we just in the in the next few hours we'll be [1:04:34] achieving that dominance over the skies which means the united states military will be raining missiles [1:04:40] and weapons down on iran to hit these specific targets that have been identified as crucial to take [1:04:46] out by the department of war caroline has the u.s posture change in regard to a nuclear north korea [1:04:56] given the latest strikes on iran and the fact that the stated goal is to make sure that iran is not [1:05:01] a nuclear country i don't have any change in position with respect to north korea today thank you a quick [1:05:07] follow-up there's been reports that ali khamenei's son has been elected as the next supreme leader [1:05:12] does the administration think that he is a part of the same regime as his father would they like [1:05:17] people in the country to uprise or rise up and get him out there's reports he's been elected or that [1:05:23] he's assuming to be elected one of the likely options pardon me what was that that he's one [1:05:28] of the likely options or that he has been elected okay so we'll wait to confirm until someone actually [1:05:35] you just mentioned that the president is going to attend the dignified transfer for these families [1:05:39] given what secretary hegseth said this morning is it the position of this administration that the [1:05:44] press should not prominently cover the deaths of u.s service members no it's the position of [1:05:49] this administration that the press in this room and the press across the country should accurately report [1:05:55] on the success of operation epic fury and the damage it is doing to the rogue iranian regime that [1:06:00] has threatened the lives of every single american in this room if the iranian regime had their choice [1:06:06] they would kill every single person in this room and so we can all be very grateful that we have an [1:06:10] administration and that we have men and women in our armed forces who are willing to sacrifice [1:06:15] their own lives for the rest of us in this room and for every american across the country and for [1:06:20] every troop that is based in the middle east that's what these was complaining that it was front page [1:06:24] news about these six service members who were killed that's not what the secretary said caitlin and [1:06:29] that's not what the secretary meant and you know it you know you are being disingenuous there is not [1:06:34] we've never had a secretary of defense who cares more get through or tragic things happen it's front [1:06:39] page news i get it the press only wants to make the president look bad as you know we the press [1:06:43] debts of u.s service members under every president the press does only want to make the president look [1:06:47] bad that's a that's a fact especially you no listen to me especially you and especially cnn and [1:06:54] the secretary of defense cares deeply about our war fighters and our men and women in uniform he [1:07:00] travels all across this country to meet with them to connect with them and your network has hardly [1:07:05] ever probably reported on that you also have the chairman of the joint peace uh chiefs uh chairman [1:07:10] kane who's a brave patriot standing alongside the secretary at the pentagon this morning again [1:07:15] expressing his condolences to these families and i just told you that the president of the united [1:07:20] states will be attending their dignified transfer so please so please making the president look bad [1:07:25] that's showcasing that and we expect you to cover that as you should we expect you to cover that as [1:07:30] you should caitlin but you and your network know that you take every single thing this administration [1:07:36] says and tries to use it to make the president look bad that is a an objectable fact i don't think [1:07:42] covering true deaths is trying to make if you're trying to if you're trying to argue right now that cnn's [1:07:47] overwhelming coverage is not negative of president donald trump i think the american people would tend to [1:07:52] agree and your ratings would tend to disagree with that as well go ahead thank you so much [1:07:59] on the school on the school strike back to that for a minute i understand that the u.s does not [1:08:03] target civilian infrastructure that's that's what you said can you say that there's any evidence right [1:08:08] now that it was not a u.s strike and then also you didn't mention israel and that is there any [1:08:13] assessment about israel's potential likely you know role in that if at all again the department of war [1:08:19] is currently investigating this matter but again i will reaffirm that the department of war and the [1:08:23] united states armed forces do not target civilians as does the iranian regime who kill and execute [1:08:29] their own people christian two two on two separate issues caroline first what can you tell us about [1:08:36] the military operation in ecuador and then secondly is the president considering invoking the defense [1:08:42] production act to boost munition stockpiles while we are in this conflict it's not something i've heard [1:08:49] the president consider but as you know the president has been in a pretty direct correspondence and public [1:08:54] correspondence with defense contractors asking them to aggressively speed up their manufacturing of [1:09:01] american-made weapons which again are the best in the world with respect to ecuador i would point you [1:09:05] back to the statement released by the u.s southern command on march 3rd ecuadorian and u.s military forces [1:09:11] launched operations against designated terrorist organizations these operations are a powerful [1:09:16] example of the commitment of partners in latin america and the caribbean to combat the scourge of [1:09:22] narco-terrorism and together we are taking decisive action to confront narco-terrorists who have long [1:09:27] inflicted terror violence and corruption on citizens throughout the hemisphere and with on that i would [1:09:33] also add that this weekend i'm pleased to announce the president will welcome the heads of state from 12 nations [1:09:39] across our western hemisphere in miami florida on saturday the point of this newfound latin america [1:09:45] summit is to promote freedom security and prosperity in our region the following countries will be in [1:09:51] attendance argentina bolivia chile costa rica the dominican republic ecuador el salvador honduras [1:09:59] panama paraguay trinidad and tobago and maybe some others as well and the president will be speaking with [1:10:06] the leaders of this country who have really formed a historic coalition to work together to address [1:10:11] criminal narco-terrorist gangs and cartels encounter illegal and mass migration into not only the united [1:10:17] states but the western hemisphere which remains a key and top priority of this president thank you very [1:10:22] much everyone and you'll see the president yourselves in an hour thank you very much [1:10:35] everyone and you'll see the president yourselves in an hour [1:10:37] thank you very much [1:10:37] thank you very much