Tag Archives: Secretary Kerry

White House Press Office

Press Briefing by Principal Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest, 7/29/2013

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By The White House

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

See below for a correction to a typo in the transcript (marked with an asterisk).

1:00 P.M. EDT

MR. EARNEST: Good afternoon, everybody. I apologize for the delay in getting started. Mr. Carney —

Q We’re accustomed —

MR. EARNEST: I’m sorry?

Q We’re accustomed to it.

MR. EARNEST: Okay, good. I want to keep you in the rhythm here.

Mr. Carney is taking his son to camp today, so I’ll be minding the store. So, Julie, I’ll ring you up first.

Q Thank you. A couple questions on the Mideast peace talks that are starting in Washington tonight. We know that the President apparently is going to be meeting with Secretary Kerry later today to discuss those talks, but does he have any plans to meet with the Israeli and Palestinian negotiators while they’re in town?

MR. EARNEST: Julie, I don’t have any details about the President’s schedule over the next couple of days to read out to you. There’s no current plan for that, but I wouldn’t preclude anything from getting added in the future.

As you know, the Middle East peace process is something that — or at least these conversations that are ongoing, or that are slated for this evening, was part of a process that was kicked off by the President’s trip to the Middle East earlier this year. Many of you traveled there for that visit. And the President had the opportunity to visit with Prime Minister Netanyahu, President Abbas, and King Hussein of Jordan, where they had some conversations about how it’s in the best interest of both the Israeli and Palestinian people to engage in final status negotiations.

Since that time, Secretary Kerry has been traveling frequently to the region. I think every couple of weeks it seems like he’s taking a trip out there to talk to the parties and to talk to others in the region who have an important stake in this conflict being resolved.

So we’re certainly encouraged that the two parties are coming to Washington and beginning their conversations this evening, but we’re also cognizant of the hard work that remains over the next nine months. There are some very serious issues that have to be resolved, and it’s not going to be easy. The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step, and we’ll take that first step tonight.

Q Now that this first round of talks is underway, how does the President see his direct role? Is this something where he’s going to still continue to sort of seed the frontrunner status for the U.S. to Secretary Kerry and maybe only get involved if these talks continue and get to a real final status moment?

MR. EARNEST: Well, I’ll say a couple things about that. The first is this is a process that got kick-started with the President’s trip …read more

Source: White House Press Office

News, Politics, Government

Background Conference Call with Senior Administration Officials on Vice President Biden and Dr. Jill Biden's Trip to India and Singapore

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By The White House

Via Teleconference

9:40 A.M. EDT

MS. TROTTER: Thanks, everyone, for joining today’s call. Sorry for the delay. Our hope is to provide you with a more detailed sense of the Vice President and Dr. Biden’s schedules and goals during their trip next week to India and Singapore.

This call will be on background and our speakers are happy to take questions after they give some brief opening statements at the top.

We’d like to keep this call as focused on the trip as much as possible and remind everyone that there’s one question per person.

And with that, I’ll turn it over to our first speaker whom you can quote as a senior administration official.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thank you, Kingsley. What I’m going to do just for a couple of minutes is lay out top-line goals, the agenda items and schedule for the visit. And then myself and my colleagues would be happy to take your questions.

The Vice President gave a speech yesterday at George Washington in which he laid out our vision for moving forward with the Asia-Pacific rebalance policy that the President has announced and that the entire national security team is invested in. And the trip to India and Singapore comes in the context of that strategy.

The goal — the overarching goal being to tie together the nations of the Asia-Pacific from India to the western shores of the Americas through strong partnerships, institutions, alliances, and rules of the road; and part of the message that the Vice President is sending in going on this trip is that we remain all in on the rebalance.

India is obviously a key player and increasingly so in the Asia-Pacific region. And the United States and India have an increasingly important bilateral relationship as our countries grow and deepen the ties across an incredibly broad range of areas.

Four areas in particular are going to be at the top of the agenda when the Vice President visits India. The first will be our economic cooperation where the Vice President will focus on issues from investment policy to intellectual property and speak to how we can work together to close the gap between where we are today and where we can be in our bilateral trade and investment and in our cooperation in multilateral trade and investment fora.

The second area is energy and climate where the Vice President will speak to the work that we need to do together to realize the promise of the civil nuclear agreement, and the work that we should be doing together to lead — to be leaders on addressing the global challenge of climate change, building on the climate change dialogue that Secretary Kerry announced with the Indian Foreign Minister at the strategic dialogue (inaudible) month.

The third area is defense cooperation. We’ve built a strong foundation in defense cooperation and defense sales over the past few years, and the Vice President will come to talk about how we can …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at The White House Press Office

Articles of Interest

Benghazi: The Cover-up Continues

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By Jim Emerson

Secretary of State John F. Kerry just wishes that Congress would stop asking him silly questions about the September 11 murders in Benghazi.  Rather than release any facts, he continued the obfuscation of the truth that the Obama Administration will be known for. He chastised members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, insisting that all State Department Officials have testified and that all documents were made available to Congress (minus testimony from the survivors of the murderous attacks, of course.) When pressed to provide a better accounting of events, he told Congress “I do not want to spend the next year coming up here talking to you about Benghazi.” Secretary Kerry relayed the Administration’s mantra to House Republicans when he suggested “Let’s put this behind us.”

Mr. Kerry believes that Congress already has all of the information to which it is entitled, given that Regime officials have already testified. Congressman Ed Royce (R-CA) pointed out that the Administration may be “attempting to stonewall the progress ” to get the facts behind the Benghazi murders. The Congressman believes that his staffers are being deliberately ignored by the Administration. So much for transparency.

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) hit a nerve when he suggested that the Obama Administration lied to Congress and the American people about the nature of the attack. He told the Secretary that the Committee needed “to talk to the people who [were] on the scene.”  The Secretary told the Committee he will appoint a special Liaison to deal with requests on Benghazi. In other words, he doesn’t want to deal with Congress anymore.

Mr. Kerry told committee members he’ll work with them in getting answers to legitimate questions. He maintains that no one lied. Yet, to escape further questions, he did his version of “Why does it matter” by insisting  “we got a lot more important things to move on to and get done.” For instance, dismantling America’s missile defense to appease the Chinese.

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From: http://www.westernjournalism.com/benghazi-the-cover-up-continues/

News, Politics, Government

Empowering All Women to Reach Their Full Potential

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By Valerie Jarrett

Today is International Women’s Day, and I can think of no better way to mark it than with all the different events this week around women’s empowerment.

President Obama has made promoting gender equality and advancing the status of women and girls central to our foreign policy and national security strategy, including by leading by example at home.

A few events this week highlighted the theme of women’s empowerment:

Today, the First Lady attended the International Women of Courage Awards at the Department of State with Secretary Kerry, an annual event that recognizes the incredible strength and courage of women from around the world – women who have stood up for our most basic rights, even when it meant risking their own safety. The First Lady emphasized that we must not only stand with these women and their efforts, but also use their example as a guide as we work to lift up the women and girls in our own communities. You can learn more about the women here.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at The White House

White House Press Office

Remarks by the First Lady at the International Women of Courage Awards

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By The White House

State Department
Washington D.C.

2:57 P.M. EST

MRS. OBAMA: Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you all. Thank you. (Applause.) Well, let me begin by thanking Under Secretary Sherman for that very kind and gracious introduction, but also for your leadership on behalf of our country.

I also want to thank Secretary Kerry for hosting us here today. Needless to say, we are all thrilled to have you as our new Secretary of State, for no other reason than I love your wife. You do know that. (Applause.) I love our Secretary, but Teresa Heinz Kerry is another woman of courage who has been just a dear friend and supporter to me for a very long time, and it is just a thrill to have you both in this role. Congratulations, and thank you. (Applause.)

I also want to recognize Secretary Sebelius, who can also do the dougie — (laughter) — I’ve seen it — and all of the administration officials, members of Congress and members of the diplomatic community who have joined us today.

And of course, I want to thank all of you for joining us this afternoon as we celebrate International Women’s Day. This is the fifth time I’ve had the privilege to take part in this event, and every year, I look forward to it because it shows us what our most basic values look like when they’re put to the test.

When these women witnessed horrific crimes or the disregard for basic human rights they spoke up, risking everything they had to see that justice was done. When they saw their communities or their countries were ignoring issues like sexual violence or women’s rights, they gave those issues a face and a voice. And with every act of strength and defiance, with every blog post, with every community meeting, these women have inspired millions to stand with them, and find their own voices, and work together to achieve real and lasting change.

And that is truly the power of the International Women of Courage Award — that this is not simply an honor bestowed upon a few, but a call for all of us to open our eyes to the injustices around us, and to ask ourselves just what kind of courage we’ve got inside our own hearts.

And that is the lesson we can learn from the journalist who speaks out against torture and racism; from the poet who takes to Twitter to make a stand against oppression; from the mother whose son was murdered, but channeled her grief into a nationwide movement for change. That is the spirit that we celebrate today. And that is the potential that lies within every woman and every girl — the potential to stand up, to demand action, and to build a better world for our next generation.

And that is why we have once again invited young women from our White House Leadership and Mentoring …read more
Source: White House Press Office

News, Politics, Government

Readout of the President’s Call with President Putin

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By The White House

President Obama called Russian President Putin today to discuss next steps in the bilateral relationship and to coordinate on regional and global issues. The Presidents had a constructive conversation on a wide range of issues. President Obama welcomed strong U.S.-Russian cooperation in the P5+1 to address the Iranian nuclear issue. The Presidents welcomed the substantive and constructive consultations held by Secretary Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov earlier this week in Berlin on implementing the Geneva Action Group framework to enable a political transition in Syria. The two Presidents agreed on the need to advance a political transition to end the violence as soon as possible and the importance of Secretary Kerry and Foreign Minister Lavrov continuing their engagement on Syria. The Presidents discussed the international economic situation and the path toward a more substantial trade and investment relationship between the United States and Russia. Finally, the Presidents agreed to hold a bilateral meeting in conjunction with the June G8 Summit in Northern Ireland and President Obama said he looks forward to visiting St. Petersburg for the G-20 meeting in September.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at The White House Press Office

News, Politics, Government

Readout of the President’s Phone Call with Egyptian President Morsy

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By The White House

President Obama spoke with Egyptian President Morsy today to reaffirm the United States’ strong commitment to the Egyptian people as they continue their transition to democracy. The President welcomed President Morsy’s commitment to serving as a President for all Egyptians, including women and people of all faiths, and emphasized President Morsy’s responsibility to protect the democratic principles that the Egyptian people fought so hard to secure. President Obama encouraged President Morsy, and all political groups within Egypt, to work to build consensus and advance the political transition. The two leaders also discussed Egypt’s economic situation and the importance of implementing reforms that have broad support and will promote long term growth. The two Presidents discussed regional security, and President Obama welcomed Egypt’s continued role in advancing regional peace and maintaining the ceasefire in Gaza. The President noted that Secretary Kerry will be traveling on March 2 to Egypt, where he will meet with government and opposition leaders and members of civil society, and will emphasize the need for all Egyptians to work together to build their democracy and promote economic stability and prosperity.

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at The White House Press Office