Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre JULY 05, 2022
- 2 years ago
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: All right. Good afternoon, everybody. I hope everyone had a restful long weekend.
I actually don’t have anything for you at the top. (Laughter.) I know you guys are always excited to hear what I got to say.
But, Darlene, you want to kick us off?
Q Yes. Thank you very much. Is the White House looking into the possibility of having the President visit Highland Park? The death toll there has risen to seven this afternoon.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, the President, as you all know, is going to be traveling to Ohio tomorrow to discuss the American Rescue Plan. So that’s the trip that he’s going to be making tomorrow.
We don’t have any plans right now to go to Chicago. I know some folks are asking if he’s going to go to Chicago, will he go — I mean, if he’s going to go to Ohio, is he going to go to Chicago.
The Vice President is going to be there, and she will speak to the devastation that we — that we all saw with our own eyes yesterday in Highland Park.
But I don’t have anything to share about — for President’s travel tomorrow. He’ll go to — again, he’ll go to Ohio, where he’s going to talk about the Rescue Plan, the Special Finance — Financial Assistance Program, in particular. This program will provide financial relief to millions of workers in multiemployer plans who face significant cuts to their pensions through no fault of their own.
But again, nothing to share about him going to Chicago at this time.
Q Not necessarily tomorrow though, but later this week, next week, before he leaves for the Middle East?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I — we just don’t have anything to share. But again, the Vice President is going to be there today. She will certainly speak to — speak to the tragedy that we saw yesterday. The President spoke to this yesterday during the Fourth of July in a very forceful way and laying out how he and the First Lady saw the tragedy, and he even had a moment of silence.
But we are not planning — right now, at this moment, I don’t have any plans of a future trip to Chicago.
Q And since you mentioned the Ohio trip tomorrow, when the President is in Cleveland, which is relatively near Akron, do you expect him to address at all the fatal police shooting of Jayland Walker?
Q I don’t have anything to share on that either, whether he is going to potentially — I know it’s about 45 minutes from Cleveland, where the shooting happened. We just — right now, we’re going to be focusing on the trip that we have planned, which is to talk about the American Rescue Plan and how to help the American public.
Q And then one final question. Can you talk about the status of the letter that Brittney Griner sent to the President? Has he been briefed on it? Has he even read it? Griner’s wife was on television this morning; she really wants to hear from the President. Will he reach out to her in any fashion?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, I can say that the President did read the letter. I was there when he read th
I actually don’t have anything for you at the top. (Laughter.) I know you guys are always excited to hear what I got to say.
But, Darlene, you want to kick us off?
Q Yes. Thank you very much. Is the White House looking into the possibility of having the President visit Highland Park? The death toll there has risen to seven this afternoon.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, the President, as you all know, is going to be traveling to Ohio tomorrow to discuss the American Rescue Plan. So that’s the trip that he’s going to be making tomorrow.
We don’t have any plans right now to go to Chicago. I know some folks are asking if he’s going to go to Chicago, will he go — I mean, if he’s going to go to Ohio, is he going to go to Chicago.
The Vice President is going to be there, and she will speak to the devastation that we — that we all saw with our own eyes yesterday in Highland Park.
But I don’t have anything to share about — for President’s travel tomorrow. He’ll go to — again, he’ll go to Ohio, where he’s going to talk about the Rescue Plan, the Special Finance — Financial Assistance Program, in particular. This program will provide financial relief to millions of workers in multiemployer plans who face significant cuts to their pensions through no fault of their own.
But again, nothing to share about him going to Chicago at this time.
Q Not necessarily tomorrow though, but later this week, next week, before he leaves for the Middle East?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I — we just don’t have anything to share. But again, the Vice President is going to be there today. She will certainly speak to — speak to the tragedy that we saw yesterday. The President spoke to this yesterday during the Fourth of July in a very forceful way and laying out how he and the First Lady saw the tragedy, and he even had a moment of silence.
But we are not planning — right now, at this moment, I don’t have any plans of a future trip to Chicago.
Q And since you mentioned the Ohio trip tomorrow, when the President is in Cleveland, which is relatively near Akron, do you expect him to address at all the fatal police shooting of Jayland Walker?
Q I don’t have anything to share on that either, whether he is going to potentially — I know it’s about 45 minutes from Cleveland, where the shooting happened. We just — right now, we’re going to be focusing on the trip that we have planned, which is to talk about the American Rescue Plan and how to help the American public.
Q And then one final question. Can you talk about the status of the letter that Brittney Griner sent to the President? Has he been briefed on it? Has he even read it? Griner’s wife was on television this morning; she really wants to hear from the President. Will he reach out to her in any fashion?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, I can say that the President did read the letter. I was there when he read th