During a press briefing on Tuesday, State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller answered reporter questions on NATO.
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NewsTranscript
00:00more international when it comes to cricket.
00:03MR.
00:04RATHKE.
00:05Fair.
00:06Fair enough.
00:07I don't have anything to start, so.
00:08QUESTION.
00:09No?
00:10All right.
00:11Let's start with NATO and the summit.
00:12So the Secretary has had a couple meetings today already.
00:15I guess summit hasn't yet kicked off, but will tonight.
00:22Are you aware that he has heard any concerns from the people that he's spoken to so far
00:26about President Biden?
00:28MR.
00:29RATHKE.
00:30I'm not aware of him having heard any concerns.
00:31That's the case.
00:32QUESTION.
00:33Have you asked, or are you deliberately trying to avoid this?
00:34MR.
00:35RATHKE.
00:36We – I talked to him an hour ago, and he did not mention having any concerns with anyone
00:38– or, I'm sorry, did not mention having heard concerns from anyone.
00:42QUESTION.
00:43So he has his own concerns.
00:44MR.
00:45RATHKE.
00:46No.
00:47That is not a fair implication.
00:48No.
00:49QUESTION.
00:50Okay.
00:51Well, I think he has his own concerns.
00:52MR.
00:53RATHKE.
00:54He has spoken to this quite clearly.
00:55Yeah.
00:56QUESTION.
00:57Okay.
00:58MR.
00:59RATHKE.
01:00They have not –
01:01QUESTION.
01:02Anyone else?
01:03MR.
01:04RATHKE.
01:05They have not come up in – I can't speak for anyone else all around the government,
01:06obviously, but no, I'm not aware of anyone raising concerns with the Secretary or anyone
01:09else from the State Department about the President.
01:13What we consistently hear from allies and partners around the world when we travel the
01:18world and when people come here is that they are grateful for the leadership the President
01:22has shown in this case, when we talk about NATO, in expanding NATO and convincing allies
01:27to raise their collective support for NATO's defense and deterrence measures, and his leadership
01:33in rallying an international coalition to push back on Russia's aggression in Ukraine,
01:37among many other foreign policy measures.
01:39QUESTION.
01:40Okay.
01:41And then are – is there any State Department component to the aid package that's supposed
01:47to be announced today that you're aware of?
01:49MR.
01:50RATHKE.
01:51So I don't want to – it's a nice way to try to get me into talking about something
01:55that has not yet been announced.
01:56So – but I – so I will – let me answer it elliptically.
02:01So – elliptically.
02:04So there will be new air defense capabilities announced during this summit, both by the
02:10United States and by other countries.
02:11There will be other new defense commitments announced.
02:15And of course, the State Department does play a role in all of those.
02:19QUESTION.
02:20Right.
02:21Well, other than the – I mean, I think that at this event this morning, he said something
02:24about $7 million in protective gear, equipment for Ukrainian women's armed forces.
02:35Is there a – so you're saying that beyond that, beyond the U.S. component of that, there
02:42will be more from State that is coming?
02:45MR.
02:46RATHKE.
02:47Yeah.
02:48We will be announcing across the government – and some of that will include State Department
02:49components – political, economic, and military measures to support Ukraine.
02:53QUESTION.
02:54Just to follow up.
02:55MR.
02:56RATHKE.
02:57Yeah, go ahead.
02:58Yeah, go ahead.
02:59QUESTION.
03:00The $7 million – sorry, apologies.
03:01The $7 million, the Secretary said, is at NATO countries.
03:02So how many – how much of it is the U.S. support?
03:03MR.
03:04RATHKE.
03:05Let me get details to you offline.
03:06That's okay.
03:07QUESTION.
03:08I don't understand.
03:09MR.
03:10RATHKE.
03:11Yeah.
03:12Go ahead.
03:13QUESTION.
03:14I just want to reflect.
03:15Do you have any – if the final communique has been finalized or definitively, the wording
03:16that the NATO summit leaders would give to Ukraine on this bridge – you guys call it
03:21a bridge to membership – there's talks, there's some capitals, the Baltic states
03:26specifically, they want the word irreversible in the final communique.
03:31My understanding that it's been negotiated.
03:36Can you say where it stands?
03:37MR.
03:38RATHKE.
03:39I don't want to – I obviously don't want to say what the final communique will
03:42say.
03:43There are pieces of the communique that continue to be worked on and negotiated, which is usual
03:46for the summit, right?
03:47There are a lot – there's a lot that comes in those NATO communiques.
03:48There are a lot of ways you've seen them before, and some of that goes right up to
03:50the last minute.
03:51I will say that a significant amount of time has gone into discussions about the wording
03:58about Ukraine's path to membership.
04:01The Secretary talked with President Zelensky directly about this when we were in Ukraine
04:05several months ago.
04:06It was a significant portion of discussion at the NATO foreign ministers meeting last
04:11month that the Secretary attended in Prague, and of course, it has been the subject of
04:14ongoing discussions between our building and other NATO members, and of course, Julie
04:20Smith, our ambassador to NATO, being in the lead on that over the past few weeks.
04:23I will say I think we have landed in a place – and you will all see this when the language
04:28comes forward – that makes clear, as we have said, that NATO's future – I'm
04:35sorry, that Ukraine's future is in NATO.
04:38And the communique will make that very clear, and you'll all get to see the language and
04:42talk about it when it's publicly released.
04:44I mean, is it still being negotiated, to your knowledge?
04:48There may be pieces of – that part we have largely – I will just say that language
04:51we have largely settled on.
04:52There are other pieces of communique and maybe some smaller pieces of that piece of it that
04:56we're still negotiating as well.
04:57So that part of it is settled?
04:58That part is largely settled, yeah.
04:59Said.
05:00Thank you.
05:01Can I move on?
05:02Yeah.
05:03Okay.
05:04I didn't think you were going to ask me a NATO question when I called on you, so.
05:08I do have my NATO questions, but let's talk about that.
05:11Okay.