fashion nova alternative

fashion nova alternative

   07.16       Fashion 2017

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mr. earnest: goodafternoon, everybody. i do not have any commentsto make at the top, so we can go straightto your questions. darlene, wouldyou like to start? the press: thank you. let's start with thebreaking political news, or republican conventionnews -- the statement from melania trump'sspeechwriter that she made a mistake and incorporatedsome phrasing from

michelle obama inmelania trump's speech. do you have anycomment on that today? mr. earnest: nothingbeyond what i said yesterday. look, obviously, mrs.obama spoke movingly, in her own words, abouther life story, about her values. and she was warmlyreceived by the crowd. she got strongreviews from pundits. and i'm confident that inthe future, aspiring first

ladies or potential firsthusbands would draw on the same kinds of sentimentsto advocate for their spouse. and mrs. obama is quiteproud of the speech that she gave in 2008, and i'mconfident that she'll deliver another speechthat's equal to the test next week. the press: can you saywhether the news has made its way through variousparts of the white house and reached the presidentand/or the first lady?

are they aware of thestatement from the trump campaign? mr. earnest: i have notspoken to the president and the first lady sincethat letter became public, so i'm not sure if they'reaware of it right now. the press: to follow up onyesterday's meeting the president had with theattorney general and others on police matters. he talked about policedepartments around the

country needing resourcesfor things like bullet-proof vests andtraining and other items. can you say if he'spreparing to ask congress for money to providepolice departments with those things? mr. earnest: well, what isclear is that as is true of solving so many ofthese complex problems, there's an important rolefor congress to play. and has been true for muchof the last 18 months,

it's not at all evidentthat the republicans who lead the house and thesenate are up to the job. included in thepresident's budget proposal were resourcesthat could be -- could have been dedicated tothose kinds of priorities, but as you recall,republicans wouldn't even convene a hearing todiscuss the president's budget. every year for the last 40years, whether democrats were in charge orrepublicans were in charge

of the congress, there'sbeen a hearing about the president's budget, wherethe president's budget director has been calledto testify, to discuss the priorities that areincluded in the president's budget. and this year republicanscancelled that hearing, and they wouldn't evendiscuss those proposals with the president'sbudget director. it's particularly ironicbecause republicans have,

themselves, utterly failedto pass their own budget, either in the houseor the senate. so it's an indication thatthe congressional budget process is broken. and it's the americanpeople that have to deal with the consequences. but the presidentobviously believes that our men and women in lawenforcement would benefit from additional supportfrom the federal

government and thepresident is certainly eager to provide it. i don't have any news tomake about an additional funding request, but whenit comes to cop grants and funding for staffing andresources and equipment, the president believesthat congress needs to make that a priority. the press: lastly, the newbritish prime minister is on her firstoverseas trip.

she's in germany todaymeeting with angela merkel. she's supposedto go to france. when president obama spokewith her last week, did he invite her to cometo the white house? would he like to see herhere before his time in office is up? mr. earnest: i'm notaware that the president extended a specificinvitation to washington, d.c. i think thepresident's expectation is

that when she travels tochina for the g20 that she will be in attendanceand they will have an opportunity to seeone another there. if there's an additionalmeeting scheduled either before or after thatconversation, we'll definitely let you know. ayesha. the press: thanks. so reuters reportedyesterday that donald

trump, if he wins thepresidency, has a plan where he would purgeany federal government officials appointed bythis administration, and that he might seeklegislation from the congress to make it easierto fire public workers. and part of that is aconcern because they fear that this administrationmight try to convert appointees to civilservants, which would make it harder for them to getrid of these appointees.

i guess, first ofall, is that a plan? like is there anyidea about converting appointees from thisadministration into civil servants as the termcomes to an end? and then also, just aresponse to this idea that if trump were elected thathe would do this purge. mr. earnest: well, i thinkjust as a factual matter, my understanding is thatthere is a specific process that certainpolitical appointees can

enter into to makethemselves eligible for a career civil serviceposition in the federal government. and i know that politicalappointees in both parties over the years haveavailed themselves of that process. i will acknowledge i don'thave a lot of detailed knowledge about what thatprocess is, but i just know that that is alongstanding precedent.

the second thing that iknow, based on the reuters reporting that i've seenon this, is that this is a policy priority that wasidentified and promoted by governor christie. i think it's fair to saythat if you want to stack up the ethical record ofpresident obama and his political appointeesagainst the ethical record compiled by governorchristie and his political appointees that we'dwelcome that kind of comparison.

the press: and on to zika. so florida healthofficials are investigating the case ofzika that may be actually locally transmitted andnot connected to travel outside of this region. i was wondering, is thewhite house being kept abreast of thisinvestigation? and also, like, is there aconcern that now is this the start of maybe thedisease spreading locally

here in the united states? mr. earnest: well, i'veseen these reports of what could potentially be thefirst example of local transmission ofthe zika virus. and by local transmissioni mean an individual in the united states who hasnot traveled overseas to a zika-infected location,but rather somebody who contracted the zika virusthrough a mosquito bite here in the united states.

it would be the firsttime that has happened. i know the floridaauthorities are still taking a look at this, andthey obviously would be the ones to confirm anyresults that they have reached. the centers for diseasecontrol and other public health experts in thefederal government have been in close touch withpublic health officials in florida on this matter andi would expect that they will continue to be,both as they conduct the

investigation and also asthey initiate any needed response. that's going to be -- aswe saw with ebola, the effective coordinationbetween federal public health authorities andstate and local public health authorities will becritical to our success in combatting this virus, andit's certainly something that public healthofficials at the highest levels of the cdc areclosely watching.

i think what isunfortunate is those very public healthprofessionals in the federal government thatare responsible for fighting this disease,providing support to state and local health officialsto prevent the spread of this disease, don't haveall of the resources that they would like to have todo everything possible to protect the americanpeople from the zika virus. and the reason for that issimply republicans have

rebuffed that request. yet, again, republicansin congress have a responsibility to step upand foot the bill for the response to a genuinepublic emergency, and republicans in congressdropped the ball in a way that makes the americanpeople more vulnerable. and, again, i guessthey'll have the seven weeks of a recess to thinkabout the consequences of their failure to dealwith this situation.

that's unfortunate. but the federal governmentis certainly prepared to use the resources that wehave to coordinate with officials in florida, inthis case, to investigate what happened and torespond accordingly in a way that's necessary toprotect the people of florida and the peopleof the united states. michelle. the press: yesterday, whenwe were talking about this

speech incident at theconvention, you mentioned that, well, you know,it shows that there's bipartisan support ofthese kinds of values. but in this particularspeech, the wording and phrasing was taken fromthe first lady's speech. even if the sentiments orthe idea was the same, the words themselveswere taken. does that bother you,or does that bother the president?

mr. earnest: well, listen,i'll let people draw their own conclusions based onwhat they have seen of the speech delivered by bothwomen, eight years apart. the press: but now that weknow that the words were taken, so that's changed. but i'm asking, does itbother you that those words were taken from thefirst lady's speech, as though -- credit was thengiven, though it was maybe better placed somewhereelse -- does it bother the

president or you? mr. earnest: well, listen,i think the focus that we've had has been on thesubstance of the speech. and the fact that mrs.trump received such warm applause and sucha strong review of her speech based on areflection of the same kinds of values that wereincluded in mrs. obama's speech, i think that'san indication that the country has got a lot ofcommon ground, even in

spite of the politicaldivisions that are on display at the convention. and i think that certainlybuttresses an argument the president has been makingquite frequently of late about the country notbeing as divided as it might seem. the press: well, how doyou say that when some of the other speeches withinthe same basic time frame were blasting secretaryclinton and president obama?

i mean, isn't thatcompletely the opposite of what you just said? mr. earnest: again, ithink those are the kinds of speeches that mightmake it seem that our country is quite divided,but, again, a speech that closely tracks with whatmrs. obama said eight years ago and highlightingthe same kinds of values, highlight the importanceof those values in terms of the next generationof americans and in our

system of governmentreceives applause in the room and strong reviewsfrom pundits -- again, i think that's an indicationthat there's a lot of common ground and thatamericans are drawing on the same kinds of values. again, their politicalleaders may have their differences, but thevalues of the country are still broadly shared. i think the real question-- and this is a question

that ultimately theamerican people will determine in the fall --is who is best suited to put forward an agenda andadvance an agenda that embodies those values. and that's an assessmentthat the american people will make. the press: do thespeeches matter at all? mr. earnest: sure. the conventions matterand the speeches matter.

and that's the reason thefirst lady is working so hard on hers, and thepresident is working so hard on his, is thatit does give people an opportunity to be heardand to make a case about what they stand for andwhat our parties stand for. and, again, the americanpeople i think will have an opportunity to evaluatethose speeches, and those who tune into both willhave an opportunity to compare the values and themessage that's included in both.

the press: so whegovernor christie last night called on this hugecrowd to judge hillary clinton guilty or not on anumber of accounts, what's your reaction to that? mr. earnest: i don't havemuch of a reaction to that, again, beyond theobservation i made earlier about the ethical recordcompiled by governor christie and his politicalappointees in new jersey. cheryl.

the press: thanks, josh. to go back to the reutersstory about federal employees. if you remember, inearly 2009, did this administration have aconcern about agency staff that had been carriedover from the bush administration? mr. earnest: well, look,the irony of all this is that it's republicans incongress, chiefly, who have, in many cases, beenwaging an all-out assault

on federal employees. it's republicans who haveadvocated for cutting pay and cutting retirementbenefits from civil servants. so the president has beenin a position of both making smart decisionswhen it comes to our budget, and there's someevidence that we can provide about growthand size of the u.s. government under presidentobama is much smaller than the rate of growth of thefederal government under

self-describedconservative republican presidents. so those arejust the facts. so i think the president'sapproach to this has been much more responsible. again, when it comes togovernor christie, i think he's got a toughercase to make. the press: do you thinkthere's any value in replacing agency heads andagency staff with people

from the president hasbeen able to select? mr. earnest: well, look,we're balancing two priorities here, right? the president has talkedabout himself in terms of the value of fresh legsand new blood in important leadership positions inthe federal government; that many of these jobsthat are filled by civil servants are quitedemanding, and having a schedule for turnover andgiving different people

with differentperspectives and new insights, potentially,into the job is healthy for any organization andcertainly is healthy for an organization as largeas the federal government. at the same time, there'sinstitutional knowledge that's accrued over time,and people develop an expertise in a role orin a field that could be valuable. and in some cases, thereare negative consequences

for losing thatinstitutional knowledge and that expertise. so balancing those twothings is certainly a challenge for any largeorganization that wants to preserve continuity. and that challenge is noless significant for the federal government,either. but the alternative tomanaging those kinds of changes is not changingat all, and i don't think

anybody thinks that's anoption and it certainly would not be an indicationof a healthy democracy. so the american people arecounting on this kind of transition to beeffectively managed to enjoy the benefits ofprotecting institutional knowledge and expertise,and maximizing the benefits of fresh thinkingand fresh legs and new perspective. and that's certainly whatthe president has made a

priority as we prepare fora transition that's set to take place insix months or so. i guess six months fromtoday, actually, now that i think about it. the press: only ahalf-year left. a couple questions onpresident peã±a nieto's visit from mexico. as you know, that willbe the day after donald trump's speech at therepublican national convention.

mr. earnest: iam aware of that. (laughter) the press: how much othis discussion do you expect will center ontrump's proposals, including a wallbetween the u.s. and mexico? mr. earnest: i would notanticipate much time at all being spent ondiscussing that. there are any number ofimportant, substantive issues between the unitedstates and mexico, and

what president obama hasfound over his seven and a half years in office isthat effectively investing in the relationship withmexico has strengthened the security and theeconomy of the united states. and coordinating oncountering narcotics and drug-trafficking andother security issues has improved the securitysituation on both sides of the border. president obama hasobviously worked

effectively with themexican government to reach a trans-pacificpartnership agreement that would raise labor andenvironmental standards, would raise standards whenit comes to intellectual property protections in away that would level the playing field for u.s. businesses and u.s. workers. that certainly hasimportant economic benefits for the americanpeople and the u.s. economy.

so i'm confident thatthe president will be discussing that with hismexican counterpart as well. so there's plenty onthe agenda that doesn't involve therepublican nominee. the press: so is the visitor its timing, right between the twoconventions, meant to highlight differencesbetween democrats and republicans on treatmentof mexico or latinos? mr. earnest: no, i thinkthe goal is to highlight

the importance of thestrong relationship between the unitedstates and mexico. and president obama hascertainly invested in that relationship in a waythat has benefitted the american people. i know that president peã±anieto is committed to strengthening hiscountry's relationship with the united states,regardless of who wins the presidential election.

and he's looking to cementmuch of the progress that's been made underpresident obama's leadership and create astrong platform for the next president to buildon, in terms of our country's relationshipwith mexico. so, look, i think theother thing is they'll have a series of meetingshere at the white house over the course of fridaymorning, and then the two presidents will come outand speak to all of you

and take some questionsabout what they discussed. so you'll have anopportunity to hear from them about what prioritiesthey've identified and what progress they've beenable to make by continuing this dialogue that theyhad just as recently as a few weeks ago in canada. the press: one more topic. in turkey, after the coupand its aftermath, has that had an impact onanti-isis operations,

either from incirlikor elsewhere? mr. earnest: for adetailed explanation of that, i'd refer you to thedepartment of defense. my understanding, based onwhat my colleagues at the department of defense havecommunicated to me, is that there has not been asignificant disruption of our efforts against isil,in part because there are operations -- flightoperations that are still taking place at incirlik.

in addition to that, thereare capabilities that the united states maintainsin the region, including aircraft carriers thatcould supplement any sort of disruption that occurs. and so my understandingis that the pace of operations against isiltargets has not been affected by some of theturmoil that we have seen in turkey overthe last few days. that said, we've spent alot of time talking even

in this room about howstrategically significant the incirlik airbase inturkey is because of its close proximity to syria. it allows our aircraft,both manned and unmanned, to spend more timeover the battlefield. so we certainly havecredited the turks for their partnership andtheir cooperation in allowing the united statesand our coalition partners to use the incirlikairbase, and it certainly

has enhanced our effortsagainst isil in a way that has had positive nationalsecurity benefits for turkey. they're the country thathas the long border with syria, so they certainlyare interested in making sure that thatpressure is maintained. and we're going to workwith them to make sure that we can use theincirlik airbase to do exactly that. the press: i won't ask youspecific figures, but have

operations out ofincirlik been curtailed? mr. earnest: myunderstanding is that they have not. but i'd check with thedepartment of defense and they can give you aspecific accounting. if there had been anychanges or decline in the numbers, it's beenvery small and easily compensated by some of theredundancies that i've described.

but based on what i haveheard, there has not been any significant reductionat all in our ability to use incirlik airbase totake strikes against isil targets in syria. chip. following up onthe isis issue. with this meeting out atjoint base andrews, how big a role does thepresident play in dealing with the secretary ofdefense in setting the

agenda and determining thegoals for this meeting? and is this going to be ameeting that is going to end up with a specificplan for the final defeat of isis? mr. earnest: well, chip,you may have seen on the president's schedule thathe had an opportunity to spend 45 minutes or soin the oval office with secretary carter justyesterday and he saw secretary carter a week ortwo ago at the nato summit

in poland. and since that time, iknow secretary carter has done a little traveling,including in iraq, to review our efforts there. so there was anopportunity for the president to meet with thesecretary of defense in advance of this importantmeeting that the united states is hosting here. the meeting will bringtogether defense ministers

and chief diplomats of anumber of countries -- dozens of countries-- who are part of our counter-isil coalition,and they'll have a discussion about what wecan do to continue to apply pressure againstisil in iraq and in syria. there will be a particularfocus on what additional steps need to be takento take back mosul. obviously, iraqi securityforces have made a lot of important progress in thateffort just even in the

last few weeks, includingthe retaking of this particular militaryairstrip in iraq known as qayyarah. that was an importantstrategic objective and that will serve as animportant logistical hub to supply forces thatmove against mosul. so all of that wasparticularly important. i know that there willalso be an extensive discussion at the statedepartment among the

diplomats about howto provide additional stabilization inhumanitarian support to iraq. and you'll recall that oneof the chief concerns that president obama has ismaking sure that even as iraqi forces succeedin driving isil out of villages and towns andeven cities in iraq, that we're prepared to rebuild,that the iraqi central government is preparedto rebuild these cities. we know that one of thethings that isil has done

in some of theseother communities is essentially, on their wayout of town, tried to destroy the basicinfrastructure of the community. and the credibility of theiraqi central government depends upon their abilityto mobilize resources and work effectively torebuild the infrastructure and rebuild thesecommunities so that people can move backinto their homes. and that requiressignificant sums of money

that, quite frankly, theiraqi central government doesn't have right now. iraq, like many othercountries that relies on energy as an importantsource of income for their country and as animportant export in their economy, is strugglingbecause the price of oil is lower now than it'sbeen in quite a while. so providing this kind offinancial support to the iraqi central governmentis critical to rebuilding

the country of iraq andbuilding political support for the iraqicentral government. and that politicalstrategy has always been the cornerstone of ourbroader counter-isil effort. the press: and somebodyhas got to ask it -- you said the presidentprobably watched sports rather than theconvention on day one. same thing last night? mr. earnest: i'm not surewhat he watched on tv last

night, but it was not therepublican convention. the press: you'll thinkhe'll watch any of it as we move along here? mr. earnest: i don't know. i don't know. but i'll see if i can findout and try to keep you apprised. the press: have you talkedto him about -- have you had a personalconversation with him

about the convention atall since yesterday? mr. earnest: yes. i know that he hascertainly been following the news coverageof the convention. i just don't know thathe's watched much of it firsthand. the press: is theresomething else you can tell us about thatconversation? and a transcriptwould be nice.

mr. earnest: i wouldn'trelease a transcript. you might be disappointedin the conversation. but it sounds like onfriday you may have an opportunity to seek hisreaction to the week of events in cleveland. kevin. the press: catchingup on netflix. i want to ask you about-- on a much more serious note -- the radicalizationof american women.

the u.s. intelligence community iswarning law enforcement agencies around thecountry of a persistent terror threat posed byradicalized western women. this was in a jointintelligence bulletin. and i'm wondering whatthat bulletin tells us about the effectivenessof the administration's counterterrorism strategy. mr. earnest: i haven'tseen the bulletin, kevin.

but obviously ourintelligence community is quite attuned to thestrategy that isil is undertaking to try to usesocial media to radicalize people to their cause andeven potentially inspire them to carry outacts of violence. and you've heard me referon a number of occasions to news releases that areissued by the department of justice, announcingtheir success in disrupting plots thatcould potentially be

linked to isil. in most cases, these arecases that are not linked directly to isil havingcommand and control of these operations, butrather isil inspiring individuals to carryout acts of violence. and periodically, thereare announcements from the fbi or the department ofjustice that american women have been detainedbecause they've been attempting to travel tosyria or iraq and provide

support to isil fightersby traveling to those countries and taking uparms alongside them as well. so we're certainlymindful of this risk. and the united stateshas been very focused on developing a strategy thatis showing more and more results of counteringisil's efforts online. and there are somewhatimportant lessons that's we've learned. the first is that theunited states government

is not going to be themost credible source of information in pushingback against isil. we know that isil is anorganization that seeks to pervert islam to advancetheir ideology, so elevating the voices ofmuslim leaders can often be a valuable way, apersuasive way to push back against isil'sattempts to pervert that religion. that's why the unitedstates has been able to

work effectively withmuslim nations like malaysia and the uae tohouse fusion centers that essentially can be thefocus of strategic planning for thatcounter-messaging effort. and that has yieldedsome important results. the federal government hasalso been able to work effectively withtechnology companies. in the past, technologycompanies have been able to work effectively withthe federal government to

counter things like childpornography, to prevent social media tools frombeing used to produce and disseminate childpornography. a similar strategy can beapplied to prevent social media from being used toproduce and disseminate radicalizing imagesor messages from isil sympathizers. so there are obviouslyimportant free speech equities that have to beweighed into this, but

there is a template forsucceeding on this and we've been able toimplement in an effective way. so we've made someprogress in this effort. our efforts have improved. but there is moreimportant work that needs to be done. the press: i want todraw your attention to something i crossed acouple weeks ago now. there have been a numberof reports of u.s.

diplomats being hassledby russian governments, russian agents. is the white house awareof this harassment, continued harassment,not just in russia but throughout eastern europe? and what, if anything,is the administration prepared to do about it? mr. earnest: well, kevin,i can't speak to any specific case, but i cantell you that the u.s.

government and the whitehouse, at the highest levels, is aware of theharassment that some u.s. diplomats have had toendure overseas, and the united states hascommunicated to the russian government ourstrongly held view about how important it is forthe russian government to abide by theirresponsibility to protect diplomats who arein their country. those views have beencommunicated in an

unambiguous fashion. the president has said onmany occasions that the safety and securityof americans serving overseas, whetherthey're diplomats or servicemembers, ishis top priority. and that is certainly trueas we register our sincere and serious concerns withrussian officials about the kind of harassmentthat you've described. the press: forty-sevenyears ago, man on the moon.

where are we in the u.s. space program? is the president satisfiedwith where we are today? mr. earnest: well, mycolleagues at nasa i'm sure could document inmore detail the important progress that we've madein the space program over the last sevenand a half years. but over the last sevenand a half years, we've seen an importanttransition from a space

agency that's focusedon maintaining a space shuttle, for example, andbeginning to start working with private sectorgroups, private entities, to develop new technologythat could allow humans to explore more ofthe solar system. and the president pursuedthis approach because it was a more effective useof taxpayer dollars. it had also had thepotential to unleash innovation in the privatesector in a way that could

have positive benefits forthe broader economy and certainly positivebenefits for those local economies that areclosely tied to the space industry. we can certainly get yousome more data and metrics that document theimportant progress that nasa has made in thelast seven years. the press:appreciate that. just one more.

garry marshall, filmluminary, passed away at 81 years old. any thoughtson his passing? mr. earnest: wellobviously he is somebody who made a substantialcontribution to american pop culture. and there are generationsof americans that were entertained on televisionand on film by his work. and he certainly issomebody that i think will

be fondly rememberedby his fans. and so obviously ourthoughts and prayers are with his family today. karen. the press: josh,a brexit question. the president has said andyou have said, and the vice president has said,that you want a smooth transition for theuk out of the eu. but all signs right noware pointing to the fact

that the new primeminister said she's not going to invokearticle 50 this year. is that too long of adelay in the opinion of the white house? and are there concernsabout what the impacts would be on theglobal and u.s. market? mr. earnest: well, karen,the white house and the united states is notgoing to micromanage this process.

this ultimately is aboutmanaging the relationship between two of the closestfriends and partners of the united states --specifically, the united kingdom andeuropean union. so it is certainly in theinterest of the united states for that processto be undertaken in an orderly fashion, mindfulof the way that those negotiations couldunsettle the global economy. i think both sides arekeenly aware of the stakes here.

and the good news isthat both sides have an interest in undertakingthis process responsibly. and we certainly are goingto offer any support or facilitation that'srequired to ensure that this process is donein an orderly fashion. and the president hascommunicated that directly to the leaders of the euand to the newly elected leader of theunited kingdom. and in both thoseconversations, he received

assurances about acommitment to an orderly process. but how that processtakes place and when that process take place issomething that will be determined by the eucharter and by the decisions made by thenegotiating teams on both sides. the press: so orderly,responsibly, but you won't say quickly, as well? mr. earnest: again, thetimeline is one that

should be determined byparties on both sides of the english channel. the press: and one on-- campaign-related. we've heard the presidentsay that he often hears from foreign leaders andforeign officials who talk to him about thispresidential election. the vice president madesome pretty candid comments in australia,telling people at a town hall, don't worryabout our election.

and he said, "the betterangels in america will prevail." is it appropriate to be soovertly political and make such an assurancelike that? mr. earnest: well, i thinkthe vice president is offering some reassuranceto people around the world who have been a littleunsettled by the tone and tenor of the politicaldebate back here in the united states. i didn't see the entiretyof the vice president's

remarks, but his effortis to reassure our close allies, including those inaustralia, that the united states and the americanpeople are committed to a set of principles thatform the basis of our alliances and ourrelationships with countries aroundthe world. and even despite someof the tension and dysfunction andcolorfulness of the political debate, theamerican people remain

committed to thoseinstitutions and to those values. and we're hopeful thatpeople around the world, particularly our allies,will be reassured by that. bill. the press: back to thequestion of potentially members of thisadministration serving in the next one, it's beenreported that two cabinet secretaries, tom vilsackand tom perez, both are

being considered as vicepresidential nominees with secretary clinton. mr. earnest: i'veseen those reports. the press: has thpresident, in fact, spoken to secretaryclinton about them? and does hehave a favorite? mr. earnest: well, i'veacknowledged in the past that president obama hasdescribed his choice of vice president biden asthe smartest political

decision he ever made. and i think people likesecretary clinton who know president obama wellpersonally can confirm that he means itwhen he says it. and the president feelsas though he's been extraordinarily wellserved by the expertise and experience andrelationships and loyalty that vice president bidenhas brought to the job. so when you consider howwell that turned out, it

seems natural thatsecretary clinton might consult president obamaabout the process that he undertook to choosevice president biden. i'm not going to get intothe conversations that they had about them orexactly to what extent those conversationslingered on specific candidates. but obviously the two menthat you just named are among those who areconsidered to be on the short list, and the reasonthat there is public

speculation about theirconsideration for that important role is at leastin part because they've served the country so wellin the roles that they have now. so the president isextraordinarily proud of the work that secretaryvilsack has done at the usda and the work thatsecretary perez has done at the departmentof labor. these are individualswho are serious, who are focused on theright things.

they've got their valuesin line, and these are two men who have dedicatedtheir lives to public service and they're in itfor the right reasons. and so i guess my point isthe reason that president obama entrusted them withthe responsibilities that they have now, which aresubstantial, their success in doing that job isexactly the same reason that people speculate thatsecretary clinton might be inclined to give themeven more responsibility.

the press: it sounds likeyou're saying on behalf of the president that he islobbying for one of these two to be the vicepresidential nominee as the best way of continuingthe stability and continuity with thisadministration. mr. earnest: well,not necessarily. i mean, i think -- youdidn't ask me about senator kaine, butobviously he's somebody else who's --

the press: he'snot a member of the administration. mr. earnest: he'snot a member of the administration-- that is true. but he is somebody who isthe subject of some rather intense publicspeculation about -- the press: i'm justasking about -- mr. earnest: well, but iguess the thing is i think the president wouldconsider senator kaine --

to adopt your terminologythere -- one of his as well. senator kaine was one ofthe first public officials to announce a publicendorsement of senator obama. senator kaine served asthe chair of the dnc during president obama'sfirst year in office. and senator kaine issomebody that the president deeply respectsand i think it's been publicly reported evenconsidered himself as a running mate back in 2008.

the press: anyone of the three. mr. earnest: well, i guesthe point is that all of these individualshave fulfilled their responsibilitiesquite well. they've distinguishedthemselves. and the president ispleased that all three of them have distinguishedthemselves in serving the public while presidentobama has been in office and while president obamahas been president.

he has benefitted fromtheir leadership and their good service to theadministration and to the country. and so i don't know if thepresident has a specific favorite, but i knowthe president is extraordinarily proudof all three of those individuals. but, ultimately, heis going to defer to secretary clinton to makethe decision that she

believes is best. juliet. the press: just tofollow up a bit on that, continuing with this ideaof these three figures, all of whom are just suchclose political allies of the president and alsowhen you see the overlap between current and formermembers of, say, this administration and formersecretary of state clinton's team.

if you have to describewhat that synergy looks like and to what extent,when americans are thinking about who theirnext president is, how close is the overlapbetween the white house and the clinton campaignand a future clinton administrationat this point? to what extent is it isa continuation of the president's term? mr. earnest: well, thereare some limits to how i

can answer your question,in part because secretary clinton is going todescribe what kind of president she will be. she will describe whatagenda she will pursue and she will describe thevalues that she will rely on in setting that agenda. and so she should do that. so that's why it's hardto assess from here how closely the vision thatshe will describe is to

the record ofpresident obama. but i think what i can sayare a couple of things. the first is, presidentobama, in offering his endorsement of secretaryclinton, has talked about how he has seen firsthandher skills and her values, both as a candidatefor president and as a secretary of state. and the presidentobviously has enormous regard for secretaryclinton and her

leadership abilities. and he spoke at lengthabout that a couple of weeks ago in charlotte. secretary clinton herselfhas said publicly that she's interested inbuilding on a lot of the progress that thisadministration has made. she's interested incontinuing the work to raise wages, raise theminimum wage, fight for equal pay, increasefunding for job training

and education in a waythat we can ensure that middle-class families inthe united states are getting a fair shot atsuccess, even in a 21st century global economy. we've seen secretaryclinton talk about how important it is to buildon the progress that we've made in digging out of theworst economic downturn since the great recession (depression). important it is to buildon the new foundation

that's been laidby obamacare. she believes that thereare some improvements that can be made, some tweaksthat can be made. but she is interested inbuilding on that progress, not tearing it downlike republicans have advocated. she is certainly a strongbeliever in things like the internationalagreement to prevent iran from obtaining anuclear weapon. she is committed toimplementing the climate

change deal that wasreached at the end of last year. so i think based on all ofthat, i think that you can rightly assess that thevalues and priorities of president obama andsecretary clinton overlap. that said, people in thisroom have not hesitated to highlight situations orparticular aspects of her agenda that differfrom president obama. and that's natural. she's somebody withher own views, her own

perspectives, and theremay be some places where there's a little bitof a different view. she's going to be her ownpresident if, in fact, she is elected. and, again, the presidenthas talked about the value of fresh legs and a newperspective in the oval office after thelast eight years. but the president isinterested in that fresh perspective and thosefresh legs being a part of

someone who is committedto building on all the important progress thatwe've made over the last seven years. and that certainly is whypresident obama has been so enthusiastic in hissupport of secretary clinton's campaign. and you'll obviously hearhim talk a little bit more about this next week. the press: and justbriefly on next week, you

mentioned that thepresident has not been closely watching everynight the republican convention. do you expect that he willbe regularly tuning into the dnc, again,before he goes there? can you just talk abouthow you think he'll be watching that event? mr. earnest: well, i'mconfident that he'll watch the night thathis wife speaks. just get that on therecord right away.

so we've gotthat box checked. obviously he'll bespeaking one of the nights. my expectation is that hewould watch at least part of secretary clinton'sspeech when she delivers the speech accepting thedemocratic nomination for president. the press: just a part? the press: --switchin channels? mr. earnest: channelsurfing, maybe a little bit.

no, i suspect that he'llwatch that speech as well. the other night, i don'tknow, i can't account for that. so we'll try to update youwhen that night arrives. mike. it is next wednesday nightthat the president will be speaking. can you talk a bit aboutwhat he sees as his role at the convention? is it to defend his ownrecord, make a case for

secretary clinton? how does hebalance those two? and are there any insightsyou can share into the speechwriting process-- how far along it is? mr. earnest: well, i knowthat -- i can tell you that the speechwritingprocess has begun, but i think the president wouldbe the first to say that he feels like there'sstill a lot of work that needs to be done toget that in shape.

so i would anticipate thathe'll be working on that over the course of thisweek and over the weekend. so with that in mind,i can tell you that certainly part of thespeech will be devoted to laying out the values andpriorities that president obama has been fightingfor over the last seven years and underscore howimportant it is that that fight continues. by focusing on the middleclass, by focusing on how

the united states canadvance our interests around the world,including through the use of diplomacy, has yieldeda lot of progress for our country is moreprosperous and safer than when presidentobama took office. and the president believesstrongly that we can't afford to flush thatprogress down the drain. it's so important that thenext president is somebody with the judgment andskill, experience,

leadership to buildon that progress. and that's the overarchingcase that the president will make, and i thinkit's the kind of case that the president hopes willresonate not just with democrats who arecommitted to progressive values, but also amongamericans that may not have a deep attachment toone party or the other. so obviously the core ofthe president's agenda and his speech will be thoseprogressive values.

but he believes thatthere's a very strong case to make, even to americansthat aren't registered democrats but areconcerned about making sure that the nextgeneration of americans has an opportunity tosucceed in the same way that previousgenerations have. the president isenormously confident about that. the president is bullishon the prospects of future generations of americans.

and he'll have anopportunity to describe why. the press: consideringwhat you said about his own viewing habits thisweek, is there a degree to which his speech mightchange or his thoughts about what he might wantto say will change, based on how the rest ofthe rnc proceeds? it's been starklynegative, a lot of what we've heard on stage. i don't think "lucifer"has been referred to in a

primetime speech before. mr. earnest: well, atleast not at a political convention -- maybe at a-- well, maybe somewhere else. maybe on adifferent channel. no, i do not anticipatethe president making any changes to his speech orto his plans to deliver remarks based on anythingthat's said by anybody at the republican convention. the press: and lastly,is there an event at the

white house that you'veseen that you're looking forward to more than whatwill happen tomorrow here? mr. earnest: well, it'shard to imagine -- -- something more excitingthan having the world series champion kansascity royals visit the white house. look, i think what'strue is that there's -- serendipity has led us toa situation where a rare royals world serieschampionship has coincided

with my tenure atthe white house. and so i'm obviouslyincredibly excited about that and really lookingforward to tomorrow. the press: george brett -- mr. earnest: hopefully so. we'll see. fred. one convention question. i've got a couple.

but with regards to theconvention, the platform calls for the end of thejohnson amendment, which would basically allowchurches to -- or pastors to endorse candidatesfrom the pulpit. does the white house haveany thoughts on that type of rule? mr. earnest: i haven'tseen the language that's included in the platform. i think i would justreiterate something i

think the president hassaid, which is that one of the founding values of thecountry is the separation of church and state, bothto ensure that state interests are notinterfered with by religious authorities, butalso to make sure that state interests are notinterfering with the work of religious authorities. so the president believesthat both our institutions of state and ourinstitutions of religion

in the united states bothbenefit significantly from observing that principle. the press: something iwanted to share with you -- senator sasse andsenator lee have put forward a reform bill onoccupational licensing. that's something that thewhite house has supported, some type of reform there. would the white house,president obama, support the lee-sasse bill?

mr. earnest: i'm not awareof the details of their specific legislativeproposal. but you're right thatthere are a number of executive actions thatthis administration has taken to try to streamlineoccupational licensing in a way that would make oureconomy more efficient. i know that one area wherethe administration has done a lot of work on thishas to do with military veterans.

there are a number ofindividuals who serve in the united states militarywho developed a set of skills that have been veryvaluable in their service to the country and wouldbe quite valuable in the private sector. and in some cases, thetransfer of those skills to the private sector hasbeen impeded by overly burdensome regulations. and streamlining thatprocess and facilitating

the ability of ourveterans to work in the private sector and usethose skills in the private sectoris something the administration has beenquite focused on, both because it could improvethe economic opportunity for veterans, but alsocould strengthen our economy. so again, i haven'tlooked at the specific legislative proposalthat's been forward, but there are some interestingthings that the

administration has beenable to do using the president'sexecutive authority. so look, that's somethingthat they're interested in talking to thewhite house about. i'm sure they'd get theirphone call returned. the press: and justone last question. last week, politifactdetermined as mostly false president obama's commentthat it's easier to get a glock than a book.

the washington postfact-checker made a similar conclusionon that same point. does the presidentactually believe that as fact, or does he say thatkind of metaphorically to say -- to demonstrate howeasy it is to get a gun? mr. earnest: well, i thinkwhat i would just say is, with all due respect tothe fact-checkers, when the president deliveredthat line to a room full of about a thousand cops,there was not a lot of

evident disagreement. i think there is genuineconcern on the mind of -- in the minds of lawenforcement officials who work in these economicallydisadvantaged communities about how readilyaccessible illegal guns are and, frankly, how hardit is for kids in that community to get access toa quality education, or get access to high-qualityeducational opportunities that would eventuallyallow them to escape

that neighborhood. and the point that thepresident was making is, rather than mobilize aneffective policy response to that situation byincreasing funding for schools or passingcommon-sense gun control legislation, too often-- at least in this republican congress --those obvious solutions have been rejected, and asa result we've just asked law enforcement todeal with the problem.

and we put law enforcementofficers and police officers in a positionwhere they're the ones that have to be thedirector of the after-school program orthe drug counselor or the mental healthprofessional. and that's not fair,particularly when you consider they're trying tofight crime in a dangerous neighborhood. so adding that burden tolaw enforcement is not fair.

and i guess darlenestarted out this briefing by talking about what aresome of the steps that we can take to make the jobof our law enforcement officers safer. one of the things that wecould do is to ease the burden on law enforcementand make the kinds of investments in thesecommunities that we know will have a tangibleimpact on the kind of opportunity that'savailable to kids that are

growing up inthese communities. goyal, i'll giveyou the last one. two questions. one, as far as this summiton counterterrorism is concerned by the presidentand the secretary of defense and state, and --defense ministers and also diplomatic securityofficials will be there. my question is thatnow isil, or isis, is spreading beyond thesecountries who will be

at this summit. do you think the presidentis going to meet all those countries where isil isspreading or will be spreading? and also, they arebrainwashing the young people, (inaudible) money and other facilitieson social media or internet. and this requires mucheducation for all the young people inthose countries. my question is now, thatthey need money and they

are buying -- they aresending the stolen oil and also buying arms. are you going, or u.s. or these countries aregoing after those who are supplying them arms andbuying their stolen oil? mr. earnest: well, goyal,let me just start out by saying that there are40 nations that are represented at thisconference, and many nations chose to send boththeir top diplomat as well

as their defense minister. there will also be anumber of multilateral organizations like theunited nations, nato, eu and interpol, who willalso be a part of these discussions. and all of theseorganizations and these countries have madesubstantial contributions that benefit our fightagainst isil that is certainly focusedon iraq and syria.

this is the location whereisil is attempting to form a caliphate. but we've seen thatthe mythology of that caliphate is beingexposed for that it is. and that's because of thesuccess that iraqi forces have enjoyed in drivingisil out of about 48 percent of the territorythat they previously occupied in iraq. the percentage ofterritory in syria is a

little bit smaller, butthere have been important gains against isil, evenin syria, based on the success that our coalitionhas had in backing the efforts of fighterson the ground. and the thinking has beenthat so much of the isil ideology that is promotedaround the world on social media is rooted in theidea that they are on the verge of establishinga caliphate. and that's why theinternational community

has been focused on theeffort of debunking that myth and depriving isil ofthe ability to have land on which they can organizeand establish a caliphate. and we've made a lot ofimportant progress in that regard. at the same time, theunited states and our coalition partners havebeen prepared to take strikes against isiltargets in other areas where concern has arisen.

we've talked in the pastabout a couple of the strikes that have beentaken against isil targets in libya. we've talked a little bitabout strikes that the united states has takenagainst isil targets in afghanistan, and we'llcontinue to be mindful of risks that may emanatefrom other places that are related to isil and makesure that we can confront them. the press: as far as thiscampaign is concerned,

madam secretary clintonwas speaking last week at nova, northern virginiacommunity college, with senator tim kaine. and she declared anumber of things. one was that if she'selected president, she will make communitycolleges free for all, and all the young people willbe out with the teachings of basics they need intheir life, and that will help them out of thesetroubles and all that.

and also, at the sametime, she said that she will not have any taxes onthe middle class, among other things. so are there any commentsfrom the president when she's laying downall these -- future presidency? mr. earnest: well, the twoexamples that you've cited are obviously consistentwith some of the proposals that president obamahas put forward. so in his state of theunion address in 2015,

president obama laid out aclear proposal for giving hardworking studentsaccess to a free community college education basedon a program that was actually pioneered by therepublican governor of tennessee. this is a proposal thathad bipartisan support across the country, butunfortunately is not supported by republicansin washington, d.c. -- even though we've seen intennessee that it's been

really good for theireconomy and really good for the middle class. as it relates to taxes,the president has a strong record on this in termsof protecting and making permanent tax cuts for themiddle class, even as we ask those at the top ofthe income scale to pay a little bit more. and the presidentcertainly believes that there's more that wecould do when it comes to

closing loopholes thatonly benefit the wealthy and well-connected. the press: finally, as faras education is concerned, when president obamaand dr. manmohan singh initiative on educationwas signed between the u.s. and india, where doesthat stand now after -- mr. earnest: we'llget you an update. obviously the connectionsbetween the united states and india include studentsin the united states that

study abroad in india, andindian students that study abroad in theunited states. and so obviously that'sjust one measure of the important relationshipbetween our two countries. but as it relates to thespecific proposal, we can follow up with you withsome more specific information. thanks, everybody. we'll see you tomorrow.