Department Press Briefing – February 22, 2018
Spokesperson
Department Press Briefing
TRANSCRIPT:
________________________________
QUESTION: I suppose just this once. Just this once.
QUESTION: That I'm allowing Abigail to sit next to me.
QUESTION: (Laughter.) Thank you.
Good afternoon, everyone. I have a couple of announcements I'd like to make at the top before taking your questions, but first I'd like to address a serious situation that happened last night overnight, and I spoke with some of you over the phone last night about this very thing. And that is what happened at our
The
Out of an abundance of caution, consular operations have been closed for the day today, although the
The
QUESTION: Was there anyone in -- actually in the embassy when this happened?
QUESTION: Other than security.
Second issue: I'd like to address something that took place in
It's also worth repeating that
I mentioned our deputy secretary was just there, and I'd like to read a quote from an address that he gave yesterday in
I just mentioned the deputy secretary's travel, so I'd like to give you a bit of a readout on some of the places that he's visited so far. He arrived in
While in
Early today in
Tomorrow, he'll be in
And with that, I'd be happy to take your questions.
QUESTION: Thanks. I want to start in
QUESTION: In both the
QUESTION: Do you have anything new to say about the situation in Eastern Ghouta today, where attacks seem to be continuing, first of all?
This also brings to light something that we have discussed many times, but -- although not recently, and that is also the Astana talks, the Astana progress or process. And that was something a lot of you asked questions about: Where are you on Astana? Is
Now, remember what Astana was about:
QUESTION: So both -- the conflicts, then, from what you just said, in both
QUESTION: Okay.
QUESTION: And then up north in the Afrin area, in your comments about
Overall, as you all well know, we are not operating in Afrin. We don't have
Some of the forces that we are working with in the east -- and as a reminder, we are there to fight
QUESTION: Okay. Last one. The -- when the Secretary was in
QUESTION: -- that's supposed to meet by the mid -- or before mid-March, which is rapidly approaching, as you know. February is a short month. And I'm just wondering -- it's been almost a week since that announcement was made. Are you aware of any -- has that progressed at all towards scheduling an actual meeting of this working group that was to focus on Manbij?
QUESTION: But that hasn't --
QUESTION: Thanks.
QUESTION: Could you comment on -- do you have any comment on the apparent coordination in Afrin between your allies and the Syrian Government forces?
QUESTION: You don't have any comment on that? Is that --
QUESTION: I understand, I understand.
QUESTION: I mean, do you --
QUESTION: Right.
QUESTION: Okay. My question: Do you frown upon the apparent cooperation between your allies, the Kurdish forces, and the Syrian regime?
QUESTION: Okay. No, I'm not. I'm not doing --
QUESTION: Okay. And one more last question regarding the 30-day ceasefire, I think that is being discussed at the
QUESTION: Oh, I forgot about that.
QUESTION: Yeah.
QUESTION: Yeah. So could -- yeah. Could you update us? What is happening with that? Is that something that you would support and on a 30-day interval, so to speak, all throughout the country or in east Ghouta?
I would urge all of you as journalists -- there's no one who has a bigger megaphone than each of you. I know many news organizations are interested in other things right now. I know you all are passionate about foreign affairs. You're all passionate about world events and humanitarian situations across the world. There is no better advocate for what is going on and shining a spotlight on the horrors that are taking place in eastern Ghouta than each of you. If I can implore you -- and I know you do this anyway as part of your jobs -- talking to your editors, talking to your producers, saying this is important, this is something we've got to cover. Now is the time to cover it. So many people have come to us saying, "What is
I want to thank Elise. Last night, she had included me in seeing a documentary. I'm not supposed to encourage people to go see things or do some things, but I don't care. I'm going to break that rule, because I think it's just that important. A documentary last night called the "Last Men in
Elise, go right ahead. And I'd also like to mention one of your other colleagues, who moderated the panel yesterday from Al Arabiya. So she did a great job.
QUESTION: Point well taken, and thank you. I'm just wondering specifically what Secretary Tillerson is doing to try and negotiate some kind of -- you talked about the failure of the Astana process. But it's obvious that the kind of
QUESTION: Well --
QUESTION: But the
The Secretary just had a meeting, of course, with the Turks, as you well know. The Secretary has meetings and conversations with many of our partners and allies all around the world to discuss this situation.
QUESTION: But specifically, when it came time -- when it -- when we were talking in terms of
QUESTION: -- a lot of the negotiations were between the
QUESTION: Well, are there any -- are you considering any more action at the
QUESTION: Right.
QUESTION: I hear you, but beyond kind of statements and asking them are there -- is the Secretary going to go meet with Foreign Minister Lavrov and try and negotiate something? I mean, we saw with Secretary Kerry a lot of those efforts did not bear fruit, but there was a hardy effort in terms of trying to negotiate.
QUESTION: Well, could you just -- I mean, can you at least characterize what his discussions with Foreign Minister Lavrov in the last week have been on this issue?
QUESTION: Well, is he talking to the Russian foreign minister about it?
QUESTION: Well, if you could take the question, because specifically --
QUESTION: No --
QUESTION: The question is: Specifically, what are the discussions with the Russians right now about trying to negotiate an end to this? Because it's -- I'm not saying that there --
The Presidents agreed that there is no military solution to the conflict in
QUESTION: Okay. The question, if you could take it, is beyond having conversations with partners and allies, specifically what is being done today --
QUESTION: Well I'm just -- the previous administration also tried this tactic of calling
We will continue to do that. We will continue to take action at the
QUESTION: We're not -- no one's saying that, though.
QUESTION: No, that's not the -- I mean, that's not the whole reason why this conflict started, I'm sorry.
QUESTION: No one's saying that you didn't make significant efforts and progress even in defeating
QUESTION: You haven't -- I'm sorry, you haven't described.
QUESTION: Heather, can I just turn that -- just flip it slightly? If the
QUESTION: But does the
QUESTION: Right.
QUESTION: Does the
QUESTION: Does the
QUESTION: -- it has a responsibility to help ease the violence?
QUESTION: Does the
QUESTION: Sounds like a no.
QUESTION: That sounds like a no.
QUESTION: Thank you.
QUESTION: Heather --
QUESTION: One more on this --
QUESTION: Last week, I asked you -- I'm sorry.
QUESTION: I asked whether or not you had a responsibility --
QUESTION: -- to protect civilians --
QUESTION: -- in
QUESTION: I'm sorry. I'm
QUESTION: What are those range of options?
QUESTION: Or what can you do?
QUESTION: We expect you to tell us what the diplomatic efforts are.
QUESTION: Okay. Can I follow that up? Can you say -- can you give us any information about whether there's a possibility at the
QUESTION: But what are the Russians asking for? What are they standing up -- standing this up for?
QUESTION: One final thing. The --
QUESTION: Do you think he needs to be pursued to a court?
QUESTION: Yeah. I wanted to follow-up on a topic Matt raised about
QUESTION: Okay. Let me ask you about
Secondly, I don't know if this deal that you speak of is a done deal or not, so I'm not going to get ahead of what that may be, but I can just tell you that we make it clear with our partners and allies.
QUESTION: So it sounds like, from what you're saying, if this S-400 deal were to go ahead and be concluded, they could be in violation of CAATSA?
QUESTION: Can we move on for the -- yeah.
QUESTION: (Off-mike.)
QUESTION: Very quickly on --
QUESTION: -- Palestinian-Israeli issue. First of all, yesterday, the Palestinians said that they would like to see the Quartet expand to include countries like
QUESTION: I understand, but --
QUESTION: Well, thank you, I wasn't there (inaudible).
QUESTION: And one other --
QUESTION: Heather, is that because you don't -- because you like the Quartet at four and don't want to make it an octet -- (laughter) --
QUESTION: Octet or --
QUESTION: -- or a septet?
QUESTION: A nonet?
QUESTION: (Off-mike.)
QUESTION: (Off-mike.)
QUESTION: Heather --
QUESTION: I have one more question. I have one more question.
QUESTION: (Off-mike.)
QUESTION: Actually, let me just finish here. Today, the Israeli -- the Israelis arrested a Palestinian man,
QUESTION: Right.
QUESTION: I mean, but even the Israeli army --
QUESTION: But even the Israeli army acknowledged that -- that he died in their custody, they beat him to death. So is that extrajudicial execution, in your opinion?
QUESTION: Heather --
QUESTION: Heather --
QUESTION: (Off-mike.)
QUESTION: Thank you.
QUESTION: On South Korea and
QUESTION: -- I hope you answer these questions for me.
QUESTION: Okay. North Koreans' military commander, his name is
I don't have anything more for you on that, but I would just have to refer you back to the Government of
QUESTION: But you have sanctions. United -- have sanctions. What your opinions -- I mean,
QUESTION: But that's different. This military guy. This is military guy who is a terrorist guy. It's more -- so
QUESTION: On Iraq. On
QUESTION: (Off-mike.)
QUESTION: Thank you.
QUESTION: On Iraq.
QUESTION: Heather.
QUESTION: This is on the report that came out regarding the upcoming Human Rights Report.
QUESTION: I'm just trying to understand whether or not some of the reporting that people within the bureau were asked to cut back on references discussing women's reproductive rights and removing sections specifically describing a country's societal views on family planning and access to contraceptions and abortion. Is that something that occurred? Were they asked to cut back on those references?
QUESTION: Well, not from the very beginning.
The legislation or the law that we have to adhere to from
QUESTION: Democracy, Rights --
I should point out that this over the years, including in the past administration, the report has been reformed and revised. Things have been pulled out of the report; things have been edited out of the report. A couple examples of those in the past have included labor and prisons and some of those things have been pared back in the report. This year, we are changing some of the terms that are being used in the report, but not our commitment to women's rights, women's health, or to human rights whatsoever. Make no mistake: Human rights is a top priority here. This is something that the Secretary finds to be incredibly important, and it's a value that my
So nothing is being substantively stripped out of this report. There are some instances in which this report has become duplicative of other reports, such as the Trafficking in Persons Report or the Religious Freedom Report. In some instances, some information has been trimmed and then you can get it in those other reports. So we want to make this as readable and as simple and adhere to the actual statutory requirements of what is required of us.
QUESTION: Can you explain a little more about the --
QUESTION: (Off-mike.)
QUESTION: Sorry -- a little more about the change in language, moving from the idea of using reproductive rights to coercion and population control. Is there -- what is the reasoning behind switching that language?
QUESTION: So this is not representative of a policy shift.
QUESTION: So where will one find the reproductive rights information?
QUESTION: Is that going to be in the trafficking report, the terrorism report?
QUESTION: Okay.
QUESTION: Does the administration believe that there is such a thing as reproductive rights? Is that a human right? Is it?
QUESTION: But, I mean, it seems like if this in fact correct -- and I'm just reading over -- I haven't seen this, so I'm reading over Abby's shoulder here -- if it's changing from reproductive rights to coercion and population control, that seems to suggest that the only right that this administration believes that there is in reproduction is to actually reproduce, and to -- not -- and not to reproduce is not necessarily a right. Is that correct? I mean --
QUESTION: Well, I understand that. But I mean -- so -- but I'm asking you, though, it's -- since it was changed at one point to include presumably access to contraception and access to abortion --
QUESTION: -- if --
QUESTION: Right. So --
QUESTION: Right. But things are added into it to show certain administrations' emphasis on or their particular interest in something. And so when you change something like this, it suggests -- or maybe more than suggests, it demonstrates that you don't think that reproductive rights is a priority or may not --
QUESTION: (Off-mike.)
QUESTION: (Off-mike.)
QUESTION: Thank you, Heather. You just mentioned that the report would change some of the terms, but not commitment to women rights, in the Human Rights Report. Could you please elaborate on that?
QUESTION: You just mentioned that in this report would change some of the terms, but not the commitment to women rights.
QUESTION: Would you please elaborate on that? What terms has been changed? And then is there any change in the terms against the LGBT people's rights?
Okay.
QUESTION:
QUESTION: (Off-mike.)
QUESTION:
QUESTION: (Off-mike.)
QUESTION: (Off-mike.)
QUESTION: Okay. So going back to
QUESTION: So it was reported in The
The North Koreans apparently didn't like that. I'm not going to speak on behalf of their government, but apparently they didn't like that. They chose, unfortunately, to cancel that meeting. I think a lot of people would have been happy if that meeting had gone off and we had been able to deliver that message to them in a very strong way face to face.
Okay. I've got to go, guys. Thanks.
QUESTION: Oh, wait, wait. Can I get you to comment, because you did on Tuesday -- I asked you about
QUESTION: -- and he was about to be sentenced. And on Wednesday he was in fact sentenced to five years. So I'm wondering if you have anything to say about the sentencing.
I want to make it clear that we are disappointed by both of those decisions. The United States Government wants to reaffirm our previous calls for his release. We've repeatedly expressed our concern about those cases. We continuously -- continue to strongly urge the Government of
QUESTION: Right. I actually think that he has opted not to appeal and has instructed his lawyers not to --
QUESTION: -- go take it further. But more broadly, so
QUESTION: Yeah, but it doesn't seem to be working.
QUESTION: That's true.
QUESTION: Can you take one on
QUESTION: Thank you.
QUESTION: Thank you.
(The briefing was concluded at
DPB # 12
________________________________
[1]
PSEG Announces 2017 Results
Surveys Damage in South Bend, Elkhart, Goshen, Plymouth with Local Mayors
Advisor News
Annuity News
Health/Employee Benefits News
Life Insurance News