LIVE: White House Holds Press Briefing (Jan. 3)

I'm starting to speak now. In the coming days, the President and First Lady will travel to New Orleans, Louisiana. The President and First Lady will grieve with the families and community members impacted by the tragic attack on January 1st, and meet with local and state officials on the ground. The President has been extremely focused on ensuring that everything possible be done to complete this investigation, ensure the safety of the community, and provide any and all federal assistance to support state and local officials. Since Wednesday, the President has held regular meetings with his Homeland Security team to receive the latest information on the investigation and convey the need to do everything possible to complete this investigation and keep the American people safe. The President has also spoken to the Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of Louisiana to offer support to both state and local officials. His team remains in close touch with their team. And as the President said earlier today, you heard him moments ago, he has spoken with the families of the victims. As he made clear, there is no justification for violence of any kind and we will not tolerate any attack on any of our nation's communities. The President continues to receive regular updates on both the investigation into the terrorist attack in New Orleans and the truck explosion in Las Vegas. Both cases remain active investigations and I will refer you to the law enforcement to speak further about them. Next, as you all know, steel and steel workers who produce it are the backbone of our economy and national security, powering our autos, our infrastructure, our defense. Without domestic steel production and domestic steel workers, our nation is less strong and less secure. CFIUS evaluation determined this acquisition would place one of America's largest steel producers under foreign control and create a risk for our national security and our critical supply chains. And CFIUS referred the matter to the President for his decision. So, the President took action to block the deal to U.S. Steel Remains, so U.S. Steel Remains a proud American company, American-owned, American-operated, by American Union steel workers, and the best in the world. The domestic steel industry is the strongest it has been in years because of the President's actions to level the playing field for American steel and American steel workers and the United States remains an open economy with record foreign direct investment under President Biden's leadership. As foreign competitors like China distort global steel markets through unfair trade practices, such as dumping and overproduction, it is critical that we have a strong domestic steel industry that protects our national security and our supply chains. Today, the President demonstrated once again that he will always act to protect the security of this nation, as well as the resilience of our supply. And then, so with that, I'm going to, before I take questions, I want to add one more thing, which we haven't done in a while, which is talk about the week ahead, next week, and then we'll go into questions. In addition to his trip to New Orleans, the President and the First Lady will travel to Los Angeles, California, on Monday. The President will then travel to eastern Coachella Valley, California, on Tuesday. On Thursday, the President and the First Lady will attend the state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter. As President Biden said, the world lost an extraordinary leader, statesman, and humanitarian. The President and the First Lady look forward to honoring a great American who gave his life to service. And finally, on Thursday afternoon, the President and the First Lady will travel to Rome, Italy, from the 9th to – from January 9th to the 12th. During the visit, the President will meet separately with His Holiness Pope Francis, President of Italy, and the Prime Minister of Italy as well. And as always, we'll have more to share as we get closer to the trips and events to come. But before I even go to your questions, I have one more thing that I wanted to add, a personal note. Jeremy and Jacob, thank you so much for your service. They will be leaving our team. This is going to be – next week is going to be really your last week, but we did have another opportunity to do this in the briefing room, so I just wanted to say thank you to both. You have been phenomenal to work with. I'm going to miss you both and wish you the best in your upcoming endeavors in your career. But just wanted to thank them here at the podium. And if you guys have a chance, I'll make sure to offer you up your well wishes to Jeremy and Jacob next week. And with that, we have the first question. I have three questions. Firstly, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has for years talked about friendship and countering the ambitions of China with allies. Will the President's decision on Nippon undercut efforts to strengthen relationships with our allies? And could this decision potentially damage the U.S.'s relationship with Japan? This is not about Japan. It's not. And you have watched this President really, in the last four years, strengthen his relationship with our allies, obviously abroad, and we have worked certainly together to strengthen our economic partnership with Japan. We have been in touch with Japan and conveyed our thoughts directly to them. This is about the need. You heard me talk about how now U.S. steel is going to stay American-owned and American-operated, and this is what's important to this President, and that he's been very clear about that. So this is about continuing that, making sure that we are strong domestically, talent-operated steel industry for our national security and for a resilient supply chain and how important that would be. And I also stated at the top how if you look at the work that this President has done over the last four years, the steel industry is the strongest. It's the strongest that it's been in years because of the actions that this President has done every day since day one to make sure that we protect that. And so the President believes that we need major U.S. companies representing major share of U.S. steel-making capacity and to keep leading that fight on behalf of America's national interest. And so that's why the President made this decision. He's always been very clear about that. We've always been very consistent about that. And so that's going to be our focus, continuing to be our focus, obviously. Q The President said he spoke with families of the victims of the New Orleans attack. What did he tell them? Look, I'm not going to get into private conversation that the President has had with families. We don't do that, and certainly if the families choose to speak about that conversation with the President, obviously they have the right to do that. Our hearts certainly go out to the families who lost their loved ones on a day that should have been a celebrated day to such an act of violence. Obviously, this is something that we will continue to condone. But as I stated at the top, the President and the First Lady are going to New Orleans in the upcoming days, and they're going to grieve with the family. And sadly, that is something that we have seen them do many times over the last four years. When an awful event happens, they are there. They want to be there, especially at this magnitude. They want to be there and be with the family and mourn with the family. And so, again, this was certainly an awful, awful event that happened on the day that we should have all been celebrating an incoming New Year. And so our hearts go out to the families and also to the communities who are dealing with the aftermath of this tragedy. And does the Vice President plan to oversee the certification of the election results on Monday? I believe that is her plans. I would have to refer you to the Vice President's office on her schedule, but I believe so. Yes. Thanks, Karine. How does the attack in New Orleans and the explosion in Las Vegas increase concerns in the administration about security surrounding certification of the vote, the Carter funeral next week here in Washington, the inauguration, and then even looking ahead to the Super Bowl next month in New Orleans? So, look, all of the events that you just laid out is certainly a high priority for this administration. The Department of Homeland Security and federal law enforcement have well-established safety and security protocols in place, especially as we speak to the inauguration, obviously. And so they have been preparing for months to ensure that the security of these events and the safety of those attending them. So, again, this is something that we've worked through for months now. And so we are working tirelessly every single day to ensure the safety and security of the inauguration, the safety and security of major events that you just laid out. It is important to the President that we continue to protect, as I said at the top, American communities, communities across the country. And certainly that's what the President's going to – wants his team to focus on, and that's what they have been focusing on. Both suspects in New Orleans and Las Vegas served in the military. Does the President find that aspect of this troubling? And is he concerned about the problem of radicalization in the military? So, look, I'm going to – obviously, the FBI is continuing their investigation, so they can speak to the FBI and the Department of Defense. As you just stated, because of their status and affiliation to their military service, I would have to refer you to the Department of Defense to speak to that specifically. I don't want to get into a back-and-forth on this. What we can say is continue to condemn any form of violence and do whatever we can and continue to do the work, obviously, to make sure that there is – security protocol continues and we protect Americans and certainly communities across the country. I'm not going to dive into the two subjects. Do you think the President had any reaction when he heard that detail about both of these suspects? What I can say is the President is – his heart is going out to the family who were certainly affected and lost a loved one that day. And what he wants to do is to make sure that his team is continuing to do the work to make sure that Americans are protected, communities are protected, and that's what I can speak to. You heard that from the President multiple times this week already, and that's going to be the President's focus. Thanks, Breen. President-elect Trump a little while ago today seemed to take issue with the fact that American flags will be flown at half-mast at the time of his inauguration, considering the passing of former President Jimmy Carter. Is there any potential for that to not be the case? Is that a decision that the White House would change? Can you say that one more time? The flags are due to be flown at half-mast at the time of the inauguration, and President Trump seems to be taking issue with that. Is that a decision that the White House would consider reversing or reevaluating? No. On the U.S. deal, the U.S. relationship with Japan is strong. What is the national security concern the President sees by having this investment in an American program? So you saw the President's statement. He talks about the CFIUS evaluation, how they determined that evaluation, how they got to their, again, determination that this acquisition would place one of America's largest steel producers under the foreign control and create risk of our national security. This is from CFIUS. They are independent. The President said he was going to let the process play out, and it has played out. And so if you think about our national security and our critical supply chain, CFIUS referred the matter to the President to make that decision. And so the President took that very seriously. He's always going to make sure that we put Americans first, and that is how you saw this decision play out from this President. And I talked about China and how they tend to distort the global markets deal through unfair trade practices. And so this is something that the President took very, very seriously and took CFIUS determination. We've got to remember, this was a cross-government panel when you think about CFIUS and the decision that they made. And so that's how the President came to this decision. It is about making sure that a U.S. company is U.S.-owned, U.S.-operated, supporting, continuing to protect the U.S. steel makers, obviously a union. And that's what the President wanted – led with, and that's how he made this decision. Is this political? No, it's not. This is – again, as I was answering that question, I said he said – we've always said CFIUS is an independent body. We let this process play out. We made sure that this process played out. And that's exactly what we did. And CFIUS made a determination, and they said this acquisition would create risk for our national security and our critical supply chain, and the President took that really, very seriously. And he took a careful look, a careful look at the CFIUS evaluation, and so he decided to block this deal. Rob, President-elect Trump had communicated on his social media some inaccurate information related to New Orleans early on. Is the President at all concerned about the flow of information and briefing and access to whatever intelligence or whatever he might need in terms of this transition? Are you – is he comfortable with the information flow to the President-elect on matters like this? I mean, look – and I'm actually glad you asked this question, because one of the things that you all do as a journalist body is that you are able to fact-check and say that what was stated by the President-elect was simply false. And I think that is important, right, which is why we respect the hard work that all of you do. As it relates to the President and the information that he gets, obviously that's something for ODNI if it's related to intelligence and specific information in that nature. I'm not going to speculate beyond that, and I'm just going to leave it there. Just three things. The FBI, NCTC, DHS put out a law enforcement bulletin earlier today warning of copycat attacks in the wake of New Orleans. What assurances can the White House offer to the public, many of whom might be scared of this kind of vehicle-ramming attack? And to build on the earlier question beyond just radicalization, is there a wider concern about the mental health implications connected to servicemembers, given the similarities? Yeah, so as it relates to the second part of your question, I'm going to have to refer to the Department of Defense. They can speak to that. I'm not going to litigate that from here. Look, when it comes to – and you're right, the bulletin was put out – and what I can say is DHS and law enforcement remain vigilant to any potential copycat. And so they're going to consistently – DHS and law enforcement are going to consistently evaluate threats and going to share the latest information to disrupt any potential copycats, potential threats. And so that is their commitment. That's what they're working hard to do. And so they're going to be vigilant, continue to be vigilant on that aspect. On bird flu, the bird flu outbreak's escalating at least 66 human infections across 10 states now. The federal government has two bird flu vaccine candidates available. Why not ask the FDA to authorize them, even for particularly vulnerable farm workers? Why defer a decision on a vaccine to the next administration? And so, look, that is something – as you know, the FDA, that is something that they decide on. They have a committee that – when they have to make decisions like this. So I would have to leave it to them on how they move forward with that. Look, we remain – we take this very seriously. And USDA, HHS are on top of this. We are in touch with them. They are certainly in touch with local authorities on this. And so I do want to be very clear that CDC has been – have said themselves that the risk to the general public is still low. And so we want to make sure that the American people are listening to CDC, and they certainly need to continue to do so. And we want to make sure, obviously, the nation's food supply remains safe. And so a couple things that I do want to lay out that we have been able to do that the – from this administration, which is protect – directed – we made sure that since March, when this was detected, to protect the public health, protect animal health, protect our nation's food supply, and monitor all trends to prevent the spread of avian flu. So this work is going to continue. All relevant federal agencies continue to coordinate, as I just stated, with local authorities. And so we're going to do that as – be consistent with that, as we've done since March. And so that's what the administration is going to focus on. But is the President concerned about deferring a decision about a vaccine to the next administration? I'm not going to get into hypotheticals about what the next administration is going to do or not do. This is something that rests in the world of FDA. And so we want to let them lead by science and the facts. We've been – that's – we've been pretty consistent on that over the last four years. And so we're going to leave it to FDA. But I'm just not going to get into hypotheticals about what the next administration is going to do or not do. Last thing on a different topic. There have been reports that Chinese Government hackers have breached a really sensitive office within the U.S. Treasury. OFAC, of course, administers economic sanctions. What more can you tell us about the scope of this and what information has been compromised? So what I can say is the President was briefed on this. We are closely tracking the incident. We're working to identify actions to mitigate the future risk to U.S. Government networks. And anything further, I would have to refer you to the U.S. Treasury Department, FBI. They could speak to specifics on this particular incident. But the President's been briefed and we're certainly closely tracking the incident. I would have to refer you to the Treasury Department on that. And the FBI, as you know, is investigating this. Hi. Has the President signed the Social Security Fairness Act? So he will sign the Social Security Fairness Act in the upcoming days. Once we have that information, we'll certainly share with you on that particular date. Can you just clarify? My understanding was it would be pocket vetoed if he didn't sign it by noon today. Are you saying that's not the case? I can say to you that the President's going to sign it. I can't speak to the specifics of what you just laid out. I know the President is looking forward to signing that. U.S. Steel has warned that it may or likely would have to close steel mills if the deal fell through. To what degree did the President take that into consideration? So I can say this, that we are confident, the President is confident that domestic steel and domestic steel workers are going to continue to thrive because of the work that he's done, because of the commitment that he has had to this industry. As I said at the top, this is the strongest – it is – it's in its strongest – the steel industry is the strongest that it's been in years because of what the President has been able to do. And you think about manufacturing investment, you think about tariffs on Chinese steel imports, that has made the industry stronger, those actions that the President has taken. You see more than 100 new steel and iron mills have opened since the President took office. So we're very confident that this is an industry that's going to continue to thrive. If there are – if there are mills that are closed, if there are layoffs, would the President need to take some responsibility for that? I mean, that's a hypothetical. I'm not going to get into hypotheticals. What I can say is the President has taken strong actions over the last four years. I just mentioned 100 new steel mills that were created, what he was able to do on Chinese steel imports, tariffs on Chinese steel imports. That has made that industry stronger. Manufacturing investments, all of that has made that industry stronger. And so we believe it's going to continue to thrive. I'm not going to get into hypotheticals from here. Obviously, the President took this decision really – he really took it seriously and made a decision on behalf of the American people, and that's how he came to this decision. Obviously, this is a President that has had a lot of focus and wanting to continue to make sure we uplifted certainly union workers, and that's what you've seen from this President. In a number of the President's actions in recent days have seemed intended to undercut some of the threats that the President-elect has made or actions that he's said have put into place. He awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal to Liz Cheney, who the President-elect has said should be in jail. You all have the upcoming monument declarations next week and also the decision that the President is expected to make on banning drilling in certain federal waters. Are there other actions that we should expect from him in the coming days that he's planning to take in anticipation of President Trump? So I'm going to be clear. I don't have any announcements to make on any of the things that you just laid out, policy announcements to make. So I don't want to get ahead of where we are. What the President is doing and what he said he would do is continue to focus on the American people, continue to deliver on critical investments that he thinks matters of the direction as we go, as we move forward as a country. Look, if you think about, for example, the monuments and those decisions that he's made on protecting more than 46 million land and water, I think that shows the President's commitment to make sure that we preserve our environment, that we can really focus on climate investment, climate change. I mean, there's nothing new there. That's been part of the President's platform from the beginning. He happens to really respect Liz Cheney. He happens to really respect the congressman. And that's why he made that decision. And look, the President is always going to lift up Americans that have put their country first, is what we've seen. And he's done that throughout the four years, not just this past week. He's going to always make decisions that he believes is best for the American people. I mean, there's nothing new there. I think that is, if you look at what the President's done in the last four years, this is all consistent to what he believes, and what he believes is the best way to move this country forward. Are there other actions that we should anticipate? I'm not going to get ahead of the President. We have 17 days left in this administration. The President has a jam-packed schedule, and he's going to continue to focus on ways that we can move forward, invest in this country, invest in communities, and continue to lift up all what he believes this country can be. Thank you. President Biden has staked his presidency on the preservation of democracy, and has commemorated January 6th in different ways every year. What, if anything, will he do to commemorate the anniversary on Monday? And in that context, does he still believe Donald Trump is a threat to democracy? Look, I don't have anything to share at this moment. You will hear from the President about January 6th, his thoughts on January 6th in 2021. Nothing has changed. And I think this is a President that has spoken multiple times in the last four years and beyond about democracy, the importance of democracy, protecting our democracy. And so I would expect that he will continue to be steadfast on that. And then I imagine the President is reflecting on Jimmy Carter this week, and so much of Carter's legacy is his service to both the nation and the world in this post-presidency. So I wonder how President Biden is thinking about his own post-presidential service and what he wants that legacy to be. I'm not going to get ahead of this President. He's going to have an opportunity to speak to all of you. You're going to hear from him many times in the next 17 days about his thoughts about his presidency. I'm going to let him speak for himself. But I think if you look at the last four years, what he's been able to do, whether it's climate change, whether it's bringing the economy back on its feet, whether it's investment, manufacturing investment in this country, he's had a historic presidency. He's done more in one term than most presidents have been able to do in two terms. And that is just the facts. That is what we've been able to see from the Biden-Harris administration. So I think it speaks for itself. But as far as the President and his personal thoughts, his personal views, I'm going to leave it to him to speak to. One more on U.S. steel. I guess more broadly, what message should other foreign companies who are considering investing in the United States take away from this decision by the President? Again, this wasn't about Japan. It's not about Japan. We have a strong alliance with Japan. We have worked together, as you know and mentioned before, to strengthen our economic partnership. That is something that you've seen this President work tirelessly on over the past four years. And certainly, we talked to Japan about this particular decision. We've been in direct touch. This is about a domestically owned, operated steel industry. And we're talking about our national security, of course, but also our supply chain, our resilient supply chain. And so that's what the President wanted to focus on. That's what you saw, this action from this President. And so that is going to be our focus. We're going to continue to work on our relationships with our allies across the globe. That is something that we're going to continue to do. I just talked about the President going to Rome next week. Certainly, that is very important. The President, in the past four years, has been able to mend many of those relationships. And you've seen the President on the global stage and how those relationships have really mattered to our friends across the world. And so that's how we see this. This is not about Japan. This is about what is right for America and what is right and how he saw the best way to move forward with this decision. Remember, CFIUS did this analysis, and they provided us with their thoughts. And the President took this very seriously. It's specific to steel. That is sort of an industry that is maybe viewed differently than other – like whether it's IT or chips or any other industry that a lot of foreign investment has come into the country for. There's been a lot of foreign investment in other industries beyond steel. Yeah. Those investments are not at risk, or they shouldn't rethink those as a result of the U.S. deal. Let me – let's step back. CFIUS took this on. It's an independent evaluation and an independent agency, and they gave their thoughts of – they gave their report to the President, and the President made this decision. So let's not forget how we even got here. And so I'm not going to get into other industries. I'm focusing on what CFIUS presented to this President and the decision that the President made. You heard from him. He put out a statement on this in his voice, obviously, so you heard from directly. You heard from me. And why the President made that decision. So that's why we are where we are today. But prior to the announcement today about U.S. steel, Nippon Steel had said that it was going to sue if this decision came to be. Has there been any preparation for that? Was that involved in this? I'm not going to get into litigation, potential lawsuits from here. That is something I would refer to the Department of Justice. I'm just not going to do that. Be pretty consistent. Did I call on you? Okay, I got to call on somebody else. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Human rights and upholding international law has been made priority for the Biden administration. Say that one more time. Human rights and upholding international law has been a priority for this administration. We're not disputing that, right? No, not disputing that. You're correct. That is something that when I'm asked about it, we say that the President brings that up when he has meetings or bilateral meetings with world leaders. He brings that up, and it's always something that we certainly focus on, for sure. So I don't know if you've seen Amnesty International report, but basically they're detailing the arrest of doctors, health workers in Gaza, and some of them have endured torture. On December 27th, Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya, he is the doctor for Kemal Adwan Hospital, was arrested. And until now, we don't know whether he's aware of that. And there is fear from Amnesty International for his life. What is the White House doing to talk with a close ally like yours, which is Israel, to make sure that his life is spared and he's safe? So on that particular matter, I don't have anything to share on any conversation on that specific amnesty situation. Obviously, when it comes to humanitarian assistance, we continue, certainly, to be concerned of the lack of humanitarian assistance. This is something that we talk directly with our Israeli counterparts in the government, and so we will continue to do that. You've seen Secretary Blinken and others who have gone into the region and had those conversations with Israel about that. I don't have anything to share about that particular instance. I would have to talk to the team, but that is something that we certainly take very seriously when it comes to humanitarian aid and humanitarian workers being able to be allowed to the job. I can't speak to that particular report. I have to talk to our team. I want to be really, really mindful on that. But would you agree that arresting doctors in hospitals is a violation of human rights? Again, I want to be super mindful because you're asking me about a particular incident that has occurred, and I just want to make sure I have all of the information. I don't want to give you an answer without having all the information, and so I'm just going to be super mindful and leave it there. Okay, all right. Thank you. Is the President following the House future election process today? He has worked with Mike Johnson. I guess he wanted to see the process play out smoothly. So, look, we've always been very clear from here, from this administration, that we do not inject ourselves into any leadership election that is happening in Congress. It doesn't matter if it's a Democrat or a Republican. We stay out of it. The President's going to continue to focus on the job that he has ahead, 17 days of a jam-packed schedule focusing on the American people. We're going to let Congress do their business. And why is the administration calling for cancer warning labels on alcohol now at the end of the term when there's minimal political capital? Were there conversations with Congress, and was there any pushback? So, look, we obviously take any report that comes from an independent advisory – obviously, we take the findings very seriously, as we do now. It is important that Americans are informed about decisions that they have to make for themselves. As it relates to this particular report, I have to refer you to the Surgeon General's Office, but certainly we take any independent advisory report very, very seriously. I don't have anything beyond that. Thanks, guys.