06/03/20: Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany Holds a Press Briefing

Hello everyone, I'm going to start with some internal announcements. First of all, the president's annual physical results are ready for release. The full memo will be released shortly, but in short, the president remains healthy. I would also like to congratulate the winners. In last night's primaries, President Trump has now endorsed candidates and with a record of 64 to 0 and in congressional primaries and special elections since the midterms, demonstrating the strength and support for the agenda of the president throughout the country, as evidenced by the sixty-four consecutive congressional primary and special elections. primary elections in the last 13 months, so next I want to move on to talk about some of the things that are happening across the country the first amendment doesn't give anyone the right to riot the first amendment doesn't give anyone the right to looting the first amendment does not give anyone the right to burn buildings.

The First Amendment does not give anyone the right to deface property and it does not give anyone the right to assault private citizens and police officers. The First Amendment, however, gives you the right to do so peacefully. We came together and the greatest example we have seen of peaceful protest, an absolute embodiment of the First Amendment, is the march on Washington on August 28, 1963. A quarter of a million Americans gathered at the Lincoln Memorial and peacefully held a powerful march on a powerful point that all Americans should be treated equally, that racial discrimination was unacceptable, abhorrent and needed to be rectified and in the famous I Have a Dream speech by Reverend Dr.

Martin Luther King said this: We must not allow our creative protest to spread and degenerate into physical violence over and over again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical strength with soul strength and soul strength is exactly what The doctor. Martin Luther King Jr. met the nation when he said this I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their character but by the content of their character important words important actions of an American hero who helped make of this nation the greatest in the world with that in mind, we must remember to recognize the lives lost, the death of George Floyd, who was unjustly murdered and I hope in a horrible video that we have all seen and we must also remember the death. of police captain david don't david dorn yesterday, who was shot dead by looters in st.

Louis in an absolute tragedy, a 77-year-old retired officer whose wife was also a police officer. Dorn was a hero in an unfortunate casualty and the unrest we have seen, our hearts go out to his family, we are all Americans, we must unite, we must unify. and we must have the law in order and with that I will answer questions. CBS News has learned that his comments this morning were not well received here inside the White House if the

secretary

had ever ex

press

ed his views on active duty forces to President Trump before this morning. privately and the president still has confidence in Secretary Berg, so I don't know in terms of ex

press

ing his opinion and I wouldn't go into the private conversations that took place here at the White House and regarding whether the president has confidence .

I would say that if he loses confidence in Secretary Esper, I'm sure all of you will be the first to know. From now on, Secretary Esper is still Secretary Esper and if the president loses faith, we will all know it. Going forward, Vice President Joe Biden just created a police oversight board, he's chosen his president, Trump is considering it and it's incomparable or any other specific legislative and policy reforms to address racial disparities in policing, so that several things have been discussed here in the White House I don't want to get ahead of the President and as far as what he ultimately determines about the President believes that the majority of police officers in this country are good hardworking people and he notices that, but he also notices some of the injustices that exist.

We have seen the need to ensure that appropriate use of force is used and that our officers are trained in that capacity. Several proposals have been discussed that we could look at, but there are no announcements on that front yet. Jeff, you mentioned dr. He and King probably wouldn't have approved of what happened Monday night in front of the White House, as you probably know, if the White House president and his team had to do it all over again, would they have gassed and beaten the protesters? to clear the parks and the president could have a photo op so let me talk first no tear gas or rubber bullets were used so again no tear gas was used no rubber bullets were used let me they were used travel agents, she was gassed.

The mother says they were tears. they gassed that area, well no one was tear gassed, let me make it clear, that has been confirmed by the Department of Defense and also by the Park Service, so let me go back and address what happens. There have been many reports of MIS first. I would point out that these protests that were happening in the morning, AG bar had determined that we needed to expand the perimeter by a block on each side. He was surprised when AG Bar arrived at the White House to see that that perimeter had not been moved, so he said that he needed to start moving that perimeter, he told the officials that it was at the end of the afternoon, so the decision was made. took in the morning.

First, the protesters were told three times over a loudspeaker that they had to move and what happened was it grew. More and more rebels, projectiles were thrown at the officers. Frozen water bottles were being thrown at the officers with various other projectiles and the officers had no choice but to act at that point and make sure that they were safe and that the perimeter was pushed back because as we all know, a church was burning. in that same area the night before, so the appropriate measures were taken, it was burning the night before, which would enforce the decision to move the perimeter of each side by one block so that the Church the rioters would already They wouldn't be in danger from rioters, but it's absolutely unnecessary to throw bricks, it's absolutely unnecessary to throw frozen water bottles at police officers, especially since the vast majority of protesters were doing it peacefully and many of them didn't listen.

Those and we are simply pushed out of the way only because their American police colleagues pushed us aside. You sent members of the military to deal with this. I mean, what does that say to Americans watching what happened? on Monday and I found out that, to be shocking, let me go, the National Guard was used throughout Washington DC, the military was not, there is a distinction and I would say that you don't need to throw bricks at officers, you don't need to throw bottles of frozen water to officers and had also received information that there were calls for violence against police officers and found caches of glass bottles, baseball bats and metal poles hidden along the streets when an officer is at risk have right to defend themselves they did it peacefully no one there were no deaths or serious injuries to protect the lives of the officers who have the right to defend and protect themselves next question right Sara, it's always a joke to ask on Tuesday I think I sometimes get four or five questions on Wednesday I have an opportunity to have that addressed and I mean, what would you say to Americans who are simply outraged by what they saw in front of a church?

I would say these officers have the right to defend themselves and you know I've watched a lot of their Coverage I've watched a lot of national coverage and let's go over some of the things that happen when officers don't defend and protect themselves in st. Louis Four police officers were shot in Las Vegas An officer was shot in the head on life support in New York A police officer was beaten by people in Providence Four to five police officers in the state shot State police officers were injured in a park in Ash Berry New Jersey a police officer was injured the police officers are on the front lines, they are defending and protecting you when you walk into this building every day Jim, we owe them honor, we owe them respect and when they are under attack they have the ability to defend themselves, do you?

Is the president currently considering using the invocation of the insurrection law or is that completely out of the question at this point? So it's a very good question: the president has the exclusive authority to invoke the insurrection law; It is definitely a tool within his power. This president has a singular goal and that is to protect the streets of America we cannot have churches burned we cannot have police officers being shot we cannot have businesses being looted and destroyed the insurrection law is a tool available the president has the only authority of a man if necessary, he will use it, but at this moment he depends on walking the streets with the National Guard.

It's had a big effect here in DC and also in Minnesota. Are you saying that all the officers who were at that protest cleaning up that horribly peaceful protest were happy? Appropriately, there were well-documented incidents of a case in which a member of law enforcement assaulted a cameraman. Australian journalism. This is not about journalists. It's about the other peaceful protesters there, as well as all the officers at that protest. Was that front clear? in a way that the White House believes was completely appropriate, so it should be the model for the rest of the country and the US Park Service when bricks were thrown at them in frozen water bottles they had a right to act, they acted with the proper level of force to protect themselves and to protect the average citizenry and to protect the peaceful protesters who were among them, as well as the peaceful protesters by firing various chemical agents through that was not tear gas.

I would point out and it's and what they used, what they used. It was a way to attack those who were being violent. They used the minimum force they could to ensure the situation was safe to ensure that St. John's Church would not burn down for the second night in a row and to ensure that no officers were injured in the way I listed several officers were injured and shot in During the course of these riots, the president said on Fox radio this morning that he never told anyone to expel the protesters. The Secretary of Defense said something similar.

Who, like the guy in the White House, knows? Was this a unilateral decision by the Attorney General? The Attorney General decided that morning to expand the perimeter and that was a decision made long before the church discussion was considered when the president gives an order people act it is not as if he had gone over each and every detail of how a plan is developed says I want to go to church he goes to church and everyone execute the plan in the order the president implements it so the president is absolutely right and what President Trump said was get out even if the protesters were still there.

You know, I'm not aware of the determinations that the Secret Service made. They had to arrange for the president to come out, but I would like to point out again that the decision to expand the perimeter was a decision made in the morning by the attorney general. Barr asked about the coronavirus because we are still in the middle of a pandemic. Dr. Foul said in an interview Monday that his contact with President Trump has decreased dramatically and also the frequency of coronavirus task force meetings is so accurate and, if so, why is there a coronavirus task force

briefing

? work on coronavirus yesterday? an administration monitoring the corona virus to protect the safety and well-being of the American people right now we all saw that church signature, we all saw some violence in the streets and the president has had several meeting after meeting with the Secretary of the College of AG Lawyers.

It's for General Milley to make sure our streets are peaceful and under control, while also monitoring the corona virus and what we're seeing develop there. Mario's process was peaceful on Monday, why did everyone clear the area and who decided to clear? later that day, if Attorney General Barr wanted it to be clear earlier in the day, why did it take so long to make it clear? Yeah, you know, he ordered it cleared up on Monday morning. It didn't happen when he arrived, so he immediately gave instructions. officers to make sure they moved back a block, as we all saw on Sunday night, it was not a peaceful protest, in fact it was a riot with a church burning in Washington DC, the president made sure Washington DC was safe on Monday night and part of that involved moving the perimeter back to ensurethat st.

St. John's Church was protected for quite some time between morning and afternoon. I walked over there, why was there something like that? Look again, that's a question for AG bar gave the order to question the officers who were on the ground at the time, why it was like that. It was deployed immediately, but when the AG bar arrived at the White House and I think it was early afternoon, he noticed that it had not been cleared, he gave the order to have it cleared and that action was taken at the church, it was extremely important. The president wanted to send a very powerful message that we will not be defeated by looting, rioting or burning, this is not what defines America and support st.

John's Church was a very important moment and I would like to point out that throughout all time we have seen presidents and leaders around the world who have had very powerful moments of leadership and symbols that were important for a nation to see at a given time to show a message of resilience and determination like Churchill, we saw him surveying the bombing damage, it is a powerful message of leadership for the British people and George W Bush throwing out the ceremonial first pitch after 9/11 and Jimmy Carter putting on a sweater to encourage the energy saving and George HW Bush signing the Americans with Disabilities Act flanked by two disabled Americans and for this president it was powerful and important to send a message that rioters, looters and anarchists will not prevail, that burning churches is not what United States is. and that moment holding the Bible up is something that has been widely acclaimed by Franklin Graham and others and was a very important symbol for the American people to see that we will get through this through unity and through the results of the faith of this we physical.

I know he did part of the physical at the end of last year. I think that was when he had the rest of his physical. I don't know the exact date. I'll ask Dr. Connelly, for you, but I know it was recently. Yes, I'll go talk to Brett about the protests that have taken place and how people are protesting or shouldn't be processing it, but what is the White House doing to properly address the underlying causes? The president has done a lot. The president expedited the review. The FBI review of the George Floyd case. He quickly made sure there was a civil rights investigation into the death of George Floyd.

Muhammad our burial. There is another investigation by the Department of Justice. He has recognized the injustice that was. On countless occasions, including in his national addresses that he gave on Saturday, this president had done everything in his power to send a powerful message that these and the judges will not be tolerated and reached out to any of these protesters to try to start a dialogue about specific reforms they would like to see or the president plans to make in the future. Look, the president has discussed several tools, not necessarily legislative, but that we could use to ensure that law enforcement uses the appropriate level of force.

There are no discussions or announcements on that front, but I will say that we are looking at this carefully, but that the president recognizes that our police officers are brave heroes, the vast majority are good, hard-working people who love this country and who love. to the American citizenry who protect their property Former WBO Tournament General Rob Rosenstein testified on the Hill today that he did not read the FISA applications and that he did not even prepare the scope memo that started the Moller investigation given that Rosen Stein appears to be deeply involved in the crossfire and who actually chose FBI Director Christopher Ray, it's time for a Trump administration to appoint someone other than rape or FBI director.

I have no announcements about it, but what I will say regarding Rosenstein's testimony as he said there was nothing there and now agrees with the text of Peter Strock, who obviously had no information about the Russian collusion but nevertheless told us forced this investigation to be done and there is Rosen Stein, who again, is quite clumsy, said he wouldn't do it. He hadn't signed on Carter's page a FISA warrant that has his name on it his signed names on a FISA warrant to spy on the Trump campaign he wouldn't have signed on that not only was he not sure he could read every page, it's great to spy on an American citizen to violate their Fourth Amendment rights without having a basis to do so and relying on a Russian dossier full of lies, that's the justification, so it's really surprising to hear about it.

He's not sure he read every page of that order, but I suppose it's encouraging to hear in retrospect that he wouldn't have signed it, although I'm sure that's of no comfort to Carter. he expressed disappointment in him for bringing up the past, so where is he now? Do you have confidence in Rhea today at this point? He's confident that you guys will be the first to know in New York, so yesterday Governor Cuomo of New York made a pretty big statement saying that hee hee, he might relieve Mayor de Blasio of his duties. Has there been any conversation with Governor Cuomo about shipping? the National Guard goes to New York or is there any plan right now that says the National Guard goes to New York, the president will do whatever it takes to protect the streets of the United States, he has made it clear and he has several tools, and one of them is to send the National Guard, he has the ability to federalize the National Guard if he decides to do so, but I would like to point out, and I am very happy, that you mentioned New York, the very clear cases of DC and New York.

DC was in chaos on Sunday. night when he saw the church burn when Mayor Bowser didn't set the curfew as he added at 11:00 p.m. The president said that this is unacceptable, he has always preferred to delegate to the states, they have police power, it is their responsibility to protect the streets, but when the president saw that on Sunday nights he took immediate action, the National Guard emerged and encouraged states to accept their National Guard. He went on and on with several different actions to give a very powerful speech saying if you don't act, I will um, he noted that the military would be available if necessary.

His bold action, his quick action can make DC a very different story. on Monday night and contrasting the images of New York or excuse me DC on Monday night in New York on Monday night where there was rampant looting where we saw Macy's department stores looted bus store looted violence in the streets New York acted In an inappropriate way they did not deploy the National Guard, they set a time of 11:00 p.m. curfew even after seeing the disastrous results of Mayor Bowser's 11:00 p.m. curfew. curfew and the president said: I will call a domestic terrorist group Tifa.

What was New York doing? New York was arresting people accused of robbery and then releasing 500 people after arresting them, so New York's weak-kneed policies are in stark contrast to this president's law and order policies that have managed to protect this city, As we've seen the last two nights, condominiums aside, individual officers, does the president believe there is a systemic bias in American law enforcement against Americans? Does the president believe? that there is in the magistrates and he has pointed them out and has not hesitated and pointing out the injustice goes back to his time as a primary candidate when he called out Sandra Bland and the use of force against him in the video that we all saw terrible.

He didn't hesitate when he saw the video of George Floyd. He was really upset about that video, as I noticed. We also have the civil rights investigation into Tom at our funeral. He points to the judges, but he also points to our police. The officers are good people. I have seen them on the streets protecting people. I have played you the videos of the police hugging the protesters standing with the protesters. They are good working people. They protect our streets. That's what the authorities do. is about and at the same time the president will take note and call the judges and this is a president who did not hesitate to do it when the time was right, but do you believe that the problem is systemic and endemic to American law enforcement? the president thinks there are some examples of judges, he criticizes them, this is a president that when Democrats talked for so many years about criminal justice reform and the disparities, the racial disparities in sentencing, they didn't do it, President Obama He didn't do that, guess who.

It turned out that it was President Trump with the first step law who got involved in sentencing reform and who really rectified some of the disparities that we saw there, so I think Democrats and Republicans should praise this president for criticizing to judges when he sees them on a case-by-case basis or in the form of the First Step Act where he pointed out the disparity in sentencing reforms, but another who were violent protesters from the Park Police Department of Justice who said they previously was going to do anyway, he explained to us what the reason from the White House perspective was the park was bigger, why the White House, when they finished, it wasn't the White House, like I said, it was the AG bar that expanded the It was the bar AG who said the perimeter needed to be expanded one block in each direction because we weren't going to see the church burn another night.

I've already gone through some meticulous detail with my friend Jim here about how that perimeter happened to finally move and I'm not going to repeat myself again anyway. No, there were three announcements, so if the protesters had remained peaceful and I had moved the perimeter as they were told to do not once, not twice, but three times over the loudspeaker, it would have looked different, but when they throw bricks, rest assured, the officers will protect themselves. I went down to the basement to inspect what the purpose of the inspection was. What was he looking for? Well, I will not go beyond what the president has said because they are security issues and I will not participate in that type of discussion.

Yes, nobody. Back to you, Rosen Stein, what is the president's response to the fact that neither Rosen Stein nor Christopher Racine are willing to accept roses? Yes, I would say look, the president is shocked. This happened to the president's campaign. A bell. A Republican campaign was spied on by. a democratic presidency a democratic administration based on a dossier paid for by his opponent Hillary Clinton at the Democratic National Committee this is absolutely extraordinary it is the biggest political scandal we have ever seen and the lack of journalistic curiosity on this front is appalling when you have multiple cases of people who said one thing under oath to the Obama administration and said something else in public who had direct evidence of Russia and collusion.

I mean, that's extraordinary, Adam Schiff. I have direct evidence when in reality we know there was none. in the Moller report, after spending millions of taxpayer dollars, he totally and completely exonerated President Trump, it was a travesty and we hope to get to the bottom of this because it should never be done again in American politics to any president of any of the political parties. this morning he said that he opposes it, the last time it was used was in 1992, if how close the White House is to using it really is a measure of last resort or is it a real possibility at this point, well, if you have noticed that the president has been Following a line of progression, the first point was to allow governors to do their job allow mayors like Bill DeBlasio to do their job the police power that is built into the Tenth Amendment of this Constitution that is how it is supposed to This country is supposed to work.

Governor Cuomo is supposed to make sure his state is protected, Mayor de Blasio is supposed to make sure New York City is protected, they failed at their job, there was looting all over New York City. , there were fires here in DC when Mayor Bowser was in control, so this president On Monday he took definitive action with that speech saying that if necessary, the military is here, they should look to the National Guard. He took action and made sure DC stayed peaceful, so this president went out and said the National Guard is the next step. that seemed to be working here in New York in DC, we'll see if it continues to work, but rest assured that he has the exclusive authority to invoke the insurrection law and if necessary, he will do so to protect American citizens, something that I really want to note just and I think it's very important to go back to this because I haven't seen a lot of coverage about it other than in a few places and I started the

briefing

with this and it's important, I just want to go back and a note Captain David Dorn who lost life and st.

He and Louis were murdered by a looter who served 38 years in st. Louis two Police Department his wife Ann as a sergeant of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, he is a hero. I also want to point it out because 45 have been lostofficers in the line of duty this year and my heart breaks for them and as a new mom, my heart breaks particularly for two women in particular who I was reading about their stories today, Officer Brianne Leith of the Police Department Indianapolis on April 9, 2020. She was shot and killed. She survived thanks to her three-year-old son, her sister and her parents.

She was a National Guard veteran and my heart breaks. the family of Officer Leith and Tiffany Victoria and Rica of the Honolulu Police Department on January 19 and 20, 2007, Rica was shot and killed and left behind three daughters, one grandson and she was an Air Force Reserve veteran of USA These are our heroes. Thank you so much. Our officers who protect our streets, many have been shot, some have been killed, it is a travesty and let us support the authorities and recognize the enormous contribution they have made to our society and continue to do so every day. Thank you so much. guy