Journalists (00:00):
Thank you for meeting at the bottom, [inaudible 00:00:18].
Karoline Leavitt (00:00):
It's a very long walk, [inaudible 00:00:21].
Journalists (00:27):
Karoline, [inaudible 00:00:23].
(00:27)
[inaudible 00:00:25].
(00:27)
Karoline, is the White House supportive of the-
Karoline Leavitt (00:29):
I'll answer that in a question, but go ahead.
Journalists (00:30):
Is the White House supportive of the Pentagon's investigation into Mark Kelly? And what do you make of his response that it's just intimidation?
Karoline Leavitt (00:36):
The White House is supportive of the Department of War's investigation into Senator Mark Kelly. And I think what Senator Mark Kelly was actually trying to do was intimidate the 1.3 million active duty service members who are currently serving in our United States Armed Forces with that video that he and his Democrat colleagues put out.
(00:55)
Senator Mark Kelly well knows the rules of the military and the respect that one must have for the chain of command, and that all orders, lawful orders, are presumed to be legal by our service members. You can't have a functioning military if there is disorder and chaos within the ranks. And that's what these Democrat members were encouraging. It's very clear. And not a single one of them, since they've been pressed by the media, and I'll give you guys credit for that, can point to a single illegal order that this administration has given down because it does not exist. They knew what they were doing in this video and Senator Mark Kelly and all of them should be held accountable for that.
Journalists (01:31):
Karoline, [inaudible 00:01:32]-
(01:31)
[inaudible 00:01:32]-
(01:31)
Will Lindsey Halligan be replaced?
Karoline Leavitt (01:35):
No, because Lindsey Calligan was legally appointed and that's the administration's position. I know there was a judge who is clearly trying to shield Letitia James and James Comey from receiving accountability, and that's why they took this unprecedented action to throw away the indictments against these two individuals.
(01:54)
But the Department of Justice will be appealing very soon and it is our position that Lindsey Halligan is extremely qualified for this position, but more importantly, was legally appointed to it.
Journalists (02:02):
Karoline, [inaudible 00:02:03].
Karoline Leavitt (02:02):
Steve.
Journalists (02:03):
Karoline, what was the president's reaction to those indictments being thrown out?
(02:03)
[inaudible 00:02:05] agreement on Ukraine. Is President Zelensky coming to the United States this week? Are there a couple… You mentioned on the Fox News a couple points that you require on [inaudible 00:02:16]?
Karoline Leavitt (02:16):
Yeah, so there are no plans at this moment in time. As you know, things can change very quickly around here, so we'll keep you all apprised, but there's no meeting scheduled right now.
(02:25)
As for where we are, I spoke with Secretary Rubio at length. I spoke with the president as well. Everybody inside feels optimistic about what happened and transpired yesterday in Geneva. Secretary Rubio, Special Envoy Witkoff, the whole team, really worked through the points of that 28-point peace plan that the United States authored with input from both sides, the Russians and the Ukrainians. And ultimately, the vast majority of these points have been agreed upon. The Ukrainians have worked on language with us together, and you heard that from their delegation directly yesterday.
(02:57)
So we feel as though we're in a very good place. Of course, we have to make sure that all of these points are agreed to. And then of course, we're going to have to make sure the other party in this war, the Russians, agree to them as well. But I think the president deserves a great deal of credit for the amount of energy and effort he's put into trying to bring these two sides to an end of this war. He wants to see this killing stop. As for any deadlines, he wants to see this end as soon as possible.
Journalists (03:22):
Karoline, [inaudible 00:03:22]-
(03:22)
Is the president more determined to go after Tish James and James Comey?
Karoline Leavitt (03:26):
Go ahead.
Journalists (03:27):
[inaudible 00:03:27].
(03:27)
Is the president more determined to go after Tish James and James Comey?
Karoline Leavitt (03:30):
Excuse me. I'm answering a question
Journalists (03:32):
You turned and looked at me. I'm sorry.
Karoline Leavitt (03:32):
I turned and looked at you because you're yelling.
Journalists (03:32):
[inaudible 00:03:32].
Karoline Leavitt (03:32):
I will take a question from your colleague and then I'll take your question too.
Journalists (03:36):
Thank you.
Karoline Leavitt (03:39):
Okay, go ahead.
Journalists (03:40):
What are exactly the points of this agreement that they are still working on?
Karoline Leavitt (03:45):
I don't want to detail sort of the technical talks that are happening right now, but there are just a couple and we are confident that we'll be able to work through those.
Journalists (03:51):
And will the president put pressure on Putin or Zelensky if this doesn't work.
Karoline Leavitt (03:56):
The president's been putting a lot of pressure on both leaders for this entire time. We've been talking with both sides. He's been talking to both leaders directly for 10 months now. So yes, you can expect that pressure to continue. The president wants this war to end.
Journalists (04:11):
Karoline, is the president more determined now since the judge's ruling today to go after James Comey and Tish James, and if so, why?
Karoline Leavitt (04:18):
I wouldn't say he's going after them. I think the president is more determined than ever to see accountability in this country, yes, and to correct the wrongs of the weaponization of our justice system that we saw under the previous administration and Joe Biden.
Journalists (04:32):
Are we entering a new phase in Venezuela and what does that entail?
Karoline Leavitt (04:36):
Well, as the president is so good at, I'll try to be just as good. I'm not going to broadcast any actions that may or may not be happening with respect to Venezuela. I know I've been very clear about the administration's position, as has the president and his national security team. We view the Maduro regime as being illegitimate, and the president has been very satisfied with the successful strikes against narco terrorists and foreign terrorists that are illegally trafficking drugs towards the United States of America. He's not going to tolerate that, and you can expect to see those strikes continue.
Journalists (05:07):
[inaudible 00:05:07]-
(05:07)
What was President Trump's reaction? What was President Trump's reaction to those indictments against Comey and James being thrown out?
Karoline Leavitt (05:15):
His reaction was, we've seen this before, we've seen partisan judges take unprecedented steps to try to intervene in accountability before, but we're not going to give up. And I know that the Department of Justice intends to appeal these rulings very soon if they haven't already. I may have missed it.
Journalists (05:32):
Karoline, one question on Venezuela. Is there any planned meeting for this week on Venezuela? And another one, a clarification on this weekend, because the president was asked about the former Brazilian president being arrested and he mentioned that he spoke with this gentleman. Did he speak with Bolsonaro the day before he was arrested?
Karoline Leavitt (05:51):
Not to my knowledge. I don't know if that call took place or not. It may have. I can get you a firm answer on that, Raquel, I know it's of great importance to you for your reporting. As for meetings on Venezuela, there's meetings on a range of topics inside this building all of the time, and the president is constantly apprised of what's going on in the world, what's going on in the news, and he's very well read in into all of the things that his team are working on.
Journalists (06:15):
Karoline, please. You would not go into the sticking points of the disagreement between the two parties in the Ukraine peace process, but how flexible is the president in coming to a deal and will the Europeans be part of a final negotiation with Zelensky?
Karoline Leavitt (06:34):
I think he's been quite flexible already. We've been watching this war go on for 10 months. He's talked to both leaders countless times. Our team has engaged with both the Russians and the Ukrainians extensively. As I said, there is a sense of urgency. The president wants to see this deal come together and he wants to see this war end.
Journalists (06:51):
Karoline, I wanted to ask you, is it MAGA to support American workers being replaced with H-IB visa holders? Are Americans not capable of filling most of these positions?
Karoline Leavitt (07:01):
Who supports getting American workers getting replaced?
Journalists (07:05):
I know the president mentioned that he wanted to bring in some workers that he could eventually send back in regards to [inaudible 00:07:10].
Karoline Leavitt (07:10):
The president does not support American workers being replaced. You are mischaracterizing what the president said. The president wants to see our American manufacturing industry be revitalized better than ever before. That's part of what he's doing with his effective use of tariffs, and cutting good trade deals around the world. That's why he's recruited trillions and trillions of dollars in investments into our country. Those are creating good paying American jobs right here at home.
(07:35)
As for the H-IB visa issue, the president has a very nuanced and common sense opinion on this issue. He wants to see… If foreign companies are investing trillions of dollars in the United States of America and they're bringing foreign workers with them to create very niche things like batteries, he wants to see that at the beginning to get those manufacturing facilities and those factories up and running. But ultimately, the president always wants to see American workers in those jobs. And he's told these foreign companies that are investing here, you better be hiring my people if you're going to be doing business in the United States. So there's been a lot of misunderstanding of the president's position.
(08:08)
Michael.
Journalists (08:10):
Thank you, Karoline. Is President Trump asking for Xi Jinping's help in putting pressure on Putin to help end the war in Ukraine?
Karoline Leavitt (08:16):
I won't get into the details of the conversation this morning other than what the president put out on Truth Social. He put out his own readout of that and I will leave it to that.
(08:25)
But I did speak with him about the call. It lasted about an hour and it was a very positive call. The focus of the call was really… Russia, Ukraine did come up, but the focus was mainly on the trade deal that we are working on with China, and those relations and how they are moving in a positive direction. President also addressed our farmers and we are pleased with what we've seen from the Chinese and they feel the same way. And the president and President Xi discussed continuing to stay in correspondence following their very productive meeting in South Korea.
Journalists (08:58):
On Ukraine, does the progress that you just laid out change the Thanksgiving day deadline for Ukraine to come to an agreement, or does the president still want something more definitive by Thursday? And then on the Comey and James case, does the president still have confidence in Lindsey Halligan?
Karoline Leavitt (09:15):
Absolutely he does, to your second question. As for your first question, with respect to the deadline, the president wants to see this deal come together as quickly as possible and he trusts that his team is doing everything they can to get it over the finish line.
Journalists (09:31):
Does the president supports Israel's elimination of Hezbollah chief of staff, Ali Tabatabai, today? And is he in favor of Israel blocking Hezbollah from growing again?
Karoline Leavitt (09:41):
I haven't spoken to the president about that strike specifically, but of course the president supports Israel's right to defend itself and to take out any terrorist threats in the region. Jake.
Journalists (09:53):
Karoline, if the president does announce a proposal to cut healthcare costs, will that include the extension of the Obamacare subsidies?
Karoline Leavitt (10:00):
I know there's been a lot of reporting on this, from yourself as well, Jake, over the last few days. I will tell you that healthcare is a topic of discussion that's happening very frequently and robustly inside the West Wing right now. The president's very much involved in these talks and he's very focused on unveiling a healthcare proposal that will fix the system and will bring down costs for consumers. As for the details of those discussions, I'll let the president speak for himself. As you all know, sometimes you report things and then President Trump comes out with an announcement and those things are not always true from what you hear from sources inside the building.
Journalists (10:33):
Karoline, [inaudible 00:10:34]-
Karoline Leavitt (10:33):
So I'll let the president speak for himself.
Journalists (10:36):
… question on Zohran Mamdani?
Karoline Leavitt (10:36):
Sure, go ahead, Kara.
Journalists (10:37):
He called President Trump, he said he still believes he's a fascist and a despot after they had such a great meeting. Any comment from the White House on that?
Karoline Leavitt (10:45):
I think talk is cheap, and I think that the president is going to judge Mamdami by his actions that he takes to New York. The meeting was positive, as you heard from the president last week. And I think the fact that the president is willing to meet with somebody who said those types of things about him shows that he really is interested in being a president for all Americans regardless of where they live or who their leader is. He wants what's best for New York. He loves New York City. He helped build the skyline. He spent his whole life there, and so he really wants to see New York do well. And so that's how that meeting played last week. John.
Journalists (11:19):
Thanks a lot, Karoline. There are a few Republican senators who are critical of the 28-point peace plan, including Senator Rounds, Senator Graham, Senator McConnell. What do you say to those senators who say that this is giving too much away to Russia? And has Russia made any concessions as it relates to a peace, a possible peace deal, concerning ending the war in Ukraine?
Karoline Leavitt (11:43):
I would point any critics to the words of the Ukrainians yesterday in which they said that they feel very positive about this plan. They've been very involved. They have had direct input on the language of this plan, and that we are in direct communication and correspondence with them.
(11:59)
Any idea… Let me just finish with this. The idea that the United States of America is not engaging with both sides equally in this war to bring it to an end, is a complete and total fallacy. And I saw a lot of misinformation and rumors and allegations against people in this building, such as Secretary Rubio and Special Envoy Witkoff and the president himself, that they are favoring one side over the other. That could not be further from the truth. I have watched as the president and his team have worked around the clock, overnight, with both sides on endless phone calls, endless meetings to try to bring this war to a close. And any suggestion otherwise is a complete misunderstanding of the facts. It's coming from people who have no idea what they're talking about or people who are pushing their own agenda, or maybe people who don't want to see this war come to an end. I don't know, maybe they're profiting off of it. Maybe they benefit from it in some way.
(12:50)
But nobody in this building benefits from war. We want to see this war come to an end, and that's what the president and his team are proudly working to do. And I think the critics should just take a step back and think about what happened with Israel and Gaza. There were a lot of doubters and we got the hostages out and this president secured a peace deal that still exists and is ongoing today. So everyone should just respect the work this administration is doing and watch the process unfold. Thank you.
Journalists (13:13):
[inaudible 00:13:14] Thanksgiving plan, Karoline, over Ukraine?