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White House Press Pool Reports @WHPressPool - in-town pool report #1 — Leavitt gaggle
Good morning. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt gaggled on the north driveway this morning on a cold day in Washington, D.C. Your pooler joined in progress, so please check the below against video and/or transcript for the full exchange.
FYI: No changes, as of now, to the president's schedule. More TK.
Leavitt: “120 naval vessels are at the bottom of the sea because of our United States Armed Forces. That's a great thing. That's a great thing for [INAUDIBLE] region. And, of course, to ensure that, yes, Iran cannot permanently, permanently cannot possess a nuclear weapon. But I'm not going to forecast…”
Question: “But if they had the fuel, wouldn't they still have the ability to produce a nuclear weapon or no?”
Leavitt: “Look, again, we're in a place right now where we're ensuring that Iran can no longer target the United States. The United States military is doing a tremendous job at achieving [INAUDBILE].
Question: “Karoline, is Tulsi Gabbard's job in jeopardy right now?”
Leavitt: “Not to my knowledge. We haven't heard the president say that. … So obviously that's a question for him, but I don't really [INAUDIBLE].
Question: “…give us an update on what you're hearing from the Chinese about when this trip might be rescheduled?
Leavitt: “We're working with them. They have agreed to postpone the trip. I think they understand the president's rationale for doing so. But, again, we're working on those dates. The president has some things here at home in May that he has to attend to, and I'm sure President Xi is a very busy man, as well, so we'll get the dates on the books as soon as we can.”
Question: “Given that the allies have seemed to have rebuffed the president's request for help, and now he says he no longer needs their help, what is the plan to reopen the strait?
Leavitt: “The president is going to continue to talk to our allies, both in Europe and also in the Gulf of Arab region. The United States military has a lot of capabilities, as you have seen play out over the last 18 days. They do, still do, have tricks off their sleeve. [INAUDIBLE] the media. But, rest assured, there is a plan. They're working on it. We have seen some progress with respect to that.
“But of course, the president, again, continues to call on our allies to step
up.”
Question: “Karoline, a couple of questions on Joe Kent. The White House was warned last year when the president nominated Kent that he had a history of embracing conspiracy theories, that he had some ties to white nationalists. Given that why did the president nominate him to the position in the
first place?”