James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

1:19 P.M. EST

MR. CARNEY: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Happy Monday to you. I don’t have any announcements to make at the top of this briefing, so we’ll get right to questions.

Josh.

Q   Thanks, Jay. I wanted to ask you about the President’s upcoming trip to Saudi Arabia. As you know, this is coming at a time of some tense relations with Saudi Arabia and some concerns that the Saudis have about how the U.S. has handled the situation in Iran and Syria and some other countries in the neighborhood. So is one of the goals of this trip to do some damage control and to reassure the Saudis that we're still on the same page with them?

MR. CARNEY: Josh, Saudi Arabia is a close partner of the United States and we have a bilateral relationship that is broad and deep and covers a range of areas. And the President very much looks forward to the visit where all of those areas will be discussed in his meetings. And whatever differences we may have do not alter the fact that this is a very important and close partnership. 

Q   And I wanted to ask you about some comments that Secretary Kerry reportedly made to some senators about Syria, suggesting that the current U.S. policy in Syria is not going to work and may need to be adjusted. So I guess the question for you is, is President Obama still confident in our current policy on Syria?

MR. CARNEY: I think the stories you’re referring to actually appear to be a reflection of what Senators McCain and Graham think of our Syria policy, not what Secretary Kerry thinks.

Q   They we're talking about what Kerry said to them about --

MR. CARNEY: Well, again, it’s a characterization, I think, that reflects how Senator Graham and Senator McCain view our policy, not how Secretary Kerry views it. As you know, the State Department has already responded to this, and as they said, it’s no secret that some members of Congress support arming the rebels, but at no point during Secretary Kerry’s meeting in Munich with members did he raise a lethal assistance for the opposition. He was describing a range of options that the administration has always had at its disposal, including more work within the structure of the international community, and engaging with Congress on their ideas is an important part of that process.

As the State Department said, this is a case of members projecting what they want to hear and not stating the facts of what was discussed. And again, I think that the position that Senator Graham and Senator McCain have vis-à-vis our policy has been clearly stated and broadcast many times.

Q   But does the President feel that the current policy that we're pursuing in Syria is the right one?

MR. CARNEY: Absolutely. We believe that it is absolutely necessary to press for a negotiated political resolution to this conflict. There is no other alternative. And you know the President has spoken about this issue on a number of occasions and his view that we should not be putting American troops on the ground in Syria and that we need to pursue a policy that presses both sides on the basis of the Geneva Communiqué to resolve this conflict through a negotiated settlement. There is no other path ultimately for Syria that does not include or is not driven by a negotiated political settlement.

Q   And was there any reaction from the President to the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman? Was he a fan of the actor?

MR. CARNEY: I haven’t spoken with the President about that tragic piece of news so I don’t know. It’s hard to imagine, if you are a fan of incredibly powerful acting, you weren’t a fan of Philip Seymour Hoffman who was just a remarkable talent, in my view, although, again, I’m speaking for myself. I haven’t spoken with the President about it. It’s very sad news.

Q   Jay, back on Syria, arming the rebels, forming a coalition against al Qaeda -- do those remain options that you could move toward?

MR. CARNEY: Again, that was not a discussion that Secretary Kerry had. We have a variety of forms of assistance that we provide to the Syrian people, to the opposition, and to the military coalition. But the policy that we have in place is the policy that we’re pursuing. And as I just said to Josh, there is not an alternative here to resolving this conflict that does not come through a negotiated settlement. We saw small progress, but progress nonetheless, made when both sides sat down in one room across from one another for the first time in three years of bloody civil war.

And as the Joint Special Representative Brahimi has said, it’s very important that this process continue. A date has been set for another round of negotiations. This is going to be a hard and complicated process. There will not be a straight line from here to the ultimate resolution that has to come, but there really is no other path. And the President is committed to providing the assistance to the international community that is pressing for a negotiated settlement, to the Syrian people as the single-largest donor of humanitarian aid, and in our support for the opposition and the coalition that we’ve described many times.

Q   Last week, the U.S. was insisting that Russia put pressure on Syria to speed up the delivery of chemical weapons. Do you know if that’s happened or not?

MR. CARNEY: What I can tell you is that our view is that Syria must live up to its commitments and everyone involved in helping bring about the acknowledgement by Syria, by the Syrian regime, for the first time that it possessed chemical weapons, in fact, it possessed one of the largest stockpiles of chemical weapons in the world, and then their agreement to give up those weapons for destruction needs to help see it through. And we are going to continue to work with all our partners to make that happen.

Q   And last thing, on Keystone, the President has insisted that the Keystone pipeline not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution. Based on the State Department report, does it meet that test?

MR. CARNEY: Steve, as you know, and as I think we made clear on Friday -- both I in my briefing and afterwards -- the submission of the Environmental Impact Statement is a point in the process that now continues. It’s an important piece of it, but it is only part of a process that must continue, and that process now includes a period -- 90 days, I believe -- in which the public and relevant Cabinet agencies weigh in on this process. And that’s where we are now. So the President’s view is we don’t interfere with that process, we let it play itself out.

His views, I think you properly noted, were expressed last June, I think it was, in his speech at Georgetown, in which he said: “Allowing the Keystone pipeline to be built requires a finding that doing so would be in our nation’s interest, and our national interest will be served only if this project does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution.” So we have a piece of this process completed and now the process is moving forward.

Q   Follow-up?

MR. CARNEY: Let me move around a little bit here. Jessica.

Q   On Keystone, I caught the word “interfere” there in what you just said, that the President’s view is that we shouldn’t interfere with the process. As you probably are aware, the House has already passed legislation that would automatically permit Keystone. The Senate also has a bill. And over the weekend, Mitch McConnell said he would like to see that bill get to the floor. If such a bill passed both Houses of Congress, would the President sign it?

MR. CARNEY: Well, that’s a big if, first of all. And secondly, I think we have seen interference, political interference in this process already, and that’s helped delay a process that by tradition has been run out of the State Department through administrations of both parties. And it’s important that everyone let that process be carried out appropriately on the merits and not -- rather than allowing it to be subjected to ideological or political influence. 

So we’re going to let the process run its course and I think it’s important to note, as we did on Friday, that this is a step along the way. It is not the completion of the process.

Q   Is it fair to conclude from what you just said that the President –-

MR. CARNEY: I’m not going to speculate about -- I mean, I think our views on interference by Congress in this matter are pretty clear.

Jon.

Q   Jay, in the President’s interview with Bill O’Reilly last night, he said that there was “not even a smidgen of corruption,” regarding the IRS targeting conservative groups. Did the President misspeak?

MR. CARNEY: No, he didn’t. But I can cite -- I think have about 20 different news organizations that cite the variety of ways that that was established, including by the independent IG, who testified in May and, as his report said, that he found no evidence that anyone outside of the IRS had any involvement in the inappropriate targeting of conservative -- or progressive, for that matter -- groups in their applications for tax-exempt status. So, again, I think that this is something --

Q   Jay, isn’t there an active Justice Department investigation into this matter?

MR. CARNEY: I would refer you to the Justice Department, but I think that every look at this, every investigation into this, and everything we’ve learned about this is that this is not something that in any way reached outside of the IRS. There’s been a concerted attempted --

Q   But, Jay, what the President said is there isn’t even a “smidgen of corruption.” He didn’t give a qualifier outside the IRS --

MR. CARNEY: Right.

Q   -- and there’s an active Justice Department investigation -- unless it has been concluded without anybody telling the news media, I mean, there’s an active Justice Department investigation. Doesn’t the President prejudge that investigation when he tells Bill O’Reilly there’s not a smidgen of corruption --

MR. CARNEY: -- learned through the independent Inspector General and through the testimony that we’ve seen completely backs up what the President said. And a lot of that has been well reported on by you and your colleagues and your news organizations over the course of the last several months. Some people must have missed those reports.

Q   So the Justice Department should pull the plug --

MR. CARNEY: That’s not -– obviously, we do not interfere with Justice Department investigations. 

Major.

Q   What in the President’s opinion is working with the Syria policy?

MR. CARNEY: I think I just –

Q   What’s working? Not what is, but what’s working? What’s succeeding?

MR. CARNEY: For the first time in three years, the two sides sat down in the same room as part of the Geneva process. That is significant. It is not by any means a resolution to the conflict. It does not mean that we will not see enormous obstacles that still need to be overcome as negotiations continue. But it was a significant development. And we are hopeful, and we will press for that process to continue. There’s no other avenue besides a negotiated political settlement.

Q   Casualties keep going. The process could go on for a very long time. You correctly stated they sat down and talked, but you can’t conclude that they’ve moved deep into an agenda toward resolution, can you?

MR. CARNEY: Well, I am certainly not suggesting, and I agree with Joint Special Representative Brahimi on this that there were not major breakthroughs. But our commitment to the process is unwavering. To state that the situation in Syria continues to be serious and dire is to reinforce the need for a negotiated political settlement. 

Obviously others have different ideas about how this could be approached, including direct U.S. military involvement, but we reject that. We think the American people don’t support that. But what we can do as the United States of America is bring our efforts to bear, together with other parties, to this matter to try to push forward on a negotiated political settlement, as we support the opposition, as we support the Syrian people.

Q   The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister said today he believes that Syria will step up and accelerate the process of getting rid of its chemical weapons stockpiles. But he also said it’s understood by everyone involved in this the June 30th deadline was unrealistic to begin with. Does the United States agree with that?

MR. CARNEY: We understand that the Syrian regime as a party to this agreement has obligations that it has committed to making. And we are –- “we” being the international community –- is poised and ready to remove and destroy Syria’s chemical weapons as soon as the chemicals have reached the Syrian port of Latakia. And it is the Assad regime’s responsibility to fulfill its commitment to make sure that those chemicals are transported.

As I noted last week, the suggestion that they don’t have the capacity to move the chemicals is belied by the fact that they have moved the chemicals. They have demonstrated their ability to transport these chemicals already. So obviously these are ambitious deadlines, but there are obligations here that can and should be met.

Q   Can we be any more specific on the agenda the President will take to the Saudi Arabia trip and meetings? I mean, it’s --

MR. CARNEY: I think it’s wide-ranging. 

Q   Yes, but obviously there’s some very important --

MR. CARNEY: Obviously, the Middle East peace process, matters involving security situations across the region, important economic issues with our bilateral relationship -- this is an important meeting between two close partners and I’m sure the whole panoply of issues will be discussed.

Q   Why is it significant, why is it important for the President to be by himself with Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader? And how much will trade promotion and the disagreement between the two factor into that meeting?

MR. CARNEY: The President looks forward to meeting with the Senate Majority Leader. As you know, the President will be meeting with the full Senate caucus, Senate Democratic caucus later this week. And I’m sure the President and Senator Reid will discuss an agenda for that meeting. And I think that this is part of a process in which the President and Senate Democrats and House Democrats discuss a way to move forward on an agenda that is focused on expanding opportunity, rewarding hard work and responsibility, and the ways that we can do that.

And I think it shows that, while appropriately so, a lot of focus has been placed on the President’s determination to use all of his powers to advance that agenda, including executive authority, including non-legislative means and methods, there’s an important amount of business that can and should be done with and through Congress. So that will be part of the discussion, both today and later in the week.

Q   Trade?

MR. CARNEY: Trade is an important issue on the President’s agenda because of its capacity to expand American exports. If we can successfully bring to conclusion trade agreements with Europe and Asia, that’s good for American workers, good for the American economy. Jobs that are related to exports in this country pay better than the average job. And the agreements the President seeks to reach are designed inherently to protect American workers and to protect the environment. So that’s obviously something the President counts as among his priorities.

John, in your new capacity.

Q   Moving up a little bit, moving up. Getting closer to you.

MR. CARNEY: Getting closer. (Laughter.) It’s okay, I can take it.

Q   With regards to Syria, you said there wasn’t any direct U.S. military involvement on the table, and a couple times you talked about the structure of the international community. Will the United States push international partners to become more engaged in Syria’s civil war militarily?  

MR. CARNEY: Obviously, we have a lot of discussion with a

range of our partners internationally on this issue. And many nations assist the opposition in different ways. We have made clear the approach that we’re taking. And let’s be clear that, broadly speaking -- we’ve been clear about American troops on the ground. As a matter of principle on issues like this, the President doesn’t take options off the table, but our firm belief is that this has to be resolved through a political negotiation, and we are unwavering in our support and commitment to that process.

Q   Would the President support greater military intervention by our international partners?

MR. CARNEY: The President believes that we are not going to resolve this -- this is not going to be resolved through force; that the civil war, the conflict that is taking such a terrible toll on the Syrian people can only be resolved ultimately through a negotiated settlement. So that’s what we’re focused on. Obviously, other countries approach this challenge in different ways. We’re focused on what we can do as the leading provider of humanitarian aid and a very leading -- in the very leading role that we play in helping press forward, the process started in Geneva.