Pool Reports of June 16, 2020

Pool Report 1

Good morning from the White House.

The press pool was tested for the coronavirus and has gathered for President Trump's signing of an executive order on policing.

The event is scheduled to start around noon in the Rose Garden. It will be carried live here: https://whitehouse.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c97630621baff8c44f...

Pool Report 2/Rose Garden

The pool has arrived in the Rose Garden. There are a couple dozen guests with chairs spaced apart (pool is awaiting an attendee list).

Spotted: Rep. Louie Gohmert, Sen. Mitch McConnell, Rep. Jim Jordan and DHS acting secretary Chad Wolf.

There are many attendees wearing law enforcement uniforms. Press is standing behind a rope line and no microphone is set up for questions.

Pool Report 3/Event begins

President Trump arrived for the policing EO event at 12:15. As a reminder, his remarks are carried live on the White House website.

More guests arrived in the Rose Garden before Trump, including Sen. Tim Scott, Attorney General William Barr, Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody. Most guests are not wearing masks.

Here is a statement/information from the White House:

Today, President Donald J. Trump will sign an Executive Order on Safe Policing for Safe Communities. The President's utmost priority is keeping the American people safe through strong law and order, and a criminal justice system that serves all citizens equally under the law.

This historic Executive Order provides law enforcement agencies around the country with the necessary resources to implement best practices and protect the communities they serve by providing incentives to utilize a new nationwide database to track terminations, criminal convictions, and civil judgments against law enforcement officers for excessive use-of-force. In addition, the Executive Order prioritizes training and other programs for police and social workers responding to incidents involving the mentally ill, addicted, and homeless. Ultimately, the Executive Order seeks to strengthen our Nation's efforts to secure positive, lasting relationships between citizens and law enforcement officers in communities across America.

The following individuals are expected to attend:

The White House
President Donald J. Trump
Jared Kushner, Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor
Tim Pataki, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Public Liaison
Ja'Ron Smith, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the Office of American Innovation
Chris Pilkerton, Executive Director of Opportunity Now

Trump Administration
Attorney General William Barr, Department of Justice
Kate Sullivan, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs
Rachel Bissex, Deputy Chief of Staff to the Attorney General and Counselor to the Attorney General
Christopher Michel, Counselor to the Attorney General

Members of Congress
Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Senator Tim Scott (R-SC)
Congressman Pete Stauber (R-MN)
Congressman Kelly Armstrong (R-ND)
Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH)
Congressman Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA)
Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-TX)

External Participants
Attorney General Ashley Moody, Florida
Pat Yoes, President, Fraternal Order of Police
Chief Steven Casstevens, President, International Association of Chiefs of Police
Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, President of the Florida Sheriffs Association
Larry Cosme, President of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association
Mark Cage, Sheriff of Eddy County, New Mexico
Tony Childress, Sheriff of Livingston County, Illinois
Tom Hodgson, Sheriff of Bristol County, Massachusetts
Dennis Slocumb, Executive Director, International Union of Police Associations
Jennifer DeCasper, Chief of Staff to Senator Tim Scott

Pool Report 4/No questions

President Trump concluded his remarks and signed the policing executive order at 12:42. A minute later he walked into the Oval Office without taking press questions.

The speech began with six empty seats for guests, though it's unclear if there was a reason for that. Under the colonnade were many White House staff, along with Eric Trump and his wife Lara.

Pool Report 5/Lunch lid

We have a lunch lid until 2:30.

Pool Report 6/Gaggle

Kayleigh McEnany and Ja'Ron Smith gaggled on the White House driveway for almost 11 minutes. They mostly discussed today's policing executive order, but also touched on the coronavirus and the Tulsa rally on Saturday.

McEnany says there will be a press briefing tomorrow. Here are highlights from the gaggle:

McEnany on President Trump's meeting with families of people killed by police:

"It was a very important meeting, a very emotional meeting. The president, it was an opportunity for him to hear one-on-one from these families, the painful and tragic and deeply personal stories of their loss of children — in most cases children, sometimes siblings. There were a lot of tears, there was a lot of emotion. And the president was devastated."

"I was just in the Oval Office with him before I walked out and he said to me these were devastating stories, I love these families and I will be helping these families. So he took it deeply personally. It was a very productive meeting and a solutions-oriented meeting"

Smith on Trump's meeting with families:

"What was a real big piece of it was a commitment from the president to deal with each and every one of their different cases to make sure there's justice there. But I think one thing that's extremely important is that for the past three weeks we quietly worked with these families that were represented by the reform alliance to craft this executive order. And so pieces of the executive order deals with some of the situations that the families were in. If you're talking about de-escalation, for example, or training or the work that we're putting into mental health and co-responders — all of these ideas came from the families and we got consensus from them and law enforcement. And so what you saw here was the fruit of their labor."

Smith on why families didn't attend EO signing:

"It was a mutual decision because it really wasn't about doing a photo opportunity. we wanted the opportunity to really hear from the families and protect them."

"I think it's really unfortunate that some civil rights groups have even attacked them for coming or are putting out false statements about the interaction there. It was personal and I don't want to speak too much about what happened in that interaction because the president really wanted to listen to them and have a safe place and make it about listening to them more so than having a photo opportunity."

Smith on working with Sen. Tim Scott on policing bill expected tomorrow:

"I think working through the details it's a very fluid situation with the Hill, so some of those issues aren't off the table. ... When we see what direction Congress is going in we will re-engage."

"I think very early on Sen. Tim Scott got involved with us and three weeks ago we quietly were able to work with police and also the reform alliance and [inaudible]."

"We had a watershed moment about a week ago when we had the police groups here and after that we had a quiet meeting to finalize the results. But it's really all about action, that's the real thing with the president, it's not about just talking about things or doing things for a photo op. He really wanted to bring the two sides together to kind of work on solutions to hear our country."

Smith on why there's no co-responder funding in draft Senate GOP bill:

"Nothing is preventing for that issue coming up. We certainly are making that recommendation to Congress. Sen. Scott I know personally supports that piece of legislation, he supports legislation that would do just that... in fact, he told me that's one of the biggest outcomes out of this executive order. So I don't think those conversations are off the table."

Smith on why EO does not directly address race:

"A lot of people want to make it about race but it's really about communities and individuals. You're trying to fix something that you can't really fix, the heart of people, but you can fix individual pieces that deal with the real problem, which is access, opportunity."

"If you talk about a police force, it's about having a police force that represents the community. When you talk about education, it's about access to education. When you talk about access to capital, it's about access to capital. And those are the things that we are really dealing with. Those are the historic issues where we see the disparities. And quite frankly, some of those issues exist in white communities as well as Hispanic communities. So when you talk about system and race, I feel like you're missing the whole point: that people don't have access to opportunity and that the president was elected to create a new system to help everyone. And that's exactly what we're doing."

Smith when pressed by reporter on race/policing:

"I think it's about building trust and you don't do that until you bring the people together, like we did today... I think that's the big issue. Why are more young black boys not growing up to be cops? Because that trust is not there. And we can restore that trust, because you know what? We need black boys to be police. We need black boys to protect our neighborhoods. So we are going to push that and so recruiting and retention is a core part of that."

Smith on qualified immunity not being addressed by Republicans:

"It's just like criminal justice reform. A lot of the criminal justice reform elements didn't move because law enforcement didn't agree with a lot of the pieces. So let's start on all of the things that we agree with, and get those things done because they can be very beneficial, like you mentioned, the co-responder program... That's one of our recommendations to Congress, is to fund that co-responder program, because you deal with a lot of issues of mental health, and drug addiction or homelessness."

"And I can tell you with the drug addiction piece, many of these individuals shouldn't be arrested in the first place. .... maybe they need help with dealing with drinking to cope with the pain that they have without being able to get a job. So it's not just those issues, it's other issues. That's why the president last week offered policies for access to capital, creating access to education and also fixing health disparities. I think we have to have a holistic vision for how we want to revitalize these communities."

McEnany on whether White House fears 2nd wave of coronavirus:

"We are closely monitoring. Dr. Birx said to me yesterday we're not at the place of having a second wave right now, in fact we are seeing some encouraging things, like 6 percent is the positivity rate for testing, under 6 percent. As one of our experts told me, we want to be under 10 percent. We're under 6 percent. We are monitoring places where we see these embers, like the president said, and we will put those embers out. Those are little spikes we see here and there. Sometimes it's because we've increased testing. For instance, in Texas 100 percent of long-term care facilities have been tested, so when you increase testing, you do increase cases."

"But we are aware that I believe in 2 percent of US counties there is community spread at play, which is what Dr. Birx shared with me yesterday. So we are aware of those 2 percent of counties, we're looking at them and we're doing everything in our power."

McEnany on Tulsa rally:

"We are putting in place measures to protect people: hand sanitizer, there will be masks given out — I believe it's not the White House, it's the campaign that will be doing that. So there will be health measures in place. And we think that everyone will show up to this rally with more than a million sign-ups so far and it will be a very good event."

Pool Report 7/Lid

The White House has called a travel/photo lid.