Pool Reports of June 29, 2020

In-town pool report #1 — briefing added

Good morning from the White House. It's currently 84 degrees, and your pooler is questioning the decision to wear a black suit today.POTUS currently has no public events on his schedule, but the White House did add a 1:00 pm press briefing with Kayleigh McEnany. Feel free to reach out to me directly with questions about the day or for the briefing, and I'll advise if anything changes for this afternoon.

In-town pool report #2 — 2 min warning

As always, you can watch the briefing at WHLive: https://www.whitehouse.gov/live/

In-town pool report #3 — briefing concludes

at 1:47pm

In-town pool report #4 — lunch lid

... till 3:00pm

In-town pool report #6 — Kudlow gaggle

Larry Kudlow gaggled for just over 5 minutes right before 4:00pm

Select quotes and a link to the public audio (apologies for those audio blips, not really sure what happened): https://otter.ai/s/_WswUUl5TfKbQJmfFSGF8w

On fears about another economic downturn: "At least not yet. I mean the overwhelming evidence is that we're in V shaped recovery. And we're looking at it as so far so good. And the story if it changes, we'll have to see..."

"Right now, I don't, I mean, you've got a lot of flare ups granted. There's also some good things I mean, New York is opening up, and Connecticut is opening up and Michigan was doing very very well."

ON COVID MITIGATION: "I think mitigation efforts, we know so much more now than we did last winter. And I will echo Health Secretary Alex Azar, it's a matter of personal responsibility. You know, people have to sanitize your hands and so forth. Distancing is essential, getting tested if you're in a hotspot area is essential. You just can't forget this. We can't forget this stuff. Those mitigations work... I don't see this as a separate wave, but this is, for better or worse, unfortunately, a continuation of the [first wave]"

ON DEM SUPPORT FOR BACK-TO-WORK BONUS: "I think they do... we haven't had any formal negotiations yet, so I don't want to negotiate here. I'm just saying, that's one of the options we're thinking about... there are lots of options, I've gone through that a million times."

ON ECONOMISTS LEAVING WH: "There has been some turnover, it's normal. We're at the three and a half year mark. Frankly, very few — I know there's a story out of the Washington Post about it. Most of that story is incorrect... So, I don't fret about that at all."

Will US host the G7: "I expect one... in-person... stay tuned."

In-town pool report #6 again — number correction

I'm an idiot... last report should have been #5. Monday's amirite?

In-town pool report #7 — travel/photo lid

... called at 5:00pm. Enjoy your Monday evenings!

In-town pool report #8 (6/29) — O'Brien statement

This game inovernight from NSA Rob O'Brien:

Statement from National Security Advisor Robert C. O'Brien

“Over the past several days, the New York Times and other news outlets have reported on allegations regarding our troops in Afghanistan. While we do not normally discuss such matters, we constantly evaluate intelligence reports and brief the President as necessary. Because the allegations in recent press articles have not been verified or substantiated by the Intelligence Community, President Trump had not been briefed on the items. Nevertheless, the Administration, including the National Security Council staff, have been preparing should the situation warrant action.

“To those government officials who betray the trust of the people of the United States by leaking classified information, your actions endanger our national security. No matter the motivation, there is never a justification for such conduct.

“Let me be clear that there is nothing more important to President Trump than America's security and the safety of our men and women in uniform. He has demonstrated this commitment time and again.”