Press Gaggle by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland

Aboard Air Force One
En Route Phoenix, Arizona

5:07 P.M. EDT

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Hi, everybody. Hello, hello.

Okay. Very excited about this trip. It's going to be a fantastic trip. As you know, we are headed to Phoenix, Arizona, where the president will visit the Gila River Indian Community. This historic visit delivers on the president's promise to visit Indian Country and builds on actions the president and the vice president has taken to support Tribal Nations.

Under President Biden, we saw the largest direct federal investment in Tribal Nations in history, with $32 billion provided by the American Rescue Plan and $13 billion through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to build high-speed Internet, roads, bridges, public transit, clean water, and improve sanitation in Tribal communities.

In particular, the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona received $84 million to build a pipeline that will help irrigate its community's crops while conserving water to help al- -- alleviate ongoing drought conditions.

The first lady has also been a champion for Native communities, visiting Indian Country 10 times to highlight the Biden-Harris administration's historic investments in youth mental health, Native language revitalization, and infrastructure and economic development. And she has worked tirelessly to improve access to cancer screening and cancer care for Native communities.

Tomorrow, the president will take a critical step in order to usher in the next era of the federal-Tribal relationships by fully acknowledging the harms of the past. This historic presidential apology for the Federal Indian Boarding School era will acknowledge that i- -- if we truly love our country, we must remember and teach our full history, even when it is painful, and we must learn from that history so that it never repeated -- it is never repeated.

With that, I will turn it over to the Interior secretary, Deb Haaland, to provide further details on this historic visit and this administration's continued efforts to support Indian Country.

SECRETARY HAALAND: Thank you, Karine.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Secretary.

SECRETARY HAALAND: Thank you, Karine. Thank you.

Hello, everyone. It's an honor to be here. I'm accompanied by my assistant secretary for Indian Affairs, Bryan Newland. Really happy and proud to -- to be here.

Twenty years ago, I never would have believed that I would be gaggling with the White House Press Corps on Air Force One, flying with the president to his first visit to Indian Country. President Biden has been the best president for Indian Country in my lifetime. This is a president and an administration that truly sees Indigenous people and has worked tirelessly to address the issues in Indian Country that have long been underfunded or outright ignored.

From infrastructure to education to the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous peoples, Joe Biden has directed historic resources into the hands of Tribal leaders who know best how to strengthen their communities. Across the Investing in America agenda, a historic $45 billion, more than 15 years' worth of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' annual budget, has gone into Indian Country during this administration. With that, comes transformational change.

"Once in a generation" means -- means generational change for the people in those communities: electricity on the Hopi Reservation in Arizona for homes that have never had electricity; protecting cultural resources, like salmon, which Pacific Northwest Tribes have depended on for thousands of years; new transportation infrastructure for the Mescalero Apache Nation in New Mexico that will provide a safer travel route and boost their economic development, their local economy; addressing toxic legacy pollution and abandoned oil and gas infrastructure that pollutes our air and water for the Osage Nation in Oklahoma; providing clean drinking water for Fort Peck in Montana.

I could go on and on. This is a once-in-a-generation funding that is empowering Tribes and making up for significant systemic underfunding of Tribal communities for a very long time.

And, look, we know that the need is incredibly high. That's what decades of a lack of investment looks like. But what we have done here will have lasting and enduring results.

Before we take your questions, I want to talk about the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative. For more than a century, tens of thousands of Indigenous children, as young as four years old, were taken from their families and communities and forced into boarding schools run by the U.S. government and religious institutions. This includes my own family.

For decades, this terrible chapter was hidden from our history books, but now our administration's work will ensure that no one will ever forget. I'm happy to talk more about our investigative report; the year-long effort across Indian Country that we called the "Road to Healing," where we went to 12 different communities and heard directly from survivors and descendants; and the work ahead.

But I just want to say that foundational to this work has been the idea, far-fetched as it might have been, that the federal government would acknowledge and apologize for the trauma and intergenerational impacts that these boarding schools -- these places of horror -- caused. That the president is taking that step tomorrow is so historic.

I'm not sure I could adequately put its impact into words, but I'm honored to have been on this journey with him, to have him support everything that we did with respect to the boarding schools in Indian Country, and, of course, to celebrate what I truly believe is a new era for not only Indian Country but for America.

Thank you.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Thank you so much.

Okay. With that, Aamer, go ahead.

Q: Thanks. So, one, is an apology enough? What is next? Should this be followed by some sort of reparations?

And then, second, something that the president said to our colleagues as he was leaving the White House today is, "I should have done" -- "this is something I should have done a long time ago." Why didn't he do it a long time ago? Why is he waiting for 11 days before a big election to announce this in a big swing state?

SECRETARY HAALAND: So, first of all, of course, I can't comment on the president's schedule. (Laughs.) I'm sure there's a lot of things he would have liked to have done, but th- -- you know, things come up.

What I will say is that it's almost -- you know, he's -- he's doing this apology after he's invested -- after his leadership to invest $45 billion, the generational change that I talked about in my remarks. He's done it after he has made Tribal consultation and -- and an all-of-government approach to Indian Country a priority for this administration. The day he was sworn into office, he made commitments to Indian Country, and he has followed through on every single one of those commitments.

So, the timing, I couldn't speak to that. To me, that's not important. To me, what's important is that the president, as the leader of our country, is taking this step that has never been taken, that he is seeing people -- or helping them to know that they are seen and heard when perhaps they never thought they have ever been seen and heard.

Q: So, I'm having -- and I'm sorry. Is -- is the commitment that he's already made -- is that the reparations, you're saying? Is he already --

SECRETARY HAALAND: So, I -- I want to just be clear about the word "reparations." I don't -- you will never hear me using that term because we have a government-to-government relationship with our nation's 574 federally recognized Tribes. The -- the United States, the federal government has obligations to uphold the trust and treaty obligations to those Tribes.

If the federal government does that, then that's what -- that's the promises that they need to keep. And I will tell you that during this administration, President Biden, as I mentioned in my remarks, has been the best president in my lifetime for Indian Country.

I have been out on -- on the ground for decades -- right? -- advocating for Indian Country. I was a Tribal administrator in New Mexico for a Tribe. I have been out there working hard to make sure that we are seen. And this president sees us.

Q: Could you draw back the curtain a little on this apology? Was it requested from you, from other Tribal leaders across the nation? Or did Biden -- you know, was it his initiative?

SECRETARY HAALAND: So, if you will look at the second invest- -- the second volume of the investigative Boarding School Initiative report, we had a list of recommendations. I believe there are eight recommendations. And the first recommendation -- there's links to it; you'll find it on our website -- the first recommendation was an acknowledgement and an apology.

We also have asked for other things -- right? -- like a national monument to honor the -- the kids who never came home, for example. And then we also are asking for sustained investments in Indian Country for certain things.

One of the things that we heard most in our "Road to Healing" and from Tribal leaders was that their Native languages were stolen from them. And so, the president and Dr. Biden, even, have been incredibly supportive on Native language revitalization, and -- and the budget that the president has asked for shows it. It's gone from $2 million up to $41 million that the president has request for Native language revitalization. And I think that says -- that says so much.

So, I mean, I -- I don't want to get into this, you know, "You owe u- -- the federal government owes us." This is our home. We love this country. We have fought for this country, even before we were citizens, even before we could vote. And so, I want to make clear that Indian Country are proud Americans, and this apology -- it means more than words can even say.

Q: Can you -- can you give a little bit of a preview on the event tomorrow? I know that we're visiting the school. What -- who is he going to meet? Who else is going to be there? Who is invited?

SECRETARY HAALAND: So, I -- I couldn't be specific on that, and I'm sure there's some staff who can fill you in on all the details.

But it's my understanding that they invited Tribal leaders. There are some Tribal leaders today on Air Force One who -- who are accompanying us to the event -- and, you know, peop- -- survivors, descendants, people who have advocated for this for a long time. Deborah Parker, the executive director of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, is with us today.

And so, I -- I imagine, with Governor Lewis as our host, that it will be a really lovely event.

Q: (Inaudible) on why this particular community as opposed to any of the others?

SECRETARY HAALAND: Well, I mean, I -- you know, I mean, it's hard, right? It's hard to think, "Which one of 574 tribes should we visit?" Arizona, that's my home -- my home state. I was born in Winslow. I'm always happy to go to Arizona.

Governor Lewis, as -- as Karine said, has worked hard to use the funding that they have been given to uplift his community. And I think that, along with this, the president wanted to just make contact there, knowing that they have done so much with their irrigation system and so forth.

Q: On -- on the boarding schools and repatriation of remains. Do you have, I guess, a better idea, any clarity that you can give on the number of remains on federal land associated with the boarding schools that remain -- that the DO- -- DOI still needs to repatriate?

SECRETARY HAALAND: You know, I think -- you know, I'm not -- I'm not clear on all those numbers, but what I will say is that with respect to any remains that are repat- -- repatriated, it's up to the Tribe. It's completely up to the Tribe. That's what Tribal consultation is all about. If that's what the Tribe wants, then we will find a way to help them achieve that.

But we're not out there saying, you know, we're demanding all these things to be done. It's really important for the Tribes to have a voice in how they see this moving forward, and we will com- -- be completely respectful of -- of that.

But I couldn't tell you the number of children who were deceased. You know, in some cases, children got sick at boarding school, and they knew they were sick, so they sent them home, and then they died at home. This happened a lot. And so, you know, it's hard to -- to essentially assess the -- the number of actual children who died as a result of being in those schools.

Q: I just have one question.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah.

Q: The election is right around the corner, and you mentioned, you know, requesting a potential monument. You talked about all of the investment from the Biden administration.

Assuming, if -- if former President Trump, you know, comes back to the White House, you know, how do you see maybe some of that investment that has been done under the Biden admin- -- administration maybe continuing, you know, down the road to keep building on what you've been working on in the administration?

SECRETARY HAALAND: Of course, I can't comment on -- on any election, but we have 90 days left in this administration. We're going to use every minute of that 90 days to move this work forward.

I -- what I will also say is that Tribal leaders are experiencing a new era. They're at the table. They're being consulted. In fact, we had a consultation about how they wanted to be -- have consultation, right? We have -- they have been at the table. I started my secretary's advis- -- advisory committee, Secretary's Tribal Advisory Co- -- we started the White House Council on Native Amer- -- American Affairs. We've had the Tribal Nations Summit every year that the president has been here.

It's my guess that Tribal leaders will not go back to the way things were before. So, I hope that regardless of what happens in the future, that Tribal leaders are dead set about what the relationship between the federal government and them is and that they will -- they will ensure that they have a seat at the table.

Q: What are those 90-day priorities for Indian Country for you?

SECRETARY HAALAND: Oh, gosh. Well -- (laughter) -- I mean, the -- there is a whole lot -- right? -- that -- you could look at the list of recommendations that we have. We made a visit -- with respect to the monument, it'd be nice if we got that across the finish line, right? We have our oral history project that is in -- in the works right now.

So -- and then, I -- I mean, I have Bryan Newland here, if you wanted to ask him what his priorities are for Indian Country, or you can just give him a call later on.

But I can rest assured -- everyone is super tired, but for some reason, we got this, you know, energy to keep -- to run across the finish line.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: All right.

Q: More broadly, can you speak to -- are you doing anything to sort of "Trump-proof," you know, federal lands, if the election goes in that direction?

SECRETARY HAALAND: You know, I'm -- I -- I can't comment on that really. All I can say is that everyone's doing their jobs, and --

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah, we're not going to get into hypotheticals.

SECRETARY HAALAND: Yeah.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah. But, let -- are you -- you have one more, or you're done?

Q: Oh, I -- we've got some for you, I'm sure.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: No, no, I know. Are we good for the secretary?

Q: Thank you, Secretary.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Thank you so much.

Q: Thank you, Secretary.

SECRETARY HAALAND: Thank you so much. Thank you --

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Thank you.

SECRETARY HAALAND: -- for caring about this. Thank you.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Thank you. Thank you so much. We appreciate you.

Okay. What you all got? Aamer, you want to reset us?

Q: Yeah. I wanted to ask about the bombings by Israel of the Hezbollah-aligned banks. Those banks are also used by regular people. There's bank tellers that work there.

It's been called by human rights group "war crimes."

How does the administration see this? Usually, this administration, when it goes after terror fi- -- banks that are financing terrorism, they do it with sanctions. Is this the appropriate way to go after this?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, look -- and -- and my NSC colleagues spoke to -- spoke -- has spoken to this as well. So, look, we're not going to comment on every -- on -- on every individual strike. That's just not something that we going to -- going back and forth on.

But broadly speaking -- and you've heard us say this before. And, look, we understand that Israel is conducting operations to go after high-value targets or to destroy Hezbollah opera- -- infrastructure, which is what we understand, what we -- the conversations that we had. And -- and let's not forget, these are -- are -- when you think about the Hezbollah infrastructure, these are used to be -- used to -- to threaten Israeli citizens.

And so, we have told Israel directly -- we've had direct conversations; as you know, we speak to them pretty regularly, and -- that we oppose a campaign of nearly daily strikes in densely populated areas in Be- -- in Beirut. And so, we'll continue to support Israel's -- Israel's self-defense against Hezbollah as we work towards a diplomatic resolution that sures -- that ensures Israel's security and allows it- -- citizens to -- on both sides to live in peace and -- and -- in peace.

And that's what we want to do. That's what we're going to -- we want to see. And so, we'll continue to have those diplomatic conversations, but we're not going to go back and forth on each individual strike. But more broadly speaking, we understand what they're trying to do, and -- and we're obviously going to continue to have those dail- -- those regular conversation with Israel as how -- how they move forward.

Q: This came up yesterday in the briefing, but I'm going to ask it again. Do we know if he's going to vote this weekend?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Look, I know there's a lot of questions on the scheduling. Obviously, we're getting closer to an Election Day. The president certainly is looking forward to casting his ballot. I tell you he will be voting and --

Q: Will he be early voting?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I -- I don't want to get ahead of that. We're trying to -- certainly trying to figure that out. As soon as we have that information, we will share that with all of you. But he is definitely looking forward, as he does every time -- it is -- he is -- he has an opportunity to vote, he's looking forward to casting th- -- his ballot.

Q: Karine, I wanted to ask about the Boeing --

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah.

Q: -- negotiations. You know, I'm sure you saw, but they re- -- the factory workers rejected the latest contract proposal. Is President Biden -- has he spoken to anyone from -- from the union, with anyone at Boeing? How concerned is he? They've been on strike now for quite a bit so --

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, a couple of things. I don't have anything to read out for you on any conversation that the president has had. Look, he directed his team -- right? -- to -- to make sure that -- to encourage parties to continue working to achieve an agreement that works, certainly, for all parties. And so, we're going to continue to monitor those negotiations and -- and continue to make sure that we encourage that.

Look, the -- the reality is -- and this is something that the president understands -- that ultimately, when it comes to these types of negotiation, the decisions on a contract is going to be made by the union -- union themselves. And so, that is for their decision to be made. But obviously, we're going to continue to encourage both sides to continue to have these conversations in good faith. And collective bargaining is something that this president believes in. And so, we're going to continue to monitor.

Q: And -- and just one more question. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Russia provided targeting data for the assault on global shipping. And I was just wondering if this is something that, you know, the president is aware of and if -- if this has been brought to his attention or is this something you all are monitoring or --

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, look, I would have to take that back. I have not talked to the president about this. So, I just need to talk to the team and get a sense of what his thinking is and where we are on that particular question. I just don't have anything for you at this time.

Q: Going off of the Boeing point.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah.

Q: Are you able to say when the last time was that the labor secretary spoke to both parties?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, look, I don't have any specific timeline on when -- the last time they spoke. Obviously, they've been in direct communication and have continued to encourage both parties to come -- to come together on this. At the end of the day, this is a decision that is made by the unions, right? And we're going to continue to encourage collective bargaining, good faith -- good faith participation by all parties.

I don't have anything specific to tell you on the last time that that conversation happened.

Q: Switching a little bit. The administration struck a note of optimism when Sinwar was killed that maybe this opened the opportunity for ceasefire talks with Gaz- -- in Gaza. And Secretary Blinken is in the region. Can you speak to whether or not the administration is still optimistic that there is renewed hope for --

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah.

Q: -- a ceasefire?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: It's a good question, and I would just go back to what the secretary -- Secretary Blinken said himself -- said himself. We're -- they're cont- -- we're continuing to try to find a way to get to a proposal that both sides can agree to. That is something that he said when he was in the region or is still in the region, because that's how -- or that's how we can get -- get the -- the fighting to stop, we can get the hostages home, we can surge humanitarian assistance in Gaza for the people that are suffering and in such dire, dire need of it.

We do anticipate that the negotiations will be getting together in the upcoming days. That's something that the secretary spoke about and the Qu- -- Qatar prime minister when they were together.

But what real- -- what -- what we really have to determine is whether Hamas is prepared to engage. That's the reality that we're in. So, this is something that the president and his team remains -- remains really steadfast on. We know in order to -- again, for the -- for the war to stop, we need to get to this ty- -- this -- this ceasefire in -- in order to get this hostage deal. So, that is -- continues to be our focus.

Q: Karine, given that you're -- the vice president says she's running against a candidate she considers to be a fascist. The president of the United States this week, only two weeks before an election, is doing no campaign events, at least through Friday. Is that odd? How should we interpret that?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I wouldn't interpret it as odd at all. Look, the president has been out there. He has campaigned. He's campaigned with her. And I think if you look at what he's doing tomorrow, it's critical. It's important to the American people. What you heard, I think, even the secretary lay out just moments ago was emotional, was important to the Indian Country, what they've been through. And what the president is going to do tomorrow is historic.

We will have more to share. I'm -- I'm -- I am telling you, we will have more to share on what the president is going to do, whether it's -- including casting his ballot. The president is going to continue to be out there to -- to deliver for the American people, like he is tomorrow for the Indian -- Indian Country to -- to offer up a federal apology. That's historic. That's historic.

And we will have more to share on the schedule. We

will.

Q: I'm not -- I'm not saying that's not a story, but I'm just wondering --

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: No, but (inaudible) --

Q: -- like, is he --

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: -- we have to look at both things.

Q: Yeah.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: He's doing things that are important to the American people. That's actually his number one job, is to continue to deliver what's important for the American people as president of the United States.

Q: But is he leaving -- is he leaving it all on the field if -- if he goes two weeks before the -- two weeks out before the election --

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: (Inaudible.)

Q: -- there's really nothing on the calendar at all on the --

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: What I'm saying: You're assuming there's nothing on the calendar.

Q: Up through Friday.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Well, there's -- there's a lot more days to go. Obviously, I don't want to get into the politics of this, into his political schedule. But what I am saying is stay tuned. There will be more to share.

Q: Karine, I'm sorry. Just to follow on Peter's question.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah, yeah.

Q: You guys have already advised on Saturday that he's going to Pittsburgh, right? So, who -- who is he campaigning with in Pittsburgh?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: We'll have more to share. We'll have more to share.

Q: (Inaudible.)

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: We will have more to share.

Q: It's my -- my understanding that it's with labor unions and that there aren't going to be any candidates there. Wh- -- what -- is that suggest that he -- that there aren't Democrats that want to be seen with him?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Look, first of all, I'm going be really careful, not talk to the campaign and politics, but we should be very clear about the importance of labor unions. And so -- and not -- and not take that --

Q: I'm not --

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: No, no, no, but I'm saying labor unions are so important. It's so critical --

Q: I am a member of a union myself. But I -- I under- -- I (inaudible) --

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I hear you, but you sidestep the labol [labor] unions in your question --

Q: They're not -- but I'm -- no, my question was, they're not ca- --

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: (Inaudible.)

Q: They're not -- well, I'm sorry if you didn't hear or if I --

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: (Inaudible.) (Laughter.)

Q: But he's not -- he's not going to be appearing with a candidate.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Guys, just give us a second. We will have more to share on the campaign. We will have more to share on what the president's schedule is going to look like.

What I am saying to you: Labor unions are critical. They're important. And I'm going to be very careful because I'm not going to get into campaign strategy from here. I'm not going to get into campaign travel from here. But there will be more to share, and stand by.

And also, I would, you know -- anyway, I'll just leave it there. I was going to say I refer you to the campaign on -- on scheduling of -- of surrogates and what that looks like and what their strategy is. They can speak more to that.

But we will have more to share. I just cannot get into strategy and campaign schedule from here, as I do try to follow the Hatch Act and be -- and fotho- -- follow the law from -- from here, even if we're -- how many thousand feet we are in the air on Air Force One.

Yeah.

Q: What is the president doing tonight?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Well, we're going to travel to Arizona. We're going to la- --

Q: Well, after we land. (Laughs.)

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: We're going to land. (Laughter.) And he'll be preparing for tomorrow's event. As you know, it's going to be historic and really important to him. He's excited.

I mean, he went over and talked to your colleagues right before he got on Marine One, and I think that shows his excitement and also how important this is to him. And so, that's what you're going to be able to see tomorrow.

Q: What do you expect the mood to be at the event tomorrow?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: The mood?

Q: Yeah. I mean, wh- -- wh- --

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I mean, I can say this. You saw, from the secretary, it's emotional. This is emotional. You know, what we have learned from the reporting -- and some of us have known this; some of us have not known what has been occurring, especially if you think about the boarding schools, what the India- -- Indian Country community has had to go through and how they're fighting and -- and continuing to -- to get resolution to the devastation that they've had to go through, family members that they've lost, family members that got through some difficult times and are able to tell their story.

And it's going to be emotional. It's going to be a -- very emotional. And you're going to hear it directly from them, from the Tribal leaders.

And -- I don't know -- I think when you think about this administration, you think about the Biden-Harris administration, how the president has said and how we continue to see that we're going to speak up for each community, fight for each community. And what we have seen over decades and decades is communities like the Indian Country that have been left behind.

And this is a president that is going to -- it doesn't matter if you're in a red state, blue state. You hear us talk about that urbal [sic] area -- rural area. He's going to continue to fight and try to speak to the wrongs that have been made. And you've seen him do that over and over again with different communities.

And so, I think, tomorrow, to your question, Nikki, is going to be emotional. I think it's going to be impactful, and I think it's going to be incredibly his- -- special and, as I've said many times, historical.

Q: The vice president is -- next week is set to speak on the National Mall, kind of in the backyard of the White House, more or -- so or less. But the -- do you have any insight? Do- -- is this something President Biden wants to attend --

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Look, that's a campaign --

Q: -- wants --

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: That's a campaign decision, campaign event. I can't speak to it. What -- the president has been very clear about his support for the vice president, how he sees -- how he always believed from the moment that he decided that she would be a running mate back in 2020, even saying that was the best decision that he made, that she will be a leader from day one.

I will let this campaign speak to their messaging. I will let the campaign speak to the reason of doing that event on Tuesday. That is something that I can't speak to. But I will continue to say and the president will continue to say he's very proud of her. She has done a phenomenal job, not -- obviously, as a critical partner over the last three and a half years and certainly what he has been seeing from her in the past several months. And so, we're going to let them speak to that.

All right, guys.

Q: Just fo- -- follow on something Skylar asked earlier that I'm not sure I understood on the Russia providing targeting data to the Houthis. Has the U.S. confirmed that? Do the --

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I -- that's what I was saying. I don't have an answer for you. So, I just need to -- to go back to the team. She was asking me specifically about the president. I -- that's not something that I have spoken to the president. I don't want to give you the wrong information, so I need to just go back and talk to the team on this. Okay? Obviously --

Q: (Inaudible.)

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Obviously, it would be concerning. Let me just say that. It would be concerning if true. We know that the Houthis, Hezbollah, Hamas are -- they are a -- as we've seen, Iranian backed and have threatened the security of Israel. And we have always said, we have -- we are -- we are going to continue to do everything that we can to ha- -- to support and have that ironclad support for Israel's security. That's what you have seen from this administration.

And so, it would be concerning. I just don't -- I cannot confirm any intelligence at this time, so I would have to go back and -- and talk to the team. So, just want to be --

Q: Can I ask one more question about tomorrow?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Sure.

Q: Obviously, this formal apology -- this type of formal apology is very rare coming from the sitting president of the United States, and the trauma in this community runs very deep. Can you speak, again, to the timing of why? I mean, for some people, this is coming too late.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Well, I mean, look, you heard from -- you heard from the secretary -- lay out what we have done over the past several years when it comes to Indian Country. And so, I will say that this has been, indeed, a -- a deliberate and intentional process throughout the years. And this is part of -- you know, you g- -- you all ask me a lot about the president's legacy and what he's going to be doing the last, you know, several months. This is part of it. But it's a continuation of the -- what we've done.

And so, this is a trip that he's been wanting to make. This is something that he's been wanting to do. Again, we have been very deliberate -- deliberati- -- deliberative about this process. And so, this is a continuation of the work that this president has done, that the secretary has done, her -- her agency that she runs, over the past three and a half years. And so, this is part of the president's legacy.

And you're right: This apology is historic. It's impactful. And, you know, the scars and the trauma that we have seen from this community does indeed run deeply, and he feels that. He feels that and understands. As someone who understands tragedy and trauma and loss, he feels that very, very personally.

Obviously, the Indian Country and what they've gone through is very different. It's very unique to their experience. And so, I would say, as you all are asking me, "What's his legacy?" I would say this is part of that.

All right. Thanks, everybody.

Q: Has he been -- has he been consulting with anybody in sort of drafting this speech and -- and getting ready for this moment?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I mean, he's been working with his team -- his speechwriters, obviously. He's working with representatives that he has in the Office of Public Af- -- Engagement on -- who focus on the Indian Country, having those conversations. They've been very involved.

I would say Tom Perez, who runs the Intergovernmental Affairs, obviously, has go- -- has done these trips, have been very in touch -- very much in touch with what's going on the ground.

So, he's been certainly talking to his team, including the secretary, and -- and consulting with them about what -- what he wants to say and how he wants to really -- you know, I don't want to get ahead of the president. I think his remarks, as you'll hear from him directly tomorrow, are -- I think are going to be pretty powerful.

All right. Thanks, everybody.

Q: Thanks, Karine.

Q: Thank you.

5:41 P.M. EDT