Pool Reports of June 8, 2020

WH In-Town Pool Report #1

Good morning from the warm and sunny White House.

Your print pooler has completed her COVID-19 test along with the rest of the pool.

On the schedule today, President Trump has two closed press events: at 1 PM he will have lunch with the vice president and at 3 PM he will participate in a roundtable with law enforcement.

Also, added to the daily guidance this morning was a press briefing with Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany at 2 PM in the briefing room. If you have questions for the briefing, feel free to send them along and I will do my best to get answers.

As always, I will share updates throughout the day.

WH In Town Pool Report #2 -- lunch lid

Lunch lid until 2 PM.

2 PM is when Press Secretary McEnany's briefing is scheduled to start. I will send details that may not be seen on camera, but not full reports since the event will be live streamed. You can watch here: https://whitehouse.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c97630621baff8c44f...

WH In Town Pool Report #3 -- 2 minute warning for briefing

A two minute warning until the press briefing starts was announced.

WH In Town Pool Report #4 -- briefing starts

At 2:13 PM, Press Secretary McEnany entered the briefing room and started the press briefing. She's starting things off with comments on the jobs report.

WH In Town Pool Report #5 -- briefing concludes

Press Secretary McEnany concluded the briefing at about 2:40 p.m. In case it was not viewable on camera, TV screens adjacent to the podium showed images of police officers helping civilians in various scenarios as McEnany wrapped up the briefing by highlighting positive stories of police work.

WH In Town Pool Report #6 -- Erdogan read out

>From Judd Deere:

Today, President Donald J. Trump spoke with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. President Trump and President Erdogan discussed the latest efforts to defeat the coronavirus pandemic and reopen the United States and Turkey. The two leaders also discussed critical bilateral and regional issues, including Libya, Syria, and the Eastern Mediterranean.

WH IN Town Pool Report 7 — pool gathering

Pool has been called to gather at the palm room doors. President Trump's round table with law enforcement was slated to begin at 3 PM. We have no further directions at this time.

WH In Town Pool Reports #8

Pool is now in the state dining room for the law enforcement round table.

Trump made short comments That he does not support defunding the police.

More coming....

WH In Town Report 9 — attendees at round table

From the White House:

Today, President Donald J. Trump will participate in a roundtable discussion with state, federal, and local law enforcement officials on police and community relations.

The following individuals are expected to attend:

The White House
President Donald J. Trump
Mike Pence, Vice President of the United States
Mark Meadows, Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff
Jared Kushner, Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor
Dan Scavino, Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications
Brooke Rollins, Assistant to the President and Acting Director of the Domestic Policy Council
Tim Pataki, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Public Liaison 
Doug Hoelscher, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Intergovernmental Affairs
Ja'Ron Smith, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the Office of American Innovation

Trump Administration
Attorney General William Barr, U.S. Department of Justice 

External Participants
Chief Steven Casstevens, President, International Association of Chiefs of Police
Pat Yoes, National President, Fraternal Order of Police
Sheriff Tony Childress, Livingston County, IL
Ashley Moody, Attorney General, FL
Daniel Cameron, Attorney General, KY
Sergeant Rob Pride, Loveland Police Department, CO

WH In Town Pool Report #10 -- pool exits round table

The pool was shuffled out of the round table in the State Dining Room at 3:45 p.m. President Trump took no press questions.

President Trump spoke a few words, then each attendee gave comments and then Trump made a few closing remarks.

"We won't be defunding our police. We won't be dismantling our police," Trump said.
He spoke overwhelmingly positively about the work of law enforcement, calling them the "finest law enforcement anywhere in the world" but acknowledged generally that plenty of things have happened that shouldn't have happened.

Attorney General Barr said law enforcement understands that African Americans have "distrust" for police and U.S. law did not provide equal protection to African Americans until the 1960s, he said. He said he is hearing lots of interest from police leaders on clarifying the standards and training on use of force and "we look forward to working with you to get that done."

More coming….

WH In Town Pool Report #11 -- more from round table

Here are comments from administration officials from the round table. I'll send comments from the external participants next.

President TRUMP: "This has been a very strong year for less crime."
"There's a reason for less crime. It's because we have great law enforcement. I'm very proud of that. There won't be defunding. There won't be dismantling of our police. There's not going to be any disbanding of our police. Our police have been letting us live in peace and we want to make sure we don't have any bad actors in there and sometimes we'll see some horrible things like we witnessed recently but I say 99.9 – let's go with 99 % of them – great, great people and they've done jobs that are record setting."

Vice President PENCE: "We're here to listen."
"My uncle was a police officer in Chicago for 25 years and I grew up with my three brothers and sisters with great memories of visiting my grandparents in Chicago and visiting my uncle… seeing him walk out the door and put his life on the line to protect the city."
"I will promise you here that the president and the administration is always going to stand with the men and women who serve and at great risk and great sacrifice to protect our communities."
He said he is "very grateful" to have a "conversation about how we can improve."
"We've always been in the business of making a more perfect union."
After "tragedy" almost two weeks ago, they want to discuss "how we can improve" but "improve in a way that builds on that foundations – really the finest men and women in our country."

Attorney General Barr: "What makes me very optimistic today is that the law enforcement leaders that we deal with, and you all know this, no one is more committed to reforming the criminal justice system and the profession of policing today."
Noted that the administration's commission has been looking at these issues already.
"I know that there is a lot of interest from police leaders for clarity and guidance on the use of force… making sure the standards are out there, making sure they are trained and making sure they are adhered to. We're looking forward to working with you to get that done. The time for waiting is over. It's now incumbent on us to bring good out of bad."
"Finally just let me say that the other aspect of this is the rule of law and the need for law and order."
"It's the foundation of civilization."
"It is our responsibility to make sure that our country is ruled by law and not by violence."

Jared KUSHNER: emphasized that the Trump administration and law enforcement worked together on criminal justice issues "to make our communities safer and make our system more fair" previously. He said their work results in "progress and policies."
"There are a lot of people in this country who are feeling differently pain," he said.

Doug Hoelscher, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Intergovernmental Affairs, said everyone he spoke to "at the elected leader level and the rank and file level as well was just appalled by what happened in Minneapolis." He said out of that comes a commitment to make improvements across the country.

Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said Trump is a president of action and that speaks louder than words.

WH In Town Pool Report #12 -- NATO read out

>From Judd Deere:

Today, President Donald J. Trump spoke with North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. The President and the Secretary General discussed close cooperation between NATO allies on defeating the coronavirus pandemic and strengthening our resilience. The two leaders also discussed progress on NATO increasing its role in counterterrorism and stabilization efforts in the Middle East, as well as the latest developments in Afghanistan. The President and the Secretary General agreed that the Taliban must reduce violence and all parties should move swiftly to begin intra-Afghan negotiations toward a political settlement.

WH In Town Pool Report #13 -- more from round table

The law enforcement round table participants were seated at tables arranged in large circle in the state dining room with some space between the participants. No one wore masks.

Here are some of the remarks from other participants:

Sheriff Tony Childress of Livingston County, IL said his force's "ideology" is "being a friend of the community."
"Some of the things we feel in Livingston County will be very important is mandatory de-escalation training for officers, prohibition of all physical restraint maneuvers on or above the neck, any physical acts that reflect the flow of blood or oxygen to the brain, requiring all officers to render medical aid to all people and requiring officers to intervene when physical forces are being applied to either stop or attempt forces that are being inappropriately applied."
"We look forward to working with you to hopefully getting legislation involved in making these things true and making them law."

KY Attorney General Daniel Cameron spoke last and Trump introduced him as a "superstar" in the making.
Cameron said they have a responsibility to look for ways "to do it better."
"We as General Barr said cannot allow for chaos in our streets. We can allow for peaceful protests. We cannot allow for chaos. We cannot allow for violence.

Ja'Ron Smith, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the Office of American Innovation, said "When I saw what happened with George Floyd it really made my heart sunk. It hit me to my core, as well as a lot of other lives that have been lost."
"As an African American I've lived in southeast DC and I've lived in a paradox where my wife is sometimes scared to go on the streets by herself and in the same vein, as an individual, I've also had the fear of living in a certain neighborhood or driving certain types of cars as an African American just because of my relationship with the police. There are a lot of African American males across the country that have stories that they can share."
"But law enforcement is there to kind of thread the needle and help us and protect us and not to demonize."
"We can't let a few bad apples represent something that is the core of everything we do." He said they look forward to partnering with law enforcement to find solutions.

WH In Town Pool Reports #14 -- travel/photo lid

We got a travel/photo lid at 5:15 PM.

Have a safe night everyone.