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Press Briefing by Kayleigh McEnany; July 8, 2020
PRESS BRIEFINGS
Press Briefing by Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany
Issued on: July 9, 2020
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
4:37 P.M. EDT
MS. MCENANY: Hello, everyone. Good afternoon.
{snip}
NAFTA was a bad deal for the American worker because it left American workers behind. Many politicians forgot the damage wrought by disastrous trade deals such as NAFTA, but President Trump did not forget. It took this President to change the status quo, renegotiate NAFTA, and secure a better deal for the American worker.
{snip}
And with that, I’ll take questions. Yes.
Q Kayleigh, two questions for you. The first is, President Trump hasn’t taken questions from White House reporters in two weeks. While we always enjoy talking to you, this White House likes to say the President is “the most accessible in history.” So why hasn’t he answered questions for two weeks amid a pandemic?
MS. MCENANY: This President routinely answers questions. He’s more accessible than any of his predecessors. I’m sure you’ll be hearing from him soon. He’s always up to the job, but he’s hard at work in the Oval Office.
Q And also, is the administration retaliating against Dr. Fauci for publicly contradicting the President? Today he was told to come here to the White House for the task force meeting, which meant he could not answer questions from reporters.
MS. MCENANY: Look, that’s a decision for the task force as to who appears at the briefings. But you’ve heard from a lot of our doctors today. You’ve heard from Dr. Birx. Dr. Fauci has appeared on six TV programs since June 1st. You just heard from him in a task force briefing on June 26th. And he participated in the Vice President’s governors briefing on COVID-19 on June 29th. So you’ve heard from him recently, along with the rest of our doctors, in the past five days. Dr. Hahn has been on TV six times as well.
{snip}
Q And another question. The Supreme Court is expected to rule tomorrow on whether or not the President can keep his financial records secret. I’m wondering, if the court rules against the President, he will be happy to hand over his records to Congress and the Manhattan district attorney.
MS. MCENANY: So, since that’s a hypothetical, I won’t answer that, and I’ll wait to get back with you guys tomorrow after we see that ruling, which we hope is in the favor of the President.
Yes.
Q Yes. Two questions for you, Kayleigh. Thank you. Did the President ask the President of Mexico if he would pay for the wall? And what happened to that threat?
MS. MCENANY: So that discussion did not come up when I was in the room.
Q And the second question: Is the President still filed — filing documents this week to be able to re-sign DACA once again and start the legal process?
MS. MCENANY: Yeah, no announcements on that front, but when we have an announcement, you’ll be the first to know.
Chanel?
Q Thank you, Kayleigh. Going back to the executive orders that Meadows had mentioned earlier this week, is President Trump going to discuss with President Obrador any details about this executive order as he drafts it up? Or is he (inaudible)?
MS. MCENANY: So in the discussions I was a part of, there was not an executive order discussed, but there will be some executive orders this week.
Q Can you give us a preview of what they might entail?
MS. MCENANY: No preview, but there will be some this week. Yeah.
Q What about Justin Trudeau and his nonappearance today?
MS. MCENANY: Yeah, Jus- —
Q What messaging does that give to the rest of the world, as they’re watching this USMCA progress?
MS. MCENANY: Well, Canada was unable to travel because of their restrictions they have in their country, with regard to COVID.
{snip}
Thank you so much.
END
4:59 P.M. EDT
Press Briefing by Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany
Issued on: July 9, 2020
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
4:37 P.M. EDT
MS. MCENANY: Hello, everyone. Good afternoon.
{snip}
NAFTA was a bad deal for the American worker because it left American workers behind. Many politicians forgot the damage wrought by disastrous trade deals such as NAFTA, but President Trump did not forget. It took this President to change the status quo, renegotiate NAFTA, and secure a better deal for the American worker.
{snip}
And with that, I’ll take questions. Yes.
Q Kayleigh, two questions for you. The first is, President Trump hasn’t taken questions from White House reporters in two weeks. While we always enjoy talking to you, this White House likes to say the President is “the most accessible in history.” So why hasn’t he answered questions for two weeks amid a pandemic?
MS. MCENANY: This President routinely answers questions. He’s more accessible than any of his predecessors. I’m sure you’ll be hearing from him soon. He’s always up to the job, but he’s hard at work in the Oval Office.
Q And also, is the administration retaliating against Dr. Fauci for publicly contradicting the President? Today he was told to come here to the White House for the task force meeting, which meant he could not answer questions from reporters.
MS. MCENANY: Look, that’s a decision for the task force as to who appears at the briefings. But you’ve heard from a lot of our doctors today. You’ve heard from Dr. Birx. Dr. Fauci has appeared on six TV programs since June 1st. You just heard from him in a task force briefing on June 26th. And he participated in the Vice President’s governors briefing on COVID-19 on June 29th. So you’ve heard from him recently, along with the rest of our doctors, in the past five days. Dr. Hahn has been on TV six times as well.
{snip}
Q And another question. The Supreme Court is expected to rule tomorrow on whether or not the President can keep his financial records secret. I’m wondering, if the court rules against the President, he will be happy to hand over his records to Congress and the Manhattan district attorney.
MS. MCENANY: So, since that’s a hypothetical, I won’t answer that, and I’ll wait to get back with you guys tomorrow after we see that ruling, which we hope is in the favor of the President.
Yes.
Q Yes. Two questions for you, Kayleigh. Thank you. Did the President ask the President of Mexico if he would pay for the wall? And what happened to that threat?
MS. MCENANY: So that discussion did not come up when I was in the room.
Q And the second question: Is the President still filed — filing documents this week to be able to re-sign DACA once again and start the legal process?
MS. MCENANY: Yeah, no announcements on that front, but when we have an announcement, you’ll be the first to know.
Chanel?
Q Thank you, Kayleigh. Going back to the executive orders that Meadows had mentioned earlier this week, is President Trump going to discuss with President Obrador any details about this executive order as he drafts it up? Or is he (inaudible)?
MS. MCENANY: So in the discussions I was a part of, there was not an executive order discussed, but there will be some executive orders this week.
Q Can you give us a preview of what they might entail?
MS. MCENANY: No preview, but there will be some this week. Yeah.
Q What about Justin Trudeau and his nonappearance today?
MS. MCENANY: Yeah, Jus- —
Q What messaging does that give to the rest of the world, as they’re watching this USMCA progress?
MS. MCENANY: Well, Canada was unable to travel because of their restrictions they have in their country, with regard to COVID.
{snip}
Thank you so much.
END
4:59 P.M. EDT
