2:01 p.m. EDT
MS TRUDEAU: Happy Friday, everyone. The legendary Richard Boucher, a spokesperson here at the department, once had a four-minute press brief. I don’t think I’ll make that today, but we’re going to be pretty brief. I do have a few things at the top.
First, today, Poland’s parliament approved new legislation regarding the constitutional tribunal. While the new law has addressed some Venice Commission recommendations regarding legislation passed last year that was later ruled unconstitutional, it impedes a compromise resolution to the seating of six judicial nominees.
At the NATO Summit, President Obama expressed concern over rule of law to President Duda and urged all parties to work together to sustain Poland’s democratic institutions. The United States encourages Poland’s authorities to promptly redress unresolved issues so Poland’s democratic institutions and the system of checks and balances are fully functioning and respected.
Secondly, I’d just like to flag this morning we did release a fact sheet on the Olympics/Paralympics that’s happening in Brazil. Especially for U.S. citizens traveling to Brazil for these games, we’d make sure you please register at travel.state.gov and take a look at that information. There’s excellent resources.
Finally, one point on Albania. The United States congratulates the people of Albania on the passage of justice reform. This is a historic step forward for Albanian democracy. The unanimous approval of the reform is a strong statement of national unity. Albania’s leaders have placed the country on the right side of justice and history and moved it further down the Euro-Atlantic path. This success belongs to Albania’s people and civil society who never gave up their demands for change. The United States is committed to helping Albania implement this reform and ensure its success.
And we’ll go to Abbie.
QUESTION: Okay. Do you have any information about reports of a shooting at a mall in Munich?
MS TRUDEAU: I do, and thanks for the question. We’ve seen these initial reports. I think we all know this story is just breaking now. So, again, we’ve seen initial reports about a shooting at a shopping center in Munich, Germany. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families. We’re following the situation closely here at the Department and we’re working with local authorities to determine if any U.S. citizens have been impacted. For details on this as the situation continues to unfold, we’re going to refer you to German authorities. Thanks.
QUESTION: Do you – so you have no further information about anyone injured at --
MS TRUDEAU: At this time I’m going to refer you to German authorities. I think we’re all aware that this situation continues to unfold. It would be premature for me to say anything else.
Great. Oren.
QUESTION: Yeah. Turkey’s ambassador said that Turkey will work with this joint State Department-Department of Justice team on the extradition request. What’s the next steps in this – the extradition request for Mr. Gulen?
MS TRUDEAU: Okay. So we spoke about this quite a lot yesterday and we’ve spoken about it, I think, in fact, all week. We’ve been clear the United States would be willing to provide assistance to Turkish authorities conducting their investigation in this coup attempt. U.S. Government officials in the United States and in Turkey, including representatives from the Department of Justice, have offered to consult with the Government of Turkey on this matter, including hosting their Turkish counterparts either here in Washington or traveling to Ankara for consultations. Beyond that, I just have nothing to add.
QUESTION: In terms of the assistance that the U.S. Government will provide, what exact type – what exactly is that assistance going to be? I think they said that it’s not going to be – help with the investigation. What exactly are they going to provide?
MS TRUDEAU: At this stage, I just don’t have anything more to add on the granularity on that. We remain in close touch with our Turkish allies, our friends, our partners on this. The extradition process, as we’ve talked about extensively from here, is a legal process. It’s governed by our extradition treaty, so it’s a very formal, very technical process on that. But in terms of the cooperation, the offer is there.
Great. Laurie.
QUESTION: It seems the State Department did a great job hosting all those international conferences on Iraq.
MS TRUDEAU: Thank you. We appreciate it. It was a good team.
QUESTION: No, terrific, and I was very pleased to see the Kurdish – KRG representative was there as well.
MS TRUDEAU: She was.
QUESTION: And that was terrific. And you even raised more money – somewhat more money.
MS TRUDEAU: Over $2.1 billion for Iraq.
QUESTION: And you said, if I recall correctly, 2 billion was the goal. So you raised more than your goal?
MS TRUDEAU: That’s correct.
QUESTION: So I have a question for the next phase.
MS TRUDEAU: Yeah.
QUESTION: Because the Iraqi Government’s a – well, it ranks 161 out of 168 countries for corruption in Transparency International’s index, and it’s not known particularly for its honest government. What mechanisms are in place to make sure that this money is spent correctly, and since the Kurdistan region hosts two-thirds of the displaced persons and the refugees from the war with Daesh, to ensure that the Kurdistan region gets its fair share of the – this humanitarian aid?
MS TRUDEAU: Well, I’d start off by saying that the United States is grateful for each of the countries and organizations who were represented at the conference. As you know, this was a tremendous success, so thanks for recognizing that. These countries and organizations who participated are demonstrating important leadership, and they’re making it possible for Iraqi citizens displaced by Daesh to return – to choose to return – to their homes, to receive the services they need in order to rebuild their community.
Speaking specifically about the money, because I do want to discuss that a little, pledges from these international donors will go to four critical need areas in Iraq: humanitarian assistance, de-mining, the UNDP Funding Facility for Immediate Stabilization, and the Funding Facility for Expanded Stabilization. The latter, it’s my understanding, functions as a bridging effort between the Iraqi Government and the coalition in areas liberated by Daesh.
In terms of the Iraqi Government’s work on this, our partnership with the Iraqi Government is deep and it’s strong. This is something that we’ve spoken frequently about in our support of the government as they seek to reform their own efforts in doing this, so it’s something that we’re very closely invested in.
In your question on what money is going where, the conference just wrapped up, so I’m not going to get ahead of that. What we will say, which we have always said, is that funding and the support will go through Baghdad, but we are very aware of the impact that certain areas of the country have experienced at the hands of Daesh.
QUESTION: And doubtless you have in mind measures to make sure that Baghdad spends the money appropriately and it doesn’t go into people’s pockets?
MS TRUDEAU: So that’s one of the conversations that we continue to have with U.S. aid regardless of where it goes in the world.
Great. Tejinder.
QUESTION: Yeah. So on – you used the word “pledges.” At most of these conferences there are pledges. I remember Haiti, for example. And how much money and when is it going to come and where is it going to come? Who is going to be the collector?
MS TRUDEAU: Mm-hmm. So we’re still tallying the amount, so the comprehensive list of pledges from yesterday’s conference is still evolving. It’s my understanding there’s a number of countries who are still making announcements, so I’m not going to give you a total there. We anticipate, actually, more funds will come in. However, as of right now, 26 donors pledged contributions totaling more than 590 million for urgent humanitarian assistance. Those funds will support the needs as identified in the UN’s 2016 Humanitarian Response Plan. Fourteen nations announced new funding – which gets to your question – for critical stabilization programming in Iraq, pledging more than 350 million. An even larger number of countries were able to make a combined pledge of an additional 125 million for UNDP’s funding facility, which we spoke about.
What each country does in terms of its budget or its funding mechanisms – we let each country speak to itself. But Secretary Kerry spoke about the U.S. funding yesterday and said it would be immediate.
QUESTION: I’m trying to understand that the U.S. hosted the conference.
MS TRUDEAU: We did. We were the --
QUESTION: The pledges were made. Now, who is going to – is it going to make sure that the pledges are converted into checks or a transfer of money?
MS TRUDEAU: So this is – this would be the coalition, the group --
QUESTION: Okay.
MS TRUDEAU: -- of individuals who actually participated in the conference. As you know, we had an extremely robust group of co-hosts who also have assumed a leadership position in that as well.
QUESTION: Thank you.
QUESTION: You just talk about the team that will work on the extradition --
MS TRUDEAU: We are skipping all over the place today. Go ahead.
QUESTION: Sorry, I should have told you.
MS TRUDEAU: No, it’s fine. I should have gone to --
QUESTION: Going back to Turkey, we know that the U.S. also offered your help for the investigation of the coup attempt. Have you been – received any kind of response?
MS TRUDEAU: I have no update on that. I know we spoke about it yesterday, but I don’t have any new information on that.
QUESTION: Okay. Yesterday, John Kirby stated that U.S. is concerned about what’s going on since the coup – failed coup attempt last week about the administration – Turkish administration actions. Today, they are – new websites are closed down and a few more journalists detained. I was wondering if you have been able to communicated your concerns with the Turkish Government. And do you have any update on this?
MS TRUDEAU: Well, what I would point you to is what President Obama himself said today, which starts from the premise that Turkey is our friend, our ally, it’s our partner in one of the toughest fights that the world is facing now. We’ve discussed this many times. I don’t have anything to add to what the President said. I think his comments trump everything.
Great. Tejinder.
QUESTION: Going back to President Obama, he has commented on last night’s speech of Republican nominee, saying that whatever he’s drumming up, that the world is – U.S. is collapsing, that we’re – so the U.S. part I’m leaving out. What is the observation from this department? Because you deal with the world, so do – what do you feel that – about his comments? Like, you cannot say you can’t – because you see the President has also – has commented. He’s commented on domestic point of view, he’s commented on foreign. But you deal with the U.S. policies with all the countries. What are you hearing? What are you getting so --
MS TRUDEAU: So, I – a couple things on that. I’m not going to speak to political rhetoric, Tejinder. We won’t from this podium.
QUESTION: Okay, okay.
MS TRUDEAU: Okay. I would point you to the President’s comments. The President of the United States, more than anyone else in this Administration, deals with the world. So I would frame it in the way.
But I would also say of course we track the same issues you do – you on that side of the podium, us on this side of the podium. So I think we’ll leave the President’s comments where they stood.
QUESTION: Do you agree that – because he gets his feedback from this department.
MS TRUDEAU: I think the President gets his feedback from a lot of different places, Tejinder.
QUESTION: Yeah, but this is one of the major policy with all the embassies and --
MS TRUDEAU: Yeah, I’m not going to characterize sort of developments in the world.
QUESTION: Okay.
MS TRUDEAU: I think that would be a pretty broad reach.
QUESTION: Okay.
MS TRUDEAU: Abbe.
QUESTION: New topic.
MS TRUDEAU: Of course.
QUESTION: Have you received from the FBI the first initial set of documents from Hillary Clinton’s emails?
MS TRUDEAU: So thank you for the question. I’ll start off and just note something from the top. The department takes its record management and Freedom of Information Act responsibilities seriously. Just as we appropriately process the material turned over to the department by former Secretary Clinton, we will appropriately and with due diligence process any additional material we receive from the FBI to identify work-related agency records and make them available to the public consistent with our legal obligations.
The FBI provided the department with an initial set of material on Thursday. We’re going to review the material to identify those that are agency records. As we have not yet reviewed the material, we’re not going to speculate further about their scope or content, nor do we have any details to offer on how or when any such agency records will be released.
QUESTION: Do you have any update on the state of the internal investigation into possible mishandling of classified information?
MS TRUDEAU: No, I think I updated that – it feels like a long time ago, but I only think it was last week. I have no update from that.
Great. Great, guys. Thanks so much. Have a good weekend.
(The briefing was concluded at 2:14 p.m.)
DPB # 129
