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Josh Ernest Press Briefing of Obama Endorsement of Clinton. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired June 09, 2016 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:30:00] JOSH ERNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I don't think anybody has the expectation that Senator Sanders was going to deviate from that plan. At the same time, to go back to your first question, the president's had the opportunity to speak to Senator Sanders three times in the last week and as a result of those conversations, I think it's fair to say that Senator Sanders was not surprised by today's announcement. OK?

Roberta?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Did the president show the Sanders the video?

ERNEST: Again, I'm not going to get into the details of their interactions but I assure that Senator Sanders was not surprised. Look. He began his statement in the White House today by saying that President Obama and Vice President Biden made a commitment to him early in the process that they would not put their thumb on the scale and Senator Sanders himself said how much he appreciated that President Obama and Vice President Biden kept that promise.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: When's the video recorded? Why was it decided that the endorsement would be done through video rather than having an event or some kind of other alternative?

ERNEST: The video was recorded on Tuesday. And I think Secretary Clinton's campaign already announced there will be an event and the president is very much looking to traveling to Green Bay, Wisconsin, with Secretary Clinton, to appear with her in person at a campaign event and build support for the campaign in state of Wisconsin, a state that President Obama won twice.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And does he have other plans next week to do campaign related events for Secretary Clinton?

ERNEST: Only campaign event on the schedule at this point. But I would anticipate that it's only the first of many campaign events between now and November.

Michelle?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You mentioned things that the president would like to see, working together on the issues. Did Sanders also have things that he wanted to see from the White House or did he have any particular asks? ERNEST: I'll let Senator Sanders characterize the points he raised in

their meeting but look I think that he did that again speaking to you all a couple of hours ago and quite direct to the president for the promise not to weigh in and give Democratic voters across the country the opportunity to make the decision of who to represent our party in the general election and general Sanders I think again as I -- when I spoke to the president briefly about the conversation with Senator Sanders, I think both men are pretty enthusiastic about the opportunity that lies ahead, not just in advance of the general election but over the course of a generation. To ensure that the future of the Democratic Party looks as diverse and vibrant and inclusive as our country is.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Did the president ask Sanders to step out of the race? Did he want him to step out before the D.C. Primaries?

ERNEST: Listen. As I mentioned yesterday when I spoke to a group of you, Senator Sanders more than earned the right to make his own decision on his own time frame about the future of his campaign and the president certainly respects the important work that Senator Sanders has done on the campaign trail. He certainly respects the strong support that he's built in all 50 states. And that means that Senator Sanders gets to decide when -- what the future of his campaign looks like. Again, when Senator Sanders spoke to you after meeting with the president, Senator Sanders reiterated how critically important it is for President Obama to be succeed by a president who shares our values and is committed to building on the progress the country has made under President Obama's leadership. That certainly was part of the conversation in the Oval Office and Senator Sanders speaking to all of you made clear it was a priority.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What was the point and the outcome of this meeting? What was decided between the two of them?

ERNEST: I think the point was for President Obama and Senator Sanders to continue the conversation that dates back to January or February whenever it was Senator Sanders was here much earlier in the campaign and so, again, I don't think there's any expectation either on the part of Senator Sanders or President Obama that Senator Sanders was going to make some abrupt change into -- abrupt change to his campaign strategy which at this point has included competing in the D.C. primary that's scheduled for Tuesday.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Why are on they on Twitter and why come from Clinton instead of the president?

ERNEST: I think, obviously, it makes -- I think there's some intuitive decisions about why it's important to give Secretary Clinton the opportunity to make this news. Obviously, you know, I saw some comments of her campaign that she was deeply appreciative of the president's endorsement and the president was pleased to have the opportunity to share it but it's certainly the decision for Secretary Clinton and her team to make about how best to use this material to advance her campaign.

[14:35:22] UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You see speaking of Twitter, you see a lot of Sanders supporters now putting out, you know, their continued support of Sanders, many of them saying it's Bernie or nobody. Won't be Clinton. What do you think is the president's best approach now that he is going to be on the trail in a matter of days to winning over those people?

ERNEST: Well, listen, first of all, high school Secretary Clinton's responsibility to win over those people. I'm confident she already will have a forceful case to make about the values she represents and so I think she'll have a strong case to make and that's a case she'll make. President Obama has a lot of credibility with the voters. President Obama fought hard for priority that Senator Sanders is talking about over the course of the campaign and devoted extraordinary amount of time to making sure that wall street doesn't run amuck and trample on middle class families and I can recite you and probably spare of all the things President Obama's done to make sure that taxpayers are not on the hook for bailing out big banks and focused on expanding economic opportunity for the middle class. That's consistent for a message spread that's resonating with voters across the country. So President Obama has a lot of credibility. With those voters and, look, here's the last thing. Senator Sanders obviously has a lot of credibility with those voters and you heard him say to you all how critically important it is that President Obama be succeeded by somebody who shares our values and is dedicated to those progressive priorities so there are any number of people, Secretary Clinton, Senator Sanders and President Obama, who can make a very forceful case to those who were enthusiastic supporters of Senator Sanders in the past. OK?

John?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Josh, you mentioned that the president we obviously know out next week with Secretary Clinton and attempts to be out many other times. How eager is he to get out there on the campaign trail again? Just like one more campaign for him?

ERNEST: The president's very enthusiastic about the opportunity that he will have over the course of the next several months to make a strong case and support of Secretary Clinton. I think that's evident from the comments that President Obama made in Elkhart, Indiana, last week. The stakes in this election are high, particularly if you take a look at the U.S. economy. We have made enormous progress digging out of the ditch. The private sector is what led that recovery but the private sector would not have succeed without the policy decisions that were made in the first couple of months of President Obama's presidency. We have a strong case to make about the wisdom of the decisions of President Obama and the commitment by Secretary Clinton by those principles. But it was evident I think from that video and from his appearance on "The Tonight Show" with Jimmy Fallon, airing tonight at 11:30.

That's a free plug there, Peter, for your network.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Appreciate it.

ERNEST: I think anybody with an opportunity to watch that interview will see the president is quite enthusiastic about this election and about the prospect of being succeed by Secretary Clinton.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: There's credit for bin Laden and that is really his decision alone he said in the past. Right? What role did she have in that --

(CROSSTALK)

ERNEST: I think the point of that video where the President Obama talks about the courage and the compassion and her heart and how her service to the country are critically important to -- were critically important in his decision to endorse her in the campaign and I think she is choosing to s he close to have making difficult divisions that had enormous consequences for the United States and our citizens.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE QUESTION)

ERNEST: She's certainly in the picture where that decision is being executed and she certainly was an important architect of the kind of foreign policy decisions and strategic decisions that President Obama had to make over the first four years of his presidency.

[14:40:14] UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I don't know if you're tracking the Twitter feed up there.

ERNEST: I have not.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: It may not surprise you that Donald Trump tweeted --

ERNEST: I am not surprised.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: "Obama has endorsed Crooked Hillary. He wants four more years of Obama but nobody else does."

ERNEST: Yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Is that what he wants? Four more years of Obama?

ERNEST: Well, no. I think there are a number of occasions where you all have pointed out to me some differences between Secretary Clinton and President Obama. So they do not have -- they do not have the same opinion on every issue but I think, again, just to go back to the video released today, the president said unequivocally he doesn't believe and can't remember somebody more qualified, a candidate more qualified to hold this office and after getting to know her personally working closely with her in the first four years of this administration, and spending more than a year on the campaign trail competing against her, in the 2008 presidential election, the president's had the opportunity to watch Secretary Clinton perform up close and he's seen her tenacity, dedication, her commitment to a set of principles that they share. And that's why the president's quite enthusiastic about her campaign.

Thanks, Josh.

OK? Let's move around.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thanks, Josh.

Can you confirm that the president did vote for Secretary Clinton during the Illinois primary a few months back?

ERNEST: I did not ask the president about which box he checked on his ballot. But I'm not aware that he changed his mind over the course of the primary.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Now that the endorsement is out, I want to sort of revisit a question you were asked about the first lady doing an event on the state of women next week. Can we expect to see her with the first woman nominee sort of make the case for Secretary Clinton on the campaign trail, as well?

ERNEST: Well, listen. That event you were referring to is in the works for months now at the White House. So it is not a campaign event, an official event, critically important to America's women and American families and there are a wide range of issues to success. That includes a conversation that the first lady will have with Oprah Winfrey. So I don't know if it comes up in the context of that conversation. But this is an event that's -- was planned Independent of a consideration of Secretary Clinton's campaign.

That said, I think it's entirely fair for you to interpret President Obama's remarks in the video released today as consistent with the first lady's views of the campaign. The first lady is enthusiastic about Secretary Clinton's campaign and you could certainly interpret that video as a joint endorsement. And at some point, I don't know exactly when that will be, but some point I'm confident that the first lady will have an opportunity to share her own views and her own words about why she believes it's important for Secretary Clinton to succeed President Obama.

You know, I'll just end by reminding you a number of occasions where Mrs. Obama has discussed her deep admiration for Secretary Clinton's public service, her career. She's been a trail blazer. And Mrs. Obama deeply respects what Secretary Clinton has done and the issues that she's fought for over the course of her long career.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: One more. Yesterday, the president at a fund- raiser said he was concerned about the ability for Democrats to do the sort of hard work of the ground game of turning out low income voters like he did in 2008 and 2012. Is that a tacit criticism of the Clinton campaign she has not reached those voters so far?

ERNEST: No, it is not. The president was making a point similar to the point that he made in south Florida at the end of last week talking about how important it is for Democrats to run scared. To not be complacent about what the polls say. The stakes in this election are high and the Republican nominee has certainly defied conventional wisdom in the past and his campaign is one that Democrats should take seriously. And the president certainly intends to devote a lot of time and energy to making sure that voters all across the country, Democrats, Independents and Republicans understand the high stakes and the president will certainly make a strong and clear case for the candidate that he believes is at least as qualified as any other candidate to seek the office of the president in our nation's history.

April?

[14:45:38] UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Josh, a couple of questions. The Sanders campaign or Bernie Sanders has been looking at history when it comes to the unification process. They have looked at 2008 when Hillary Clinton conceded and Barack Obama reached out his hand for unification with Secretary Clinton. For this president, what does the unification process with Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders look like, particularly when it comes to his --

(CROSSTALK)

ERNEST: Well, listen. I think you are making an important point which is that there's some relevant history here. Secretary Clinton was not in such a different situation than the one facing Senator Sanders today. What Secretary Clinton did, and this is well-known history now, is she was justifiably proud of the historic nature of her campaign in 2007 and 2008. She was proud of the strong support she got from voters all across the country. But she also made clear that then-Senator Obama was the best opportunity that our country had to advance the priorities that she had been campaigning on. And again, I think there's a relevant analogy to be drawn between what happened eight years ago and when's happening right now.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: It's a relevant analogy. Can you bring us back to paying for her campaign debt, bring us back to how President Obama worked with Hillary Clinton to get her supporters who were very angry at the time to get them to follow him? What was that piece that made --

(CROSSTALK)

ERNEST: Well, look, I think what's important is to be respectful of those voters and certainly in 2008, President Obama, then-Senator Obama, was deeply respectful of the investment and commitment that had been shown by then-Senator Clinton's supporters and over the course of that summer and fall President Obama and his campaign with the strong support an endorsement of then-Senator Clinton made a powerful case. And I don't think there were too many of those supporters that were converted in a day. But over the course of the day I think the president made a strong case and I think Secretary Clinton is certainly well positioned to do the same thing with regard to Senator Sanders' supporters.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What's the concern in this administration about the Independents that could go to Trump particularly when it comes to issues of trade? Hillary Clinton's trade issues or trade stand and they were for Bernie Sanders and vote for Donald Trump?

ERNEST: Again, as you all have pointed out to me a number of times in this room, all three of the candidates you named have the same position.

On the Trans-Pacific Partnership, it is a different one than President Obama has.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: OK. Lastly, so just -- I'm sorry, one last piece to Tuesday and the video. What time was that video made? Was it after New Jersey or during the day or after California? What time was that video made?

I believe in the day and after a number of news organizations --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thanks, josh. That was in that room, right?

ERNEST: I don't know exactly which room it was. It was a room in the White House residence. This is a --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: There are a lot of rooms.

ERNEST: There are. I don't know which one it was and consistent with the practice that previous presidents have followed when engaged in taping videos for political purposes. This is what President Reagan did and president Bushes did and President Clinton did and what President Obama has done before.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Who pays costs born by the Hillary campaign?

ERNEST: Either the Hillary campaign or the DNC. What I can confirm for you is not filmed at government expense.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Who wrote the script?

ERNEST: I don't know who was involved in writing the script. But again --

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Both camps at the White House and the Hillary campaign or the DNC?

ERNEST: Some combination I think is the best way to describe it.

[14:50:07] UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You have always said in the past that when it comes to the president's endorsement since the candidate makes the decision about the timing, you hesitation about confirming that the president may have given a heads up to Senator Sanders and the meeting, I kind of want to nail it down, did Hillary Clinton campaign decide when that went up or did you guys decide when that went up?

ERNEST: I don't recall having said that the candidates themselves obviously, President Obama made a very purposeful decision over the course of this campaign to not weigh in and to give Democratic voters across the country the opportunity to determine who should represent our party in the general election so the timing of this decision was -- it was one of those driven by the president. But, obviously, as I noted yesterday, the White House has had open line, an open line of communication with each campaign. And so, in order to make sure that Senator Sanders wasn't surprised, it required President Obama to communicate with Senator Sanders. In order to make sure that Secretary Clinton's campaign in a position to release the video, we obviously had to communicate with them, as well.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Lastly, where do you see voters? Right? What should -- they just stay home? Is that part of the message here that the decision's been made now. The race is over. Their votes don't matter as much as California and New Jersey or other states.

ERNEST: No. That's not how I would describe it. I think the president is somebody who -- who has articulated his view that people should be engaged in the political process, people should be engaged in the public debate. Certainly an important way to do that is participate in elections. There are delegates up for election to the Democratic convention and something that's worth voting on. That would potentially put district voters in a position to have more influence on the process than they do now. OK?

James?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Josh, thank you. A different subject.

ERNEST: Sure.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Does the president have confidence in Debbie Wassermann Schultz to maintain her position?

ERNEST: The president was in south Florida at the end of last week and talked about the service as the chair of the Democratic National Committee. Look, the president appointed her to be the chair of the DNC first term and part of the legacy at the DNC is having built a Democratic campaign apparatus that succeed in re-electing the first African-American president of the United States and the first since Eisenhower elected and re-elected with more then 50 percent of the vote and certainly the DNC and the structure that was built and financed through Debbie Wassermann Schultz's efforts could take some credit for that, she should. And he will have hers and announced the support of her campaign and appreciative of all the important work she's done at the DNC.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Was there ever any point where the president ever considered endorsing anyone other than Hillary Clinton?

ERNEST: As I alluded, I'm not aware the president was ever changed hi mind in the course of the Democratic primary.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You mentioned earlier that President Obama carried Wisconsin twice in a row. Why shouldn't we interpret the president's decision to campaign there with Hillary Clinton as his first outing as a sign of weakness on the part of the Democratic ticket since they're going to be campaigning in a state whereby all accounts they should be able to retain that? @: The president to compete for Wisconsin in 2008 and 2012. Hard-

fought elections and both times he came out on top so I would anticipate a similar outcome in 2016.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Two more things really quickly. You stated at the podium just now you believe there's a very strong case to be made for the president's economic stewardship over the course of the last seven and a half years. Senator Sanders in his statement in the White House driveway today painted a very different picture. Senator Sanders said that the United States right now is drifted toward oligarchy. Does the president agree with that?

[14:55:03] ERNEST: I think the president agrees that's more work to be done to address increasing inequality in this country.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Drifting to oligarchy.

ERNEST: Those are Senator Sanders' words.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I'm asking if you agree.

ERNEST: The president agrees there's more to be done to fight income inequality in this country and the president put forward ideas. Unfortunately many blocked by Republicans in Congress. We could start by raising the minimum wage. I think the president is proud and justifiably so of the remarkable progress of the president and not satisfied. There's a lot more important work to be done and why he believes it's so important to be seceded by somebody who wants to build on the progress we have made and not tear it down.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Presumably, if you or the president agrees it's drifting to oligarchy, you would have said in response to my question?

ERNEST: I guess those are Senator Sanders' words, and I'm using my own to convey our viewpoint.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The president used a public view or another to comment on the FBI investigation into Mrs. Clinton and her e-mail conduct. At one point he stated that as far as he could see there was no real damage done to national security. You yourself from this podium suggesting the investigation wasn't trending toward any focus on police on herself. I wonder if you could address for us on the potential conflict of interest that might interest when the head of the executive branch is openly saying I want this woman to succeed me in the Oval Office and you have other employees of the executive branch working this case who now just heard how the president wants to see the case resolved. Isn't there some conflict there?

ERNEST: James, there is not. And you noted a couple of instances in which the president had been asked about the FBI investigation. And in each of those answers, that investigation is one that is being conducted Independent of any political interference. That is a principle to which the president is resolutely committed. You mentioned my comments. My comments were actually also in response to a question. And were a reference to a published reports of comments from FBI officials that -- about the direction of the investigation. But look. The reason that the president feels confident that he can go out and make this endorsement and record a video in which he describes his strong support of Secretary Clinton's campaign is that he knows the people who are conducting the investigation aren't going to be swayed by any sort of political interference. Not swayed by political forces. That they know that the investigation should be guided by the facts and that they should follow the evidence where it leads. And the president has complete confidence that that's exactly what they'll do.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: So when a career prosecutor or a FBI agent when's working on the Clinton investigation hears this president speak openly of how he wants Hillary Clinton to succeed him, you don't think that that career prosecutor or that FBI agent takes that as some indication of how the president wants to see this case resolved?

ERNEST: No. I think that those career prosecutors understand that they have an I don't know to do and that job that they're supposed to do which is to follow the facts, to pursue the evidence, to a logical conclusion, that that is a I don't know that they are responsible for doing without any sort of political interference and the president expects them to do this job. This is the reason we ask career federal prosecutors to take the lead on those kinds of matters. They're the ones that conduct the investigations. They don't have career jobs. That's their responsibility and that's why the president discussing this issue at each stage has reiterated his commitment to this principle. That any criminal investigation should be conducted in an independent without any political interference and that people should be treated the same way before the law, regardless of their political influence and political party, regardless of the political stature, and regardless of what political figure endorsed them.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Has President Obama ever discussed the Department Justice Department investigation with Mrs. Clinton?

ERNEST: He has not. He has not.

Margaret?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: To what extent --

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We are going to continue to monitor the josh earnest White House briefing, providing background information on the major news of the day, the president of the United States, President Obama, formally endorsing Hillary Clinton for president of the United States. A very enthusiastic video released by the Hillary Clinton campaign. The president said, in order, I don't think there's ever been someone so qualified to hold this office. The president insisting that Hillary Clinton is best qualified to serve as the next president of the United States.

On Tuesday, he taped a video, a video that --