Return to Transcripts main page

Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Continuation of Obama/Rousseff Media Event. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired June 30, 2015 - 12:30   ET

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

(Legal View Preempted by Obama/Rousseff media event)

DILMA ROUSSEFF, PRESIDENT OF BRAZIL: As part of that program, the Science Without Borders Program, an important highlight is the fact that the U.S. has received the biggest number of Brazilian students. The U.S. has become the main destination of Brazilian students who are beneficiaries of the Science Without Borders program.

May I thank President Obama for having welcomed such a substantial wave of Brazilian grantees I have often said time and again to President Obama that it is our ambitious to change our cooperation in innovation into one of the central topics on our agenda.

We also want to make progress in our imaging cooperation, particularly between the linkages between the Argonne National Laboratory and the Brazilian Research Center in imaging and materials, CNPEM.

Tomorrow, I will be in California, and while in California, I intend to hold a very instigating meeting with information technology, biotechnology and air and space companies.

I'd also like to thank President Obama because we have come to a decision to facilitate entry of frequent travelers from Brazil into the United States as part of the global entry program.

We have also signed a very important agreement for the Brazilian population, living and working in the United States. I'm talking about a Social Security agreement that will allow the Brazilians working in Brasilia to -- in -- in the U.S. to be equally covered under the Social Security agreement.

We also addressed a wide array of different initiatives. I'd like to essentially highlight the following initiatives: The decision by Brazil to join the Global Health Security Initiative, GHSI.

I think it is also very important to underscore that we have a wide array of joint initiatives that can be developed and put in place in third-party countries, or triangular cooperation, particularly for the purpose of fuel production.

In conclusion, may I refer to the importance for Latin America of the recent decision made by President Obama and by President Raul Castro, even with the partnership with Pope Francis to the effect of opening up relations with -- or resuming relations with Cuba, a very decisive milestone and point in time in U.S. relations with Latin America. It is really about the -- putting an end to the last lingering vestiges of the Cold War, and it ultimately elevates the level of the relations between the U.S. and the entire region.

May I acknowledge the importance of that gesture to all of Latin America and also to world peace at large. It is an important example of relations to be followed.

In conclusion, may I reiterate my invitation -- my invitation for President Obama to come to Brazil for the 2016 Olympics. I count on you.

Of course, the invitation is extensive to the vice president, but I understand both of them are not able to be at the same time at the same place abroad, but same is true for Brazil.

But anyway, President Obama has a standing invitation to come to the 2016 Olympics in Rio in Brazil. And while in Brazil, he will be able to wear his green-and-yellow jersey, or garment, which says "Brasil" and also Obama on the chest, and I'm sure you will be applauded, President Obama, if you do so.

And I also believe that this trip to the United States stands as a relaunch of our bilateral relations. So having said that, once again, may I thank President Obama and the U.S. people for the warm reception, for the welcome, and may I say that we have indeed taken one step ahead in our bilateral relations.

Thank you very much.

OBAMA: All right, we're going to take a few questions. I'm going to start with Jim Coonan (ph), who I understand announced his retirement today. (OFF-MIKE) while you're ahead.

Well, we're -- we're going to miss you, but you're going to be here for a couple weeks, right? All right. Congratulations. Appreciate it.

QUESTION: Sir, you're on the cusp of entering into a nuclear agreement with -- with Iran, but there's still a number of unresolved issues with Tehran, in particular the fates of Americans like (inaudible) Hekmati, Saeed Abedini, Robert Levinson.

You and your administration say you're continuing to raise the imprisonment and the disappearance of these individuals, these Americans. But still you will sign, likely, an agreement with Tehran and those issues will remain unresolved.

What do you say to the -- to the families about how you will deal with their loved ones?

And I guess the bottom line is do you find the Iranian leadership trustworthy?

And Madame President, welcome to the U.S. You canceled a previous trip to the United States following the Snowden revelations of -- Do you need a translation? -- of NSA spying.

OBAMA: A little louder.

QUESTION: A little louder? Certainly.

You canceled a previous trip to the United States following the revelations of -- by Edward Snowden of NSA spying on you.

Are you still troubled by those revelations?

And have you received assurances and are you satisfied with the answers you have received from the administration?

Thank you.

OBAMA: Well, first of all, Jim, with respect to U.S. citizens, U.S. persons who were held in Iran, this is something that we continue to push hard on, irrespective of the nuclear deal. It's a top priority for us to make sure that our people are treated fairly.

And on the face of it, in the case of these individuals who've been held, they have not been and they are not being afforded the basic due process and legal rights that we afford visitors to our country. So we're deeply concerned about it. We spend a lot of time pushing on it and we will continue to do so.

And there's no lessening of the sense of urgency. So when I talk to the families, we remind them of the fact that that is a mission that will continue and has been worked on consistently throughout their captivity.

With respect to the larger issue of whether I trust the Iranian regime, as I've said before, there are deep-seated disagreements and divisions between the United States and Iran. And those aren't going to go away overnight. The goal of the nuclear negotiations is not to rely on trust but to set up a verifiable mechanism where we are cutting off the pathways for Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.

And John Kerry right now is there, along with Secretary of Energy Moniz, who's one of the top nuclear physicists in the world. They are deeply engaged in negotiations. My hope is that they can achieve an agreement, but my instructions to them have been extremely clear.

The framework agreement that was established at Lausanne is one that, if implemented effectively and codified properly, would, in fact, achieve my goal, which is Iran not obtaining a nuclear weapon.

There has been a lot of talk on the other side from the Iranian negotiators about whether, in fact, they can abide by some of the terms that came up in Lausanne. If they cannot, that's going to be a problem because I've said from the start, I will walk away from the negotiations if, in fact it's a bad deal.

If we can't provide assurances that the pathways for Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon are closed and if we can't verify that, if the inspections regime, verifications regime, is inadequate then we're not going to get a deal and we've been very clear to the Iranian government about that.

And the good news is, is that our P5+1 partners in these negotiations feel exactly the same way. So you know, there's still some hard negotiations to take place but ultimately this is going to be up to the Iranians to determine whether or not they meet the requirements that the international community has set forth to be able to fairly and accurately and consistently assess whether or not they have foreclosed the possibility of obtaining a nuclear weapon.

And given past behavior on the part of Iran, that can't simply be a declaration by Iran and a few inspectors wandering around every once in a while. That's going to have to be a serious, rigorous verification mechanism. And that, I think, is going to be the test as to whether we get a deal or not.

ROUSSEFF (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Yes, it is true. I did cancel my previous trip to the U.S. at that point in time. Since then, some things have changed. And the change is particularly due to the fact that President Obama and the U.S. government have stated on several occasions that they would no longer engage in intrusive acts of spying on friendly countries. I believe President Obama.

And furthermore, he has told me that, you know, if he needed -- should he ever need non-public information about Brazil, he would just pick up the phone and call me. So yes, I am certain that the conditions today have become very different.

At this point -- at this point, I would like to call upon journalist Sandra Cotinya (ph) with the Global News Network.

(CROSSTALK)

OBAMA: You know, if Brazil is playing somebody else, then maybe I'll...

QUESTION: Yes, sure.

OBAMA: If they're playing the United States, I'm sorry.

QUESTION: No, no, no -- not against the United States.

OK, Mr. President, you were talking about a new relationship based on trust. And President Dilma just mentioned when Brazil canceled this trip (inaudible) a matter of trust. And Brazil is also in the middle of a very political and economical crisis.

Can you trust (inaudible) this moment to build this new (inaudible)?

OBAMA: Well, my relation -- oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead.

QUESTION: I'm sorry.

(inaudible) Brazil's severe (inaudible)...

QUESTION (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Madam President, Brazil views itself as a global (inaudible) leader in the world scene, and the U.S. sees Brazil as a regional player. How do you reconcile or strike a balance between those two visions?

OBAMA: Well, I'm actually going to answer in part the question you just asked the president. We view Brazil not as a regional power, but as a global power. If you think about the preeminent economic forum for coordinating between major economies, the G-20, Brazil is a major voice in that.

The negotiations that are going to be taking place in Paris around climate change can only succeed with Brazil as a key leader. And the announcements that have been made today about their goals on renewable energy is indicative of Brazil's leadership.

You know, Brazil is a major global player. And I told President Dilma last night that, you know, the United States, as powerful as we are and as interested as we are in solving a whole range of international issues, recognizes we can't do it alone. On issues like global health, we're not going to succeed unless we're working with Brazil and other major countries so that we can identify where there might be the outbreak of a disease, how we prevent it from turning into a pandemic.

If we want to be successful on climate change, on countering terrorism, on making sure that we are reducing extreme poverty around the world, all the major countries have to be involved in that process. And Brazil we consider to be an absolutely indispensable partner in these efforts.

With respect to trust, I will say that, you know, President Rousseff and I have had an excellent relationship since she took office. I trust her completely. She's always been very candid and frank with me about the interests of the Brazilian people and how we can work together. She's delivered on what she's promised.

When we met in Panama, we discussed, for example, the defense cooperation agreements that were just mentioned. She got those through Congress. As somebody who knows something about Congresses, that -- I know that's never easy. So for her to use political capital in order to get that done, I think is indicative of the kind of reliable partner that -- that she is.

And so we believe that this -- this meeting that we've had this week builds on a series of steps that have continued to deepen cooperation between our two countries.

There's still going to be differences occasionally, but that's true with every one of our close friends and allies. You know, no -- no country's going to have identical interests. There will always be some frictions, but our common values, the strong people-to-people relations that we have, the fact that we are the -- the largest countries in the hemisphere with similar histories, I think all that means that we should be very strong partners for years to come.

ROUSSEFF (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Well, I believe that part of my answer was given by President Obama, and I'd like to thank him for that.

But I'd like to still make the following remark. Countries do go through crises and difficulties. It's just natural. And the fact that countries experience difficulties and/or crises should not entail a lesser role for any country, especially because a country can only said to be a great country if it is able to successfully overcome difficulties. That applies to countries, to people. It applies to everything in life, one's braveness to overcome difficulties, challenges and face up to them and still sustain and uphold a commitment towards one's people and country.

It also applies to relations with countries such as the U.S. and the rest of the world. These are essential relations.

I think Brazil and the just a great deal in common. We are two countries that have a hallmark in our history, something that we actually had to fight to overcome. I'm talking about the blemish of slavery. We have large black populations in our two countries. We are countries marked by very significant ethnic and multicultural variety in our population makeup, and that is a major asset, a wonderful heritage in our population. The same is true for the U.S.

We are also two strong democracies. Brazil, as is the case of the United States. I even congratulated President Obama for having overcome the crisis that struck this country back in 2008 and 2009.

Likewise, Brazil will overcome the effects of the current crisis that strikes Brazil, and we will do so very sure-footedly, very decisively with great -- a great sense of commitment.

More than that, we will not only resume growth, but we will uphold and ensure continuity of all of the gains and achievements that we have established in the past 12 years, in the course of the past 12 years, and we will make sure these gains multiply into the future.

We truly want to build a predominantly middle-class country. I that think the efforts to reduce inequality are a major gain, and we must fight to preserve those gains.

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President.

I hope you don't mind if I ask a multi-part question, the first one being on Greece. I would be remiss if I didn't ask about the prospect of a financial crisis in Europe.

And just in -- in layman's terms, in language that Americans can understand, I just want to ask simply, is a financial crisis in Greece capable of bringing down the global economy?

And separately, sir, I -- I wanted to ask you about what some people are calling your best week ever last week. You had two Supreme Court decisions supportive of the Affordable Care Act and of gay rights. You also delivered a speech down in -- in Charleston that was pretty warmly received.

It seems that you've built up some political capital for the remaining months of your presidency. I'm curious how you want to use it. What hard things do you want to tackle at this point. And President Rousseff, if I may ask you, you extended an invitation

to the president to join you at the Olympics in Rio next year. The terrorist group ISIS has shown a willingness and capacity to carry out terrorist attacks around the world.

What preparations are you making to make sure that the Olympic Games are safe and are you concerned about that happening in Rio?

Thank you very much, Madam President.

OBAMA: On Greece: this is a situation that we've been monitoring throughout the year. As I think most people are aware, there has been an ongoing crisis in Greece dating back to 2009, 2010 and it's something that I've been deeply involved with periodically, working with our European partners.

It is an issue of substantial concern. It is an issue primarily of concern to Europe. Essentially what you have here is a country that is -- has gone through some very difficult economic times, needs to find a path towards growth and a path to stay in the Eurozone.

And what we've been encouraging both the Greek government and our European partners to do is to continue to negotiate and find a pathway towards a resolution.

It is also important for us to make sure that we plan for any contingency and that we work with the European Central Bank and other international and -- institutions to make sure that some of the bumps that may occur in the financial markets and that have already occurred are smoothed out.

In layman's terms, for the American people, this is not something that we believe will have a major shock to the system, but obviously it's very painful for the Greek people and it can have a significant effect on growth rates in Europe.

And if Europe's not growing the way it needs to grow, that has an impact on us; it has an impact on Brazil. Those are major export markets and that can have a dampening effect on the entire world economy. So it's something that we are monitoring. It's something that we spend a lot of time on.

Jack Lew has been on the phone fairly consistently over the last several months. I've spoken to my European counterparts, encouraging them to find a -- find a path towards a resolution. So it's something that we take seriously but it's not something that I think should prompt overreactions.

And so far I think the markets have properly factored in the risks involved.

In terms of my best week, now my best week, I will tell you, was marrying Michelle. That was a really good week. Malia and Sasha being born, excellent weeks.

QUESTION: Good you remember those (ph). OBAMA: Yes. There was a game where I scored 27 points.

(LAUGHTER)

That was a pretty good week.

I've had some good weeks in my life, I will tell you. And I'm blessed to have had those. I think last week was gratifying because, number one, we were able to get a package of trade legislation that I believe will serve the American people, American workers and American businesses well, going into the future. It gives us the opportunity to negotiate high standards agreements that have enforceable labor and environmental provisions.

It was a tough fight because, you know, there were a lot of folks in my own party who viewed this as accelerating some of the damaging or frightening trends around globalization that have taken place over the last several decades.

My argument to them has consistently been that we're not going to stop globalization. We have to shape it in a way that helps people. And that these are tools that are going to help us do that. But being able to get that done was very important.

The Affordable Care Act, as I've said before, the results I think speak for themselves. We have the lowest uninsured rate that we have since we started keeping records. It's worked better, cost less than even supporters anticipated. And if we can get some governors that have been holding out and resisting expanding Medicaid, primarily for political reasons, to think about what they can do for their citizens who don't have health insurance, but could get it very easily if state governments acted, then we could see even more improvement over time.

My remarks in Charleston were heartfelt. It wasn't a celebration. It was I think a reflection on the consistent challenge of race in this country and how we can find a path towards a better way. And I was gratified to see not only the incredible response of the families who have been affected by this tragedy, but by the response of people like Governor Haley in how they viewed the issue of the confederate flag.

As I said on Friday, I think -- it doesn't solve all our problems, but what it does is signify a sense of empathy and recognition that I think is always the start of progress.

So in -- in many ways, last week was simply a culmination of a lot of work that we've been doing since I came into office. How am I going to spend whatever political capital that I've built up? You know, the list is long and my instructions to my team and my instructions to myself have always been that we are going to squeeze every last ounce of progress that we can make when I have the privilege of -- as long as I have the privilege of holding this office.

We announced overtime rules that I'm going to be talking about more this week. That's going to give a raise to 5 million people potentially in this country who really deserve it. I want to see if we can get bipartisan work done with Congress around rebuilding our infrastructure. Brazil just talked about they're rebuilding of highways and roads and ports and bridges. You know what? We've got the same work to do and we need to put people back to work there.

I am really interested in the possibilities, the prospect of bipartisan legislation around the criminal justice system, something that I think directly speak to some of the themes that I mentioned on Friday. And we've seen some really interesting leadership from some unlikely Republican legislators, very sincerely concerned about making progress there.

I want to keep on making progress on job training and making sure that the idea of two years of free community college starts taking root. And the list is long. And what we're going to do is just keep on hammering away at all the issues that I think are going to have an impact on the American people.

Some of them will be left undone, but we're going to try to make progress on every single one of them. And I've always said in, you know, one of the things I've learned in this presidency is that there are going to be ups and there are going to be downs.

OBAMA: But as long as my focus and my team's focus is on what is going to make a difference in the lives of ordinary Americans -- are we going to give them more opportunity so that if they work hard, they can get ahead; are we going to make this a more inclusive economy, a more inclusive society, a more fair, just society -- if that's our North Star and we keep on tacking in that direction, we're going to make progress. And I feel -- I feel pretty excited about it.