Press Gaggle by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan En Route Berlin, Germany

2:15 P.M. EDT

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Okay.  So, I’m just going to get straight to it.  

As you can see, I have the national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, here to talk to us about the trip but also the latest in the Middle East.

Jake, the floor is yours. 

MR. SULLIVAN:  So, I don’t know if you guys have heard because of the lack of Wi-Fi back here, but the IDF has confirmed the death of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader, and I’ll come to that in just a moment. 

But let me start by laying out what we hope to achieve over the course of the next 24 hours in Berlin.  This is the president’s first visit to Berlin as president, and he did not want his time in office to go by without going to the capital of one of — one of our most important partners and allies. 

Germany is a core Ally in NATO, a core partner in the G7.  They’ve been a core player in the Allied response to Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine.  And the president is looking forward to having the opportunity to talk to the chancellor and other German officials about where we go from here in Ukraine; about developments in the Middle East, in Iran, Lebanon, Gaza, Israel; about how we align our respective approaches on the PRC; about how we align our industrial and innovation strategies; about artificial intelligence and the clean energy transition. 

He will also have the opportunity to meet with the prime minister of the UK and president of France.  The four leaders — Germany, France, UK, U.S. — will sit together to particularly focus on two issues.

One, the war in Ukraine and the pathway ahead, particularly in light of the fact that they’ve all had the opportunity to engage in person with President Zelenskyy over the course of the last few weeks and heard from him about where he sees things going.  So, this is an opportunity to consult on that.

And then, second, to talk about the ongoing and fast-moving developments across the Middle East region.

The president will see President Steinmeier.  He’ll spend one-on-one time with Chancellor Scholz.  He’ll spend time with his delegation — with Chancellor Scholz and his delegation. 

And then, of course, there’ll be this meeting among the four leaders in the afternoon, and there’ll be an opportunity for press statements with the chancellor and the president. 

So, that’s the plan for tomorrow.

Of course, this comes against the backdrop of a pretty significant — very significant day in the Middle East, and that is that Yahya Sinwar has been taken off the battlefield.  This is a murderous terrorist responsible for the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.  He has a lot of blood on his hands — Israeli blood, American blood, Palestinian blood — and the world is better now that he’s gone. 

President Biden has just put out a written statement sharing his thoughts and reactions to the death of Sinwar, and he looks forward to the opportunity soon, perhaps very shortly, to speak to Prime Minister Netanyahu to congratulate the IDF and the brave Israeli soldiers and security professionals who carried out the operation that killed Sinwar but also to talk about the way forward, because Sinwar was a massive obstacle to peace and the day after in Gaza.  And now that that obstacle has been removed, President Biden looks forward to talking to Prime Minister Netanyahu about how we secure the return of the hostages, an end to the war, and a move to the day after in Gaza — a Gaza where Hamas is no longer in power or control. 

So they’ll have the opportunity to have an initial conversation about that, but this truly is an opportunity we need to seize together to bring about a better day for the people of Gaza, the people of Israel, the people of the whole region.  And the United States is committed to doing everything in our power to help contribute to that. 

Last thing I will say is that from shortly after October 7th, President Biden dispatched special operations personnel and intelligence professionals to Israel to work side by side with their Israeli counterparts in the hunt for Hamas leaders, including Sinwar, and it was with American intelligence help that many of these leaders, including Sinwar, were hunted and tracked, were flushed out of their hiding places, and put on the run.  And, ultimately, this is a credit to the IDF for taking out Sinwar over the course of the last hours and days, but we’re proud of the support that the United States has given to the IDF all along the way. 

So, with that, I’d be happy to take your questions.

Q    Jake —

Q    Can you say anything — well, go ahead.  I’m sorry. 

Q    Jake, thanks so much for doing this.  You kind of implied that Sinwar had been an obstacle to hostage release and ceasefire.  How big an obstacle is that?  And does this give you additional hope now of a ceasefire and possibly a hostage release?  How should we process this?

MR. SULLIVAN:  I didn’t just imply it; I stated it explicitly. 

At various points along the way, Sinwar was more interested in causing mayhem and chaos and death than in actually trying to achieve a ceasefire and hostage deal.  And we repeatedly saw moments where it was him, in particular, who stood in the way of making progress towards a ceasefire and hostage deal.  Now, there were other obstacles too along the way, but he was certainly a critical one. 

And, yes, I think his removal from the battlefield does present an opportunity to find a way forward that gets the hostages home, brings the war to an end, brings us to a day after.  That’s something we’re going to have to talk about with our Israeli counterparts.

Of course, there are still other Hamas actors who need to be brought to justice, and there are hostages, including Americans, being held by terrorists.  We’re going to have to deal with all of that, but we believe there is a renewed opportunity right now that we would like to seize.

Yeah.

Q    Do you assess this as being the cutting off of the head of the Hydra, or what — what’s your assessment of Hamas’ capabilities from now on?  Is there going to be a mop up?  And what — what would you recommend the Israelis do?

MR. SULLIVAN:  Sinwar was a critical figure operationally, militarily, and politically for Hamas.  He had, in fact, consolidated control of both the political and military wing under his singular leadership in — in recent weeks and months.  And so, this is a very significant event.

But what exactly it means for the future of Hamas as an organization, it’s early days yet.  We will have to see.

What we do know is that the broad military structure, the battalions of Hamas have been systematically dismantled.  We do know that Hamas does not pose the kind of threat to Israel that it posed on October 7th or anything close to it.  We also know that there are still Hamas terrorists wielding guns and holding hostages and harboring a desire to continue to attack Israel and attack others. 

And so, we’re going to have to sort through all of that.  But this is an incredibly significant blow to Hamas.  It is the removal of someone who, as I said, was unique in the consolidation of the control of the Hamas apparatus under his command.  And now we will have to work to ensure that his death actually does deal the kind of long-term blow to Hamas that all of us would like to see.

Q    Can you give —

Q    Do you get the sense that Netanyahu is done now, that he’s — he’s reached his objectives?  You just laid out the decimation of Hamas — 

MR. SULLIVAN:  No, his critical objective that — has not been reached.  That objective is the return of the hostages, including American hostages.  So, from the United States’ perspective, we now need to work with Israel, with Qatar and Egypt, with others — and this is something we’ll discuss with our European partners as well — to secure the release of those hostages.  We’d like to see that happen.

Q    You referenced U.S. intel.  To what extent did that play a role in this particular operation? 

MR. SULLIVAN:  This operation was an IDF operation.  I’m not here to overclaim or — or try to take credits for something where the credit belongs to them. 

But the Americans — the special operations personnel, the intelligence professionals — they also deserve our thanks for the work that they did alongside the IDF over the course of many months to help create the kind of counterterrorism pressure in Gaza that put a lot of these guys on the run.  And Sinwar was plainly on the run (inaudible).

Q    Earlier this — earlier this week, Secretary Blinken and Secretary Austin sent letters to their counterparts threatening legal action if the humanitari- — humanitarian situation in Gaza doesn’t improve.  Can you give us a sense of what that legal option would be and if there are any deadlines or specific actions that the president will raise with Prime Minister Netanyahu about that today?

MR. SULLIVAN:  The letter speaks for itself.  I think a lot of the headlines were breathless and overblown.  We have had an ongoing dialogue with Israel for months now about improving the humanitarian situation.  We have had previous communications that looked quite similar and that generated positive momentum towards opening crossings and getting more aid in.  We’ve had, actually, constructive back-and-forth with our Israeli counterparts over the last few days in response to our requests, and we expect that we’ll see progress on the ground. 

One thing that has unfolded this week is — is the reopening of some of the crossings that had been closed in the north and trucks going in.  We need to see that sustained and expanded as we go forward, among the other requests in that letter. 

But I’d — and I’d — just the other point I would make here is that it’s — it was a private diplomatic communication.  It was a serious, substantive laydown.  It’s part of our ongoing work and partnership with Israel.  And having it all out there in the open, leaked in the way that it was, I think, was highly unfortunate.  And I’ll leave it at that.

Q    Can you give us a sense of what the president will say in this conversation with Netanyahu?  Will he push for an accelerated timeline for a ceasefire?  Will he say, you

know, kind of, “Now you achieved the main direct- — main objective and we should move forward on — on other things,” or push for humanitarian aid?

MR. SULLIVAN:  I’m going to let the president speak to the prime minister before I preview what he’s going to say in the press on the record, but we’ll try to give you a good sense of both what the president is thinking and what he’s communicating to the prime minister at the appropriate time.

Q    To — to what extent do you think this success with Sinwar might embolden Netanyahu when it comes to retaliating against Iran?  Or do you see them as totally unrelated?  And what are your conversations right now with them in terms of restraint — or whatever you want to call it — when the president has thoughts about what the target should be when they hit back?

MR. SULLIVAN:  We’ve had very constructive communications with the Israelis about how they’re thinking about responding to the attack on October 1st.  Those conversations will continue. 

I can’t speculate as to the psychology of the prime minister based on what happened today.  What I can say is that the logic of deterrence, the logic of a response to a salvo of 200 ballistic missiles — nothing in the Middle East is unrelated, but that is a distinct logic from the killing of Sinwar today.

Q    Jake, going back to the trip.  What message will President Biden give his fellow leaders about America’s place in the world, given the uncertainty around our upcoming election?

MR. SULLIVAN:  Say that again.

Q    What reassurance will President Biden give his fellow leaders about America’s place in the world, given the uncertainty about our upcoming presidential election?

MR. SULLIVAN:  What President Biden can do is what he’s done for four years, which is lay out his vision of America’s place in the world and point the way forward based on what he thinks are in America’s national security interests and in the interests of our close allies. 

Beyond that, he can’t speak for anyone else and doesn’t intend to.

Q    Is there any —

Q    Does this change your calculus on whether Israel can come to the table on a ceasefire by the end of the year?

MR. SULLIVAN:  I’m sorry?

Q    Your calculus on whether a ceasefire could be reached by the end of the year.

MR. SULLIVAN:  I have long since given up on making predictions or drawing timelines.  All I can say is that we see an opportunity now that we want to seize to try to secure the release of the hostages, and we’re going to work at that as rapidly as we possibly can.

Q    Give- — given the situation, would the president reconsider possibly holding a press conference during his time in Berlin?  It would be good to hear from him firsthand on how he thinks about this and the situation in Ukraine. 

MR. SULLIVAN:  I will note for the record there are heads nodding.  (Laughter.)  I’ll also note for the record that that is a really fascinating way to bring the press into the middle of a world historical event.  So — (laughter) — and I’ll leave it at that.

Q    I’ll follow up on that.  The president talks about democracy as being a key part of his administration, of his vision for America that you just referenced.  Why would he not take questions from the press at what was originally going to be a state visit to Germany?  I don’t understand.

MR. SULLIVAN:  It’s fascinating how you guys can — (laughs) — make this the story.

Q    It’s not the story.  It’s just a question. 

MR. SULLVIAN:  I mean, honestly, I think invoking democracy and suggesting that President Biden is somehow insufficiently committed to it because of the structure of his press engagement on one day in Germany is a bit ludicrous. 

Q    I can ask a Germany question.  So, a lot of the moves that President Biden has made both domestically and internationally have been characterized as “Trump-proofing” the — the, you know, U.S. government for a future Trump presidency. 

How do you feel about that characterization?  I’m talking about moves like bringing NATO under — forgive me, it’s too complicated to explain, but you know what I’m talking about. 

So, do you think he’s Trump-proofing?

MR. SULLIVAN:  I — I don’t like characterizations like that because they’re inherently political.

Q    So, what is he doing, then?

MR. SULLIVAN:  What the president is trying to do is to make our commitment to Ukraine sustainable and institutionalized for the long term.  And every other ally agreed that that was the responsible thing to do. 

The la- —

Q    (Inaudible) necessarily reduced U.S. role, is that the idea?

MR. SULLIVAN:  Not at all.  The basic logic was what the president laid out at the Washington Summit this summer, which is the communiqué said Ukraine’s place, Ukraine’s future, is in NATO.  There is work to do to get from here to there, including reforms and security conditions being met. 

So, the question is, how do you build a bridge from where we are now to Ukraine’s eventual membership in NATO?  And the answer to that question was the set of deliverables in Washington, including the institutionalization of the security support apparatus for Ukraine.  That is what we were trying to accomplish, and that’s what we believe we did accomplish.

Q    Jake, on Iran.  Can you confirm and elaborate on reporting that President Biden directed the NSC to warn Iran that any attempt on President Trump’s life would be seen as an act of war?

MR. SULLIVAN:  I will tell you that President Biden has taken this issue with the utmost seriousness.  He asked to be updated on it regularly.  He gives us direction for how to respond to it regularly and in a very serious and consequential way.  We are following his directives and implementing them.  And I’m not going to get into specifics on what that looks like.

Q    Jake, what about these reports that President Trump and President Putin have had seven conversations?  Are you worried about this?  Are you worried about any sort of backdoor conversations President Trump is having with leaders?

MR. SULLIVAN:  I do not know if that’s true or not, but obviously that would raise red flags if it were true. 

Q    Another one on — since you just said Putin.  There’s been reporting in Germany that Chancellor Scholz said he would be open to speaking with President Putin ahead of the G20 if asked — sort of various ways he said it.  Have you guys talked about this?  Has he told President Biden about this?  Do you think this would be a good idea to do a leader-level conversation with President Putin at this time?

MR. SULLIVAN:  That has not come up between the chancellor and the president.  You know, I was just in Germany at the end of last week with my German counterpart.  That — the question of a call to Putin didn’t come up.  So, I think that’s a question better put to the chancellor. 

Q    The official who briefed us yesterday about the Germany trip on the — on the phone mentioned that the Ramstein meeting would be rescheduled.  Does that mean the president will be going back to Ramstein at some point, or what — what did that mean?

MR. SULLIVAN:  We will hold a leaders-level Ramstein meeting virtually in November.

Q    One more.  On the frozen assets deal — the Russian frozen assets.  What’s the progress on that there?  I assume this comes up in the conversations.  Is there a plan B if the EU doesn’t figure out a sanctions regime?

MR. SULLIVAN:  I’m feeling very good about the progress that we’ve made on the G7 commitment to mobilize $50 billion from the proceeds of the Russian sovereign assets by the end of the year.  We intend to meet that commitment, and we intend to make a contribution — the United States.  The EU, obviously, has announced that it’s prepared to make a contribution.  So are other partners.  So, from my perspective, at this point, everything is on track. 

Q    Is there any update on when the president might talk to President Xi?

MR. SULLIVAN:  No.

Thank you, guys. 

Q    Thank you.

Q    Who you — wait, who are you rooting for in the playoffs, World Series?

MR. SULLIVAN:  I’m a Minnesota Twins fan, so I can’t root for the Guardians, but I definitely can’t root for the Yankees.

I don’t know.

Q    What about the Dodgers and Mets?

MR. SULLIVAN:  Yeah, I’m watching, but actually I don’t — I’ve not clearly determined who I’d prefer to win.  But, yeah, Dodgers or Mets. 

Q    Can you swing back and talk to us off the record later?

MR. SULLIVAN:  Sure. 

Q    Great.

Q    Thanks.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I don’t know.  Is there any real thing — anything else to discuss?  Let me t- —

Q    The only thing I would say is we disagree with the suggestion that democracy and speaking — and taking questions from the press is “ludicrous.” 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  All right.  Noted.

Q    I would argue that our stories allow the president to have a relationship with the world, not just with other leaders, and the ability to talk openly will help that. 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  All right.  Noted.  Noted. 

Let’s move on.

So, just want to talk about an announcement.  This is domestic, obviously, going to go to the — to that space.  I just wanted to touch on an announcement very quickly.

And so, today, the Biden-Harris administration announced an additional $4.5 billion in student debt cancelation for over 60,000 public service workers, bringing the total number of public — of public service workers who have had their student debt canceled under the Biden-Harris administration to over 1 million people. 

One such example is Kelly, a kindergarten teacher in Rhode Island, who had been paying off her student loans for a decade.  After the student let her know that her debt had been canceled, she tol- — after the president, pardon me — she told us that after 12 years of marriage, she might be able to take the honeymoon she never had.

The president — the president’s administration made it a priority to fix the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.  Prior to our administration, only 7,000 public service workers had received relief since the program was established in 2007. 

Thanks to the work of the Biden-Harris administration, as of today, 1 million teachers, nurses, firefighters, service members, first resp- — responders, and — and more who — who pursued careers in public service have gotten the relief they deserve. 

The relief brings the total loan forgiveness approved by the Biden-Harris administration — administration to over $175 billion for nearly 5 million Americans.  And while — meanwhile, our Republicans elected officials have repeatedly attempted to block student debt relief. 

President Biden and Vice President Harris remain committed to making education affordable for all Americans. 

With that, what else do you guys have for me?

Q    I have a question. 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Sure.

Q    Did President Biden talk to Vice President Harris ahead of this trip to see if she had any message for the world leaders or to get her input on what the situation should be going forward? 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  As you know, the president and the vice president talk regularly.  I don’t have a specific call to — to read out, but I think you can see the last almost four years of the — what we’ve been able to do, what the president has been able to do on the world stage, certainly has been in partnership with the vice president.  I know that she supports his trip and everything that he’s — he’s trying to do tomorrow in the — in the short trip that we have in — in Germany.

I just don’t have anything to read out as a call specifically on this trip.

Q    Is the president or the administration facing pressure from allies to get something done after the election but before he is out of office?  There’s been some talks that Zelenskyy — you know, whether that’s accelerating a push for Ukraine into NATO or — or other funding things for Ukraine?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Well, you’re talking about the victory plan.  Certainly, I’m going to let the Ukr- — Ukrainians speak to their victory plan as it relates to that question about NATO. 

Look, I think — I think what you have seen from this president, from this administration — obviously, including the vice president — is how much we have stand behind — next to, if you will — with Ukrainians and how they’re trying to beat back the aggression that we’ve seen from Russia.  And you have not just seen us standing there.  You’ve seen this president take action, and — which is why you see NATO much stronger than it was, and that’s why you see 50 countries have gotten behind Ukraine.  And you heard us — you heard us lay out yesterday an additional assistance package that we have provided to Ukrainians. 

And so, we’re going to have to continue — we’re going to continue having conversations with the Ukrainians on what they need on the battlefield and how else we can be helpful to them. 

As it relates to their victory plan — as it relates to what’s next, I’m certainly going to let the Ukrainians speak directly about that. 

Obviously, the president has had a conversation with the president, President Zelenskyy, on that plan.  I just don’t have anything beyond that, and I’m not — certainly, I’m not going to get into hypotheticals from here. 

Q    The president at the funeral yesterday had a — what looked like a spirited conversation with former President Obama.  Did you talk to him about what they discussed?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  No, it’s been kind of busy the last couple hours on the plane, as you can imagine. 

Look, I’ll — I’ll say this.  The president really very much looked — appreciated being there at the — at the funeral of Ethel Kennedy, who he saw as someone who was incredible and had a — was an incredible force, obviously, in her life, during her — her years.  And what he wanted to do is — was to lift up — lift her up and speak to her accomplishment and what she meant to him — not just to him but to her family and to the country.  So, he appreciated doing that. 

And we have said many times the president and — and president — and former President Biden [Obama] — they have a very close relationship.  They’ve had one for a long time, obviously, as he served as his vice president.

I don’t have anything else to — to share on that.  I have not had this conversation with the president.  Obviously, we’ve been pretty busy these past couple of hours on the plane. 

Q    Do you know if the president was able to watch any of the Fox News interview that Vice President Harris did?  And does —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yes, he —

Q    — did he talk to you about how — how she did? 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah, he was able to — to catch that.  And he saw her performance, her interview as strong.  And I think what you saw and what — and this is what he believes — is that you saw why Americans and people want to see her continuing to fight for them.  And that’s what he saw last night.  That’s what we all saw — many of us saw.  So, I think she was strong and incredibly impressive in that interview. 

Q    Karine, does the president believe that his vice president would be a markedly different leader?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I mean, look, he talked about this on Tuesday when he was in Philly, and he — and I talked a little bit about this as well, just reit- — really reiterating what the president shared, which is that, look, she’s going to be essentially her own person, right?  She is going to have her own direction, her own view of how to move forward. 

And he did that, right?  He was loyal to President Obama when he was vice president, but he cut his own path.  And so, that’s what he expects from the vice president to do. 

So, nothing — nothing new.  That’s what he expects her to do — to have her own path, to have — to build on — certainly, to build on the economic successes that we have seen and continuing the — the work that we’ve been able to do. 

But she’s going to cut her own path.  He was very clear about that a couple days ago.

Q    Karine —

Q    But on student loans — you talked about the PSLF 1 million, a huge achievement for those borrowers — what’s your message for the other 40 million-plus borrowers who’ve been caught up in a lot of legal limbo over the past three years?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Look, I’ll — I’ll say this.  You know, I’m not going to speak to the legal — the legal components of this.  There are legal matters that are happening, so they are ongoing.  So, I’m not going to speak to that. 

But I think what you can take away from what this president has — trying to do, when Republicans have continued to block him, in promising to give Americans a little bit of breathing room, to make sure that Americans who have — borrows [borrowers] who have loans and — and are squeezed by those loans are not able to, you know, buy a home, start a family.

The president was very attuned to that and very clear that he wanted to give them an opportunity — an opportunity to really, you know, be able to — to start that life that they wanted.  And so, he’s been trying to do that, even though he’s been blocked and — and Republicans have gotten in the way. 

I think you can see over the past — certainly, the past six months, the president continuing to try to take actions to — to make sure he kept his commitment to Americans who, again, need a little bit of breathing room.

So, I’m not going to speak to the legal matter, but I think this announcement today shows his commitment to public service workers, right?  I talked about firefighters, nurses.  I talked about police officers, who put so much on the line, who give so much for — for everybody, for folks who need their assistance and their help, and wanted to give them that opportunity to really be able to — to move on economically in what they want to accomplish for themselves and for their family.

All right.  Anything else?

Q    On the —

Q    So —

Q    Sorry.  Go ahead.

Q    Sorry.

Now going back to the funeral for a minute.  Did he speak with Speaker Emeritus Pelosi?  And also, she was not seen at the Italian American celebration, when she’s been front and center in the past.  Was she not invited?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I — I don’t have anything to share with you on that.  I didn’t talk to the president about that at all.  But what you saw — obviously, you saw the president and the former president, Pres- — President Obama, connect, have a moment together.  The president m- — very much looked forward to that.  I just don’t have anything on Nancy Pelosi.

Q    Just —

Q    I noticed he didn’t recognize her when he recognized the other two presidents at the funeral.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Well, he wanted it — I can say this.  He wanted it to be, you know — to — to be very focused on the family.  He wanted it to be, you know, brief and — and very poignant.  And that’s what his focus was yesterday on his remarks.

Q    On the trip.  Obviously, this is a abbreviated agenda from, you know, the Ramstein summit —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    — and other things.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    But can you explain to us, what’s the reason that it’s so short?  Why do we have to get out of Germany at 4:00 p.m. tomorrow?  Is there a reason on the German chancellor’s schedule why we have to —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, I mean —

Q    Regardless of the press conference, there was also talk about maybe doing a Holocaust memorial situation.  What’s —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  No, I totally understand what — totally — as you — let’s step back for a second. 

The reason that the president had to postpone his trip was because Hurricane Milton was coming, and it was — it was forecast to be a historical hurricane, and the president wanted to be in the States to deal with the response and what was needed, certainly, by the impacted region, for what folks on the ground really needed.

And so, that’s why we postponed the trip.  We said that we wanted to certainly get that back on the books.  We were able to do it — to your point, a truncated version, but it is a robust schedule.  And we were able to work with the Germans and to be able to get done what we can on this trip.

I mean, the president has a busy schedule.  He does.  There’s a lot going on in the next couple days, couple weeks.

Q    But he has to get back to the States for something in particular —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I mean, we’ll —

Q    — that we don’t know about?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  We’re certainly going to share with you what the — his — the next couple of days of his schedule is going to look like.  But he wanted to — and I said this yesterday in the briefing room.  He wanted to thank the chancellor for his partnership, for his leadership as well with Ukraine.  Outside of the U.S., U- — the U- — German is the second — have provided the second-most resources, assistance to Ukrainians.

And so, he wanted to be, you know, thankful to him.  And so, that’s what you’re seeing on this trip.  He wanted to make this happen.  He asked his team to make this trip happen.

And so, look, we have a busy schedule.  We got a lot going on in next couple of days, next couple of weeks.  And so, we tried to fit this in, and this is what we were able to do in working with the German government as well to make this happen.

Q    Does the president, as the election hits its final two weeks, expect to get more aggressive in outreach and participation?  Is that maybe what you’re referencing, or what’s his thinking on that?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, you know I can’t speak to political trips or any- —

Q    But if —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  But wa- —

Q    — you could speak on his schedule.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Well, I — I’m just — want to get that out of there.  And so, look, the president is certainly looking at — looking forward to being out there and supporting the vice president.

I just want to be super mindful.  But he will — you’ll see him — you’ll see him hit the road.  You’ll see him hit the road, for sure.

That’s all I got. 

All right.  Thanks, everybody.  Sorry my voice is a little hoarse.

Q    Thanks, Karine.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Thanks, everybody.

2:45 P.M. EDT