🧵

NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas: “Also in your you write about North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. You've been questioned several times on this in the last couple of days because you've issued a retraction. You said that it shouldn't have been in the book — this passage — that it was a mistake. Why shouldn't it have been in the book? Is it untrue?”

Kristi Noem: “No, what I said is that when this was pointed out that we — we made an adjustment to what the content was in the book. I've met many world leaders around the world. I've been to the DMZ. I've been traveling for years and years talking to world leaders. Just that name should not be in the book and I'm not going to discuss those personal meetings.” NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas: “Your spokesman told Politico that the world leaders names were conflated in the book. What does that even mean?”

Kristi Noem: “What it means is that I met with many world leaders. Many of them —

Vargas: “Did you —

Noem: “— some —”

Vargas: “— meet with Kim Jong-un?”

Noem: “— some of them were in the book and some of them are not in the book and that — when I this was brought to my attention, I immediately took actions and asked to have his name removed.”

JACQUI TIME: : “A couple days ago in Deaborn, there were protesters chanting, ‘death to America’ and ‘death to Israel.’ Does the President condemn that?”

KJP: “Yes.”

.@JacquiHeinrich: “Is the President at all concerned that Dearborn is becoming – is facing a risk of becoming a hotbed of any sort of homegrown threats?”

KJP: “I don't have any intelligence to share with you on that. Obviously, that's something that we're always very vigilant about, but don't have any national intelligence to share with you.”

Heinrich: “And then –”

KJP: “But, obviously, we will condemn any – any of violent rhetoric –”

Heinrich: “– would we be seeing a statement?”

KJP: “– which – which we have been very, I mean, you're hearing from me, right? You're asking me a question. I'm answering it and we've been very vigilant about – or very consistent about denouncing that type of that type of rhetoric.” .@JacquiHeinrich: “Should we see a – should we expect a statement from the President on that? It was a pretty significant display.”

KJP: “I mean, you're hearing from me. I think that's important. The other part, too, that I do want to be very clear about – you know, peaceful protest is something that the President has also been very, very clear that is important for – to give folks space to peacefully protest, but any type of violent rhetoric, we are going to denounce.”

DOOCY TIME: “Did the CIA warn Israel or did President Biden warned Netanyahu today about an Iranian plan to attack inside Israel within 48 hours?”

WH’s John Kirby: “I’m not going to talk about intelligence matters, Peter. I think you can understand. Um, but, um, they didn't talk about a very public and very viable real threat by Iran to Israel's security, and I think I need to leave it at that. It's really as far as I can go.” Doocy: “On October 7, President Biden said, ‘My administration's support for Israel's security is rock solid and unwavering.’ That is not true anymore, correct?”

WH’s John Kirby: “That — no, it is true.”

Doocy: “It —”

Kirby: “Still true today.”

Doocy: “— how support unwavering, but you're also reconsidering policy choices?”

Kirby: “Both can be true.”

Doocy: “They cannot be true. They're — they're completely different things.”

Kirby: “No, no, no. I just —”

Doocy: “He is —”

Kirby: “— I'm sorry.”

Doocy: “— he is wavering.”

DOOCY TIME: “So, on this border video, what does President Biden think should happen to adult men who are assaulting and overpowering U.S. National Guardsmen?”

KJP: “Well, let me just first say we're grateful — and I said this moments ago — to Border Patrol agents for their — to — quickly — to quickly work and get the situation under control and apprehend the migrants. So, let — I want to be really clear that everyone who was apprehended was apprehended by Border Patrol. They were able to do their job, even though it's made it more — even though Republican governor — in particular Governor Abbott — has made it difficult for them. They need more resources. We need more personnel. I mean, we have to have the backs of our law enforcement on the ground — are — who are dealing with this every day, but Republicans are getting in the way. Republicans in Congress do not want to help and you have a governor — Governor Abbott — who's politicizing it. That is what's happening. Border Patrol agents did their job even though, you know, the governor is getting in the way of them doing their jobs.” DOOCY: “Okay. But I get that you guys — you talk so much about having a more humane immigration system. This video does not show helpless women and children begging for a safe place to come in. It shows adult men landing haymakers on U.S. troops in uniform. If that was happening anywhere else in the world, wouldn’t President Biden sent reinforcements?”

KJP: “So, two things. Everyone was apprehended by the Border Patrol agents. That is important to note. They were apprehended.”

🧵ABC, CBS, and NBC have -- like the rest of the liberal media -- been absolutely losing their minds over Trump's "bloobath" line form Saturday.

Of course, some even admit he's being taken out of context, but insist it doesn't matter.

Like a cat chasing a flashlight, Trump has them in a tailspin. First, my colleague @BonillaJL noticed the zanity on the Sunday political talk shows.

These shows are supposed to be substantive and serious, but they're low-brow and, as we saw last week with @NancyMace and Stephanopoulos, they're worse than hacks. newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/jorge…

Colorado's Secretary of State Jena Griswold is NOT having a good day after SCOTUS said she couldn't remove Trump from her state's ballot:

“My...reaction is disappointment. I do believe that states should be able, under our institution, to bar oathbreaking insurrectionists...[T]his decision leaves open the door for Congress to...pass authorizing legislation, but we know that Congress is a merely non-functioning body. So, ultimately, it will be up to the American voters to save our democracy in November.”

Sidenote: MSNBC's Katy Tur introduced her as someone who still believes “Donald Trump is still an oathbreaking insurrectionist” and, in a petty swipe at the Supreme Court, noted she's an “elected” official. Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold (D), suffering a near total breakdown:

“[I]t’s as clear as day what Donald Trump did: He incited that violent mob to rush on to the Capitol to try to stop the peaceful transfer of presidential power. And his attacks and his allies’ attacks on our democracy have not stopped. Their lies and disinformation have led to massive voter suppression efforts to threats against election workers and actually attacks on our election infrastructure. And they’re already laying the groundwork to undermine 2024. Regardless of this decision, American democracy still remains very much under attack and that threat and this upcoming election will be crucial for democracy survival in the United States.”

This woman is unhinged. It’s clear she only loves democracy if/when her side wins.

JACQUI TIME: “John, I just want to clarify two of your previous answers in this briefing. Are you suggesting, in response to the border question, that the President is withholding executive action on the border until he gets the money that is part of this supplemental?”

John Kirby: “No, I’m not suggesting that. I’m suggesting that the way forward — the proper way forward is to get the supplemental passed.” .@JacquiHeinrich: “Okay. And then, in response to MJ’s question earlier, it sounded like the administration has ruled out strikes within Iran.”

Kirby: “Jacqui, I appreciate the question. I think you can understand — I hope you can understand I’m not gonna telegraph punches here. We are not looking for a war with Iran. We’re not looking to escalate the tensions anymore than they already have been escalating. In fact, everything we’ve done has been designed to try to deescalate those tensions. That said, this was a very serious attack. It had lethal consequences. We will respond and we’ll respond appropriately. And I’m not gonna telegraph what that’s going to look like.”

DOOCY TIME: “Why are you guys making it easier for people to enter the country illegally?”

John Kirby: “I don’t believe we are. Why do you think we are?”

Doocy: “Well, you guys sued to cut razor wire that was put in place by Texas officials.”

Kirby: “So that the Border Patrol, actually, do their jobs”. John Kirby: “[B]ut keep going.”

Doocy: “Well, you won in court. So, now what? The Border Patrol union president is saying the Supreme Court's decision is going to undoubtedly encourage more illegal immigration. Do you guys know better than the Border Patrol union?”

Kirby: “The Border Patrol needed access, and that's why we sued to get rid of that razor wire, so that they could do their jobs. And you know what would also help them do their jobs, Peter? More Border Patrol agents. There's an idea — and if you go back to the supplementary request that we put in, there's money in there for some 1,300 additional Border Patrol agents. We want to help them do their jobs. We want to give them more resources and the answer and we kept getting — keep — keep getting back from House Republicans is no, no, no.”

Absolutely BRUTAL exchange for the Pentagon during the WH briefing re: the Lloyd Austin saga....

CBS's @NancyCordes: "So, the President has known for...five days...Secretary Austin was in the hospital but he wasn't informed why?"

John Kirby: "He was not informed until last Friday that Sec. Austin was in the hospital. He was not informed until this morning that the root cause of that hospitalization was prostate cancer."

Cordes: "Is that because the WH knew and didn't inform the President or because Secretary Austin chose not to share that with the president?"

Kirby: "Nobody at the WH knew that Secretary Austin had prostate cancer until this morning and the President was informed immediately after we were informed."

Cordes: "Okay. Last week, we learned that Jake Sullivan, I believe, found out...Secretary Austin was hospitalized on Thursday morning...Are you saying the President found out a day later than the NSC did?

Kirby: "No, Jake....was informed that Secretary Austin was in the hospital and had been for some time. He found out late Thursday afternoon and he informed -- he and the chief of staff -- Mr. Zients -- informed the President later this evening, early that evening. Not long after they learned, they informed the President directly on Thursday evening." CBS’s @NancyCordes: “We learned also today that Secretary Austin when he went into the hospital for the first time on December 22, he knew he was going to be under general anesthesia, spending the night, and transferred authority to his deputy secretary. Was the WH informed then that the authority was going to be transferred?”

John Kirby: “No.”

MRS. DOOCY TIME: “Has President Biden seen photos and videos from the past week of the sea of people crossing into this country illegally? I understand he's probably been briefed on it, but has he's seen photos and videos of it actually happening?”

John Kirby: “I can't attest to what the — the content is of the material he gets every day, but he has been kept apprised and briefed, of course, by — by the domestic and national security teams on this. But what's in that content? I mean, I'm not part of those discussions.” FBN’s @Hillary__Vaughn: “Some illegal border crossers are being given court dates in 2031. What are they supposed to do here for seven years?”

Kirby: “Again, that’s better question put to the DHS. I'm not in a position to talk about specific cases like that. The President believes that we've got to do better at immigration and he's willing to talk and negotiate with members of Congress about immigration policy just as well as he is about border security. But I'm not in a position to talk about the specifics.”

This was a real question at the WH briefing.

theGrio's April Ryan to KJP: "I had an in-depth conversation w/Stevie Wonder last night who is —[REPORTERS LAUGH]--AGAIN, IT'S A SERIOUS QUESTION — I had an in-depth conversation w/Stevie Wonder last night, who is...requesting a meeting w/the President. He's very concerned about the black agenda falling along the wayside and issues like laws of 50 years ago that are now being abolished or gutted, to include issues like the Voting Rights Act, what happened in Arkansas last wk, affirmative action — Supreme Court — as we've seen it, ban on books, and he's also even brought up issues of the Congo and the lack of information from the WH. Is the WH amenable to sitting down with Stevie Wonder who has met with presidents, um throughout history to include Ronald Reagan? He was one of the major impetuses for getting the holiday for Dr Martin Luther King Jr and also he was one of those who worked with President Obama in his efforts to become President. Is this President amenable to meeting with Stevie Wonder who has these concerns?"
April Ryan: “But Steve Wonder is not alone in this thought.”

KJP: “Obviously, yeah, yeah.”

Ryan: “He’s not alone in this thought. He’s very upset and he’s even looking at this issue courting black males. I mean, he just wants to have a conversation with — do you — is the President amenable as he is a leader as he has met with other presidents on major issues of rights, humanitarian rights, as well as civil rights?”

KJP: “And look, you're right. It's not just an issue that Mr. — Mr Stevie Wonder has, right? As you know, we’ve met with civil rights leaders, multiple times.”

Moments later, after KJP finished, Ryan took a cheap shot at her fellow reporters, thanking KJP “for taking the question seriously.”

WATCH: CBS's Gayle King LECTURES the father of a eight-year-old Israeli girl being held hostage by Hamas that "innocent children in Pales --Palestinians...are dying" too just as "innocent Israeli children" and, b/c of "politics," "no one seems to be able to say enough, stop" HERE was the relevant transcript, both immediately before and after (the part in the video is bolded):

Gayle King: Can you tell us what your life was like when you were living there on October 7? You like living in Israel.

Thomas Hand: Yes. It’s a difficult place to live. We’re constantly being bombarded by rockets, thousands and thousands and thousands of rockets for the last 20 years. The greatest movement towards peace that Israel ever did was we pulled out of Gaza. You know, Israel has never made such a big step towards peace, and it got us nothing. They didn’t make even a little baby step back to go towards peace.

King: But now, this seems to be all about politics. What do you say about that? You know, you have innocent children — Palestinians who are dying, innocent Israeli children who are dying, and no one seems to be able to say enough, stop that.

Hand: I’m not interested in politics at all. My only concern is getting Emily back, whatever that takes to get her back.

Tony Dokoupil: Thank you for being here, Thomas, for keeping her name in our minds and the attention focused as it should be on their release. I can’t imagine what you’re going through. I can barely talk to you because I think about my own daughter and I think about —

Hand: It’s a living nightmare. It is hell. Hell on earth.

🧵The New York Times is *defending* Palestinian photojournalist Yousef Masoud embedding with Hamas on October 7, dismissing the bombshell from @HonestReporting as containing "no evidence" and only "vague allegations". nytco.com/press/statemen… The statement also hailed Masoud as having "done important work for us" and said criticizing the press "put[s] our journalists...at risk."

There it is. Criticize us? Suggest we're unethical? Then you want us dead!

The liberal press love playing the stochastic terrorism card.

🧵I took a look at the network morning shows on ABC, CBS, and NBC for coverage of the Jewish man beaten to death with a megaphone, allegedly by a pro-Palestinian thug.

'CBS Mornings' ignored it completely. Instead, they had another puff piece by a correspondent up from South Africa, who fretted "the true cost of" the Israel-Hamas war is "countied in the lives of children killed or broken" in Gaza.
ABC's 'Good Morning America' had a full story on the brutal killing, but it was naturally watered down.

First, the chyron: "U.S. Tensions Rise as Mideast Conflict Rages; Jewish Man Dies After Incident at California Protest."

Seriously? This is like those stories when a "truck" commits mass murder.

🧵Incredible @JakeTapper interview with Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of the founder of Hamas, who actually was an undercover informant for Israel from 1997 to 2007.

Yousef: "Since I was a child I always complained to my father about hamas abuse of power and their brutality, you know, they're very strict and they -- they're religious -- they're fanatics".
.@JakeTapper: "Did the barbarity and the cruelty of what Hamas did to innocent civilians on October 7, did that surprise you?"

Yousef: "Well, you know, they surprised me as they surprised everybody by the scale of the attack...but their brutality, their nature, it did not surprise me. You know, back in 1996, they killed so many people, they tortured so many people...They did all type of crazy things, you know, they put needles under people's fingernails, you know, and I witnessed that firsthand. So, I'm not surprised to what extent Hamas can go, but the scale...was surprise I think for everybody including Hamas themselves."

.@RonDeSantis blasts anti-Semitism, including white nationalists like Nick Fuentes, in CNN interview with @JohnBerman: "That is totally outrageous. You know, this garbage out there, you hear things people are saying that the babies really somehow weren't killed, that this was all just manufactured...But we've got to put that garbage aside and we've got to stand with Israel. And, yes, we have to condemn the anti-Semitism that has motivated these attacks and that has motivated attacks around the world."
@RonDeSantis @JohnBerman CNN's @JohnBerman: "How do you feel about Republicans associated themselves w/[Nick Fuentes]?"

@RonDeSantis: "Well, I reject all conspiracy theories of that nature. I think that we just have so much garbage in our society rn. I mean, it broke my heart to see those demonstrators"

Incredibly powerful moments on @Morning_Joe after a Tel Aviv presser from families of those taken hostage by Hamas🧵

@JGreenblattADL: "Well, look, Joe and Mika, I’m going to do my best not to break down on the air. It sort of helps I have heard so many of these stories. I have friends who were killed. I have family hunkered right — down right now in Ashkelon. I have staff who can’t locate members of their family. This is the worst of days. And, you know, I really appreciate what you said before this segment. Like, a lot of people are focusing right now on was this a military failure? Was this an intelligence failure? Joe, this was a moral failure that we are all accountable for, because Hamas told us again and again and again and again in their charter, in their statements, through their actions that their goal has never been a two-state solution.

It has never been dignity and national — nationhood for Palestinians. It is the destruction of the Jewish state. It is the murder of Jews. And I — we just — we have got to stop referring to what happened on Saturday as an attack as if it was military on military. This was a massacre. This was a slaughter. The appropriate word is medieval. And the appropriate points of comparison are al-Qaeda and ISIS."
.@JGreenblattADL: "So what I have got to ask — you know, and thank God for...the civil rights groups...who...stood up. But where are the university presidents who gave clear statements about all these other causes that mattered. It — Black Lives Matter, Stop AAPI Hate, it matters. Stand for Ukraine, it matters. Why — why are they silent on dead Jews? Why is my inbox empty with messages from CEOs, from major religious movements? Why? Where are they? Thank God for Congress. Thank God for President Biden. Thank God for the European leaders. But this moral failure — this rot — I see it in our civil society right now."

DOOCY TIME: "Biden didn't say 'there will not be another ft of wall constructed excepted what was appropriated in 2019'. He said, 'there will not be another ft of wall constructed in my administration.' So, something changed. What?"

KJP: "You want us to break that law?" KJP: "You want us to not comply w/the law."

Doocy: "I'm not--I'm asking."

KJP: "What you--but what you want us to not comply--"

Doocy: "--he was declarative."

KJP: "--w/the law. You want us to not be an administration that follows the rule of law."

JACQUI TIME: "CDC still recommends universal indoor masking for kids in school...[T]hat seems out of step w/some of the studies around the usefulness of masks for kids...Should we keep funding these studies if the CDC's not making guidance that follows...those studies?" KJP to @JacquiHeinrich on masking kids: "We did something that the [Trump] administration was incapable doing, which is put to forth a strategy to really, truly deal w/COVID-19...We put forward a comprehensive plan...We have the tools & that includes masking...We know what works"

Let's talk about how NBC's Dasha Burns is lying here.

@RonDeSantis notes he'd oppose what "the left wants to do, which is to override pro-life protections" & allow abortions" up to birth, but Burns says "that's a misrepresentation" & only "1.3% of abortions" are late-term. @RonDeSantis NBC's Dasha Burns, pants on fire, telling @RonDeSantis that "[t]here’s no evidence of Democrats pushing for abortions up until" birth & "there's no indication" they are "pushing for that."

Let's start with states. Colorado, Maine, & NY have expanded abortion access in recent yrs

.@RonDeSantis on crashing Twitter: "We had a huge audience. It did. It was the biggest it ever had. It did break the Twitter Space, and so we're really excited with the enthusiasm. But ultimately it's about the future of our country...We know the country is on the wrong track." @RonDeSantis .@RonDeSantis to @TGowdySC: "Truth needs to be the foundation of everything we do, and common sense can no longer be an uncommon virtue...We need to win again. As Republicans, we got to dispense with this culture of losing."