BACKGROUND PRESS CALL
BY SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS
ON PRESIDENT TRUMP'S TRIP TO THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Via Teleconference
September 20, 2019
1:52 P.M. EDT
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is [senior administration official]. I just want to thank everyone today for being here. Just up front, this call is a background briefing for President Donald J. Trump's trip to the United Nations General Assembly.
The ground rules are as such: This is provided on background. Attribution is to a senior administration official. There is an embargo on the contents of this call until after this call is complete. And we are going to cap the background interview at 20 minutes.
So, here's the run of show. Our first speaker is [senior administration official]. He will provide an overview of UNGA. I will follow with an overview of the President's key events and bilateral meetings. Our next speaker will be [senior administration official]. She will provide an overview of the President's Global Call to Protect Religious Freedom event. And once she has concluded her remarks, we will take questions.
And with that, our first briefer of the day is [senior administration official]. Over to you.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Good afternoon, everyone. During the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly high-level week, the President will affirm America's leadership role in the rules-based international system and the need to work collectively within the global community to address global challenges, while also asserting America's determination to uphold the sovereignty and independence of member states, especially on issues of national security.
In the course of his engagements at UNGA, the President will highlight American values, and underscore that America is a positive alternative to authoritarianism. Specifically, he will use this opportunity to showcase the administration's commitment to upholding democracy and protecting religious freedoms.
The President will also emphasize the benefits of the American model and the economic prosperity, freedoms, and security that result from this model, and offer a positive vision for other countries around the world to follow.
Per protocol, the President will address the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday morning, September 24th, and will also be the guest of honor at a luncheon hosted by U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres.
He will have the opportunity to meet with the Secretary-General and incoming U.N. General Assembly President. The President will also host a diplomatic reception on Tuesday night for all heads of delegation.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Okay. Thank you, Jason. I'm now going to provide an overview of the President’s agenda. I'll speak slowly for everyone's benefit.
Before discussing UNGA, I did want to highlight that the President will be travelling to Houston for President Donald J. Trump in his "Howdy, Modi! Shared Dreams, Bright Futures" event. That will be -- he will then travel on to Ohio where he will be joined by Prime Minister Morrison of Australia, where they will visit Pratt Industries and celebrate the U.S. economic relationship with Australia.
Okay, then on the Monday. The President's formal UNGA program starts. The first event will be the Global Call to Protect Religious Freedom, which is our key event. And [senior administration official] will give you more details later on. The President will be hosting that event.
After that, the President will be meeting with the following leaders and -- he’s scheduled to meet with the following leaders, forgive me: Prime Minister Khan of Pakistan, President Duda of Poland, Prime Minister Ardern of New Zealand, Prime Minister Lee of Singapore. As [senior administration official] already mentioned -- correction, President El-Sisi of Egypt, and President Moon of Korea.
Then on Tuesday, the President's highlight is going to be the President's remarks to the U.N. General Assembly. That’s our key event for that day. After that event is completed, we will be meeting with the following. He'll be meeting with the following leaders: Prime Minister Johnson of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Modi; as [senior administration official] previously mentioned, the U.N. Secretary-General and the incoming President; bilateral with Barham Salih, President of Iraq; to be followed by a diplomatic reception.
Wednesday, the President's UNGA agenda includes a meeting with Western Hemisphere leaders about Venezuela, a meeting with Prime Minister Abe of Japan, a meeting with President Zelensky of Ukraine, and meeting with the President of El Salvador, followed by his press conference to conclude UNGA.
Our next speaker will be [senior administration official]. She will provide an overview of the President's Global Call to Protect Religious Freedom event.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thanks so much. I just wanted to preview for you the core event, which is the Global Call to Protect Religious Freedom. This event seeks to highlight and broaden international support for protecting religious freedom in the wake of the increasing persecution of people on the basis of their own beliefs and faith, and a growing number of attacks on and destruction of houses of worship, religious sites, and relics by state and non-state actors.
The Trump administration has made religious freedom a domestic and foreign policy priority. The past decade has witnessed a sharp increase in violent, sectarian, or religious tension. There's been a stunning 83 percent of the world's population which now live in nations where religious freedom is threatened or even banned. State and non-state actors are systemically targeting religious communities within their own borders and, again, as I mentioned, demolishing religious symbols and houses of worship, removing children from religious home environments.
This continues across the globe, and the President is calling on all world leaders to begin to not just talk about it, but to take action to acknowledge it and to move forward.
We, in the United States, have taken several measures in the past two years to really enhance the protection of religious persecution in houses of worship. So, that is the core information that we are able to share today on an exciting event taking place on Monday at the U.N. Headquarters.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Okay. Thank you. So, at this time, we'll go ahead and take your questions. If you could unmute, ask your questions, and then stand by. I'd also ask everyone to limit to one question, please.
Okay, over to you. Thanks.
Q Hi. This is Steve Herman from the Voice of America. Thanks for the list of the bilats. I'm wondering if there is a possibility of any more being added to the list. And do you have any information on what the agenda will be with the President of Ukraine, since there's quite a spotlight on that relationship right now? Thank you.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Hey, sorry about that, Moderator. That’s my fault. I hit the wrong button. Are we back now?
MODERATOR: Yes, you’re back. I’m sorry, would you be able to please repeat the first question?
Q Yes. The question was: Is there a possibility of any other sit-down bilats being added to the President's agenda? And do you have any information on the agenda for the meeting with the President of Ukraine in light of that bilateral relationship in the headlines right now?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: So, with respect to Ukraine, I think the President is going to -- President Trump is going to focus on, again, congratulating President Zelensky on his election victories and the incredible energy and success President Zelensky has put forward in implementing the reform and anti-corruption efforts. They're going examine further opportunities as have been recently taken, for example, on energy cooperation, where we have a recent trilateral energy MOU between Ukraine, the United States, and Poland. They're going to look -- talk about opportunities to expand, through further reform of Ukraine's economy, additional trade opportunities. And the President is going to speak to his concerns about what he sees as some predatory Chinese economic activity in Ukraine to loot Ukraine's intellectual property.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: And no additional meetings planned at the time. Thanks.
Q Hi, everyone. It's Vivian Salama from the Wall Street Journal. Thanks for doing this call. So, my question is, with regard to Iran and the recent attacks on Saudi Arabia, the President has spoken about possibly forming a coalition, you know, really building international support.
And so, separate from these individual bilats and his speech, obviously, can you tell me what more he intends to do to really try to gain support for some sort of international action? And also, what kind of action might he try to rally support for? Obviously, the U.S. has put pretty exhaustive sanctions actions on Iran. And so, what kind of international action would the President and the administration like to see going forward? Thank you.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Hey, Vivian. Obviously, our overarching concerns with Iran's escalatory violence is going to be a theme of the conference. And we welcome this opportunity to consult with a broad range of partners and allies on our collective response. And it's important to remember the attack on the Saudi infrastructure really is an attack on everyone who consumes that energy. But that -- that particular stream goes disproportionately to Asia. So, this is a very well-timed meeting, from our perspective.
So it obviously will come up in the bilat. I'm sure it will come up in some of the group events. But then, also, Secretary Pompeo will be convening a meeting of our MESA partners, which is the GCC plus Jordan. And so, that will be, again, another -- a group area. And since MESA is collectively supposed to be about countering Iran and other threats in the region, I think that will be a very important meeting as well.
Q Hi. Can you hear me?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yes, sir. We got you loud and clear.
Q Hi. Thank you for doing this. This is Dmitry Kirsanov from TASS. I just wanted to ask if a follow-up on Ukraine on the meeting between President Trump and President Zelensky. Will President Trump (inaudible) any fresh ideas, fresh initiatives aimed at intensifying efforts to overcome the conflict in the east of Ukraine? Anything on that?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: So, I think it's safe to assume that President Trump will discuss with President Zelensky the importance of all parties, including those parties that are illegally occupying Russian [Ukrainian] territory, of adhering to their Minsk obligations.
Q Hi. Steve Holland with Reuters. Could you talk a little bit about the speech itself? How much it -- what the President might say on Iran, on North Korea? These have been central elements of his speeches in the last couple of years. What should we expect him to say on Iran and North Korea, specifically, on Tuesday?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Hey, Steve. How is it going? It’s [senior administration official]. Hey, so my colleague kind of outlined, kind of the overarching themes in the beginning of the call, so I think we’ll just speak to that for now. And we’re not going to preview the President’s speech at this time. Thanks.
Q Hey, guys. This is Justin Sink from Bloomberg. Thanks for doing this. Really quickly, in the second-to-last answer, I think you said, “Russian territory” and I just wanted to make sure that wasn’t intended to sort of signal that you guys saw Crimea as Russia now.
But importantly, I wanted to ask about the religious forum. There’s been some criticism that it’s scheduled for the same time as the climate change forum. And so could you guys talk about whether that was a deliberate choice and why the U.S. isn’t going to be participating in the climate change forum?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I think what we’re really looking at is the importance of some of these particular bilateral relationships. The President has talked with a number of these leaders and he continues to believe that this kind personal diplomacy is his strength.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: On the climate change issue, we just want to focus today on the actual event that the President is going to be doing. The Secretary-General will be participating in the religious freedom event.
Q Hi, this is Michael Wilner with McClatchy. Just clarifying on the last question, I’m not sure if you answered, about whether you believe that Russia -- that Crimea is Russian territory. So if you could just answer that.
Secondly, on the agenda for the Western Hemisphere leaders meeting on Venezuela, do you have any more specifics on that? Can you give us some details on what the President wants to come out of that meeting?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yeah, so let me be clear here, in case there was confusion: The United States, Europe do not recognize Crimea as Russian territory. Crimea is lawfully part of the Ukraine and is being unlawfully occupied by Russia.
And on the point -- on Crimea and on Donbass, with respect to obligations, Russia has obligations as a Minsk party in the Normandy format to adhere to those obligations. And so the President will talk with President Zelensky about the importance of Russia adhering to its obligations that it willingly assumed as part of the Minsk process.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: And on the other -- on the other item, we’ll just have to get back to you on that one. If you could send the distro -- press distro a note, we’ll respond to that question. Unfortunately, we don’t have our [redacted] with us on the line right now.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I’m on the line. I’m on the line here. I can provide some background on the Venezuela event and the focus.
Just very briefly -- we won’t get into the specifics of the agenda, but the goal of the event really is to give the President an explicit opportunity to speak with important hemispheric leaders, in terms of the importance of regional support, the importance of continuing to increase the pressure on the illiterate regime of Nicolás Maduro, and to restate and reiterate that the President has an unwavering commitment to ensuring a peaceful democratic transition in Venezuela.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Okay, we’ll take one more question. Thanks.
Q Hello. Good afternoon. This is (inaudible) with WATV. Thank you for taking our call. Do you know if the President has any plans to speak on the peace -- the peace agreement that he said he would reveal right after the elections?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yeah, thanks for that question. I don’t think there has been a decision made about the date for the release of the peace plan. So I would not anticipate an announcement at this time.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Okay, so that’s all the time we have right now for questions.
So just to go back over the ground rules, again: This on background. Attribution is to a senior administration official. And now the embargo is lifted.
Thank you for your time today.
END 2:11 P.M. EDT
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