State Dept. spokeswoman to Jake Tapper: “our relationship with Russia has been a roller-coaster ride at times”
Today on The Lead with Jake Tapper, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki joined the program to discuss the latest on Yemen and Russia. A transcript of the interview is after the jump.
JAKE TAPPER: What are the issues when the president is talking about, when he says that Putin still has a Cold War mentality?
JEN PSAKI: Well, I think the point the president was making is that our relationship with Russia has been a roller-coaster ride at times. There are places where we disagree.
FULL TRANSCRIPT:
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JAKE TAPPER, CNN: I want to bring in Jen Psaki. She’s the spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department.
Jen, thanks for being here.
JENNIFER PSAKI, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESWOMAN: Hi, Jake. Great to be here.
TAPPER: Yemen is saying that it foiled an al Qaeda plot to capture oil and gas facilities, and seize two key southern ports, but I can’t help but notice the U.S. diplomatic posts throughout that region remain closed.
So, from that, is it safe to assume that the U.S. does not believe that that was the attack that al-Zawahri ordered?
PSAKI: Well, Jake, every single day, we make decisions about how to keep the men and women who serve around the world safe, how to keep American citizens safe, how to keep visitors to our embassy safe.
We certainly work closely with the Yemeni government on counterterrorism and many other issues, but we evaluate information as it comes in. We have remaining concerns about the threats, and we have not made an announcement to reopen the embassy, but we continue to evaluate.
TAPPER: I’m assuming that our viewers can read between the lines on that answer. Thank you.
How much concern does the Obama administration have that by closing all these embassies and consulates, the U.S. may appear to be running scared from the region, feeding into this criticism we have heard from some hawks about waning U.S. influence, the suggestion that nobody is daunted by the U.S. anymore? Was that a concern at all when this was issued?
PSAKI: Well, I think, Jake, that the American people would be encouraged by the fact that people around the world serving and visiting other countries, that we take every threat seriously.
Out of an abundance of caution, we closed these embassies. They’re temporarily closed. We’re still even up and running, providing emergency services to people in most of these countries, but we take threats seriously. We have an obligation to keep people safe. And that’s the prism we made these decisions through.
TAPPER: But it is a balance, I would imagine.
PSAKI: I’m sorry. Can you repeat that?
TAPPER: It is a balance, the decisions.
PSAKI: Of course it’s a balance, but there’s a bar that we want to pass. And that’s making sure we are doing everything humanly possible to keep people safe.
And that was why we made these decisions we did and why we have continued to provide information not only to the American people, but people around the world.
TAPPER: Let’s turn to Russia, big announcement today.
President Obama has canceled a summit meeting with Vladimir Putin that was scheduled for next month in Moscow. Before the announcement this morning, the president was on “The Tonight Show” last night. And they discussed U.S.-Russian relations, and the president said this
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, “THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO”)
OBAMA: There have been times where they slip back into Cold War thinking and a Cold War mentality. And what I consistently say to them and what I say to President Putin is, that’s the past. And, you know, we have got to think about the future. And there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to cooperate more effectively than we do.
JAY LENO, HOST, “THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO”: And Putin seems to be like one of those old-school KGB guys.
OBAMA: Well, he headed up the KGB.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: What are the issues when the president is talking about, when he says that Putin still has a Cold War mentality?
PSAKI: Well, I think the point the president was making is that our relationship with Russia has been a roller-coaster ride at times. There are places where we disagree. Obviously, we made our concerns well-known about Edward Snowden and their decision to provide temporary asylum.
We have disagreements on missile defense and a range of issues, but we also have areas where we agree and areas where we need to continue to work together on, North Korea, Iran, our drawdown in Afghanistan, and that’s the balance we’re striking.
TAPPER: Senior administration officials say the summit was likely going to be canceled anyway because of some of the issues you just talked about, including missile defense, as well as Syria, missile reductions, economic and trade and human rights issues.
You were on the Obama presidential campaign 2012, and you all mocked Mitt Romney when he said this:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is without question our number one geopolitical foe. They fight every cause for the world’s worst actors. The idea that he has more flexibility in mind for Russia is very, very troubling indeed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Didn’t Governor Romney have a point about Russia being if not the number one, at least a geopolitical foe? Your own account, you call this a roller coaster. It’s been a very — a relationship in some trouble.
PSAKI: Well, Jake, it’s also important to know here that Secretary Kerry is still meeting with his counterpart on Friday, because it is such an important relationship.
And the decision made around the summit on Monday — that was supposed to be in September had a number of factors. Of course, Snowden was a factor, but there were discussions even before that about whether progress was going to jump over the bar or pass the bar here to warrant a presidential-level meeting.
So, Secretary Kerry is hoping to continue the conversation, issues where we agree, issues where we disagree — you mentioned many of them — on Friday. And maybe there will be a summit in the future, but it wasn’t the time to do it in September.
TAPPER: I want to talk about the Olympics and some comments that the president made last night concerning the anti-gay laws that Russia has passed recently, especially when it comes to the Olympics. How far is the president willing to go when it comes to his concerns about how gay and lesbian athletes might be treated in Russia?
PSAKI: Well, I think the president’s statement last night speaks for itself.
The fact is human — issues for gay and lesbian individuals living around the world are human rights issues, and there’s a moral obligation here to take that into account. Human rights issues are one of our biggest areas of disagreement with Russia. It certainly will be a part of the discussion on Friday and it’s always a part of the discussion.
I think the president was making the point that many — that we all feel as a government, which is that LGBT issues are human rights issues and they should be high on the docket of conversation.
TAPPER: But still no boycott on that issue or any of the other issues that the U.S. has with Russia, right?
PSAKI: Well, no one is suggesting that from the government, but we do believe we need to continue to make our concerns heard, voice them publicly and privately, and we will continue to do that.
TAPPER: All right, we have a lot of other parts of the world that I want to get to, but we’re out of time.
PSAKI: OK.
TAPPER: So, we will have you on again some time.
PSAKI: Absolutely. I would love to.
TAPPER: Thank you so much, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki.
PSAKI: Thanks, Jake.
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