Press Briefing by Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany | December 2, 2020 | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Q Thanks, Kayleigh. I wanted to ask about Section 230. Is President Trump wanting to allow a government shutdown over that and the national defense bill?

    MS. MCENANY: The President has made clear the importance of 230, and he - I would point you to his tweet about how that pertains to the NDAA.

    One thing I would say: When you look at 230 - just to explain for the American public exactly what that is, it's essentially a shield that is given to social media networks because they claim to be the public square. But in the case of Twitter, Twitter has become a publisher, choosing to fact-check certain content.

    And when you're a publisher, there are certain responsibilities with that. You should not be immune from liability. And when you look at what Twitter has done, on the Ayatollah Khamenei - we were just looking at his Twitter account before coming out here. And just a few weeks ago, the Ayatollah Khamenei of Iran tweeted, quote, "Why is it a crime to raise doubts about the Holocaust?" - something not worthy of a flag by Twitter, which is despicable when you think about it.

    Also, the Ayatollah has tweeted that Israel is a "deadly, cancerous growth" that should be "uprooted and destroyed" - something that Twitter did not deem worthy of flagging or blocking in its entirety. And, in fact, Twitter executives defended that move in front of the Knesset.

    This is a very important issue - one that there's even bipartisan agreement that something needs to be done. So the President will be unashamed and fighting against that kind of vitriol that we see and very hateful language that Twitter is publishing.

    Kristen.

    Q Thank you, Kayleigh. Just one more question about Section 230. The Democratic Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, he put out a statement essentially saying that these two things are not related - Section 230 and something as big and important for our national security as the NDAA.

    So is - I just want to be clear here: Is President Trump seriously considering and talking about vetoing the NDAA over Section 230?

    MS. MCENANY: Yes, the President is serious about it.

    And I noted, you know, when you have other world leaders that are making calls for genocide and Twitter not finding that worthy of flagging or blocking.

    Beyond that, you look at China who is putting out disinformation. China tweeted out - I believe it was six days ago - I think it was November 25th - that "COVID-19 did not originate in Wuhan," something that was not deemed worthy of flagging by Twitter. There are real grave concerns here, and the President stands by that.

    And it also is worth noting that the President will always defend our military and ensure that we get adequate defense funding, as he's gotten $2.9 trillion so far. But he is going to put the pressure on Congress to step up on this.

    Q And one more question about Attorney General Bill Barr's comments. I believe you said that President - you're not sure if President Trump and the Attorney General have spoken since he made those comments. Was that right?

    MS. MCENANY: Yes, I'm not sure if they've spoken.

    Q But can you at least tell me, was President Trump upset when he heard the Attorney General say that he has not seen, or the DOJ has not uncovered evidence of widespread voter fraud enough to overturn the outcome of the election?


    MS. MCENANY: I haven't spoken with the President specifically about AG Barr or that comment.

    And I would also just point everyone to the revised - or the supplemental, I should say, not revised, comment that was put out by AG Barr in the wake of media reporting that seemed to misconstrue his statement. He said this: That "some media outlets have" - not he; I should say the DOJ spokesperson. "Some media outlets have incorrectly reported that the Department has concluded its investigation of election fraud and announced an affirmative finding of no fraud. [And] that is not what the AP reported nor what the AG stated."

    I think a lot of the media didn't read beyond that one comment: the civil part versus the criminal part.

    Q Well, I think maybe the discrepancy is, you know, you have members of the Trump campaign coming forward and saying that there is hard evidence of widespread voter fraud, enough to overturn the outcome of the election, and then you have the nation's top law enforcement officer, the Attorney General, saying, if there is, he hasn't seen it.

    MS. MCENANY: Well, the Attorney General was speaking to what has come before his desk. And, again, I'd point you to the campaign for specific questions on this. But I would just say, generally, they are pursuing civil litigation, which, in fact, the Attorney General explicitly said some of this is meant more for civil litigation, which is what the campaign is currently pursuing.

    Kevin.

    Q Kayleigh, is the President seriously considering skipping the inauguration?

    MS. MCENANY: I'll leave that to the President to make his announcement. He tweeted something to the effect of "he knows what his decision is, and he'll make his decision at the right time."

    Q But what rationale could he possibly have for skipping it?

    MS. MCENANY: I'm not going to speculate on the President's decision. I'll leave that to him to announce it.


    Q And just one follow-up.

    MS. MCENANY: Yeah.

    Q There was a report yesterday on federal officials investigating a potential "bribe for pardon" scheme. Has anybody at the White House been questioned by federal law enforcement officials regarding potential bribes for pardon?

    MS. MCENANY: No. And, in fact, a DOJ official said yesterday that, "No government official was or is currently a subject or target of the investigation disclosed in this filing."

    Yeah. Andrea.

    Q Yeah. So, thanks for taking my question. I wanted to ask about FBI Director Wray, though it looks like President- Elect Biden wants to keep him in his job. Does that change the President's perspective on FBI Director Wray? And is - does he retain full confidence in him?

    And I have just a quick follow-up.

    MS. MCENANY: Yeah, he's made no assessments, at least in my presence, about that. And if we have any personnel announcements, we'll let you know.

    Q Okay, great. And can I just follow up on the - on the vaccine issue? You said "40 million doses." I recall the President saying, and perhaps even you saying that you were looking for 100 million doses by the end of the year. That 40 million is quite a bit short. So can you just clarify that number?

    MS. MCENANY: So, there are currently six vaccines that we have identified as vaccines that we were hopeful would come to fruition. And with each - with several of those, if not each of them - I can follow up with you on the exact number - we have manufacturing contracts. We have manufactured doses with several of these.

    But it is - we - they have to come to completion. So, with each new vaccine that comes, along with that will come millions and millions of doses that have already been manufactured in time.

    But, currently, of the four vaccines in phase three clinical trial - Moderna, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Janssen - two of those have gotten to the point of applying for an EUA. So, really, it's incumbent on the manufacturer and those going through the phase three clinical trial to get that data to us, and then it's manufactured and ready to go.


    So the moment someone else gets to a 94 percent effectiveness rate, or whatever the barometer is, we will have those doses.

    Yes. Yes.