democracy does not just look like this. it looks like this. where americans can see democracy at work. where citizens are truly informed and a republic thrives. get informed straight from the sources on c-span, unfiltered, unbiased. word for word from the nation's capital to wherever you are. the opinion that matters the most is your own. this is what democracy looks like. c-span powered by cable. >> now, white house press secretary karine jean-pierre and deeann criswell brief reporters on a range of issues including the wildfires on the hawaiian island of our weight now considered one of the deadliest in u.s. history. >> i will turn it over to the fema administrator who is joining us from hawaii to share an update on the response to the

maui wildfires much of which she briefed the president on last night. she has been in the hawaii since 2:00 a.m. saturday morning. she is still there right now. but before i do that i want to once again say as a president said last week that he and the first lady are praying for families who are grieving their loved ones and for everyone that has suffered devastating losses of land and property as a result of the wildfires in maui. the president continues to stay closely engaged with his team to ensure a robust whole of government response continues. yesterday he received two briefings from administrator criswell on the ongoing response. the president has stayed engaged with the hawaiian governor and they have spoken twice in recent days to make sure he gets every resource he needs.

the president also spoke by phone on friday with the senator . with all of these officials the president has had a comprehensive discussion about the remaining challenges that need to prioritize the safety and health of residents that have been displaced in long-term recovery. as the president said in his remarks last thursday he is committed to ensuring hawaii has everything they need in the days, weeks and months ahead. early last week president began marshaling a whole of government response to the wildfires within hours of receiving the disaster regular -- disaster declaration request. he dispatched a fema administrator, the u.s. fire administrator and other officials to work with state and local officials who were assessing needs on the ground and they are providing regular updates to him in the white house team. there are already more than 300 fema employees on the ground eating response efforts.

fema has provided 50,000 meals, 5000 cots and 10,000 blankets to the county for distribution. the coast guard and the navy third fleet -- the day after the fires started and the marines provided blackhawk hall lookup to -- blackhawk helicopters. administrator criswell will provide a response to the -- will provide an update to the government response. >> i want to make sure that you can hear me ok. >> i think we need to turn it up, guys.

>> i met with some of our federal officials that have been deployed and i also had an opportunity to talk to survivors and hear from them the harrowing stories of survival as they evacuated from the area and sought shelter. while we are here and as we continue to monitor the situation on the ground we continue to prioritize the safety and the well-being of the hawaiian residents in coordination with state officials and all of our federal partners. as residents continue to mourn the loss of their friends and loved ones and neighbors, the loss of their homes and way of life, we know and want them to know that we are mourning with them. nothing can prepare you for what i saw during my time here. nothing can prepare them for the

emotional toll of the impact that this event has taken on them. and as you heard i have been in continuous communication with the president since the fires started. i have been giving him and his team updates letting him know what the federal family is doing to support everything the hawaiian government has asked for. as part of that fema has activated our transitional shelter assistance program. this is fema's hotel program and this will allow them to move from shelters into hotels temporarily as they develop a long-term strategy. this is in coordination with the governor who has also set up a program providing airbnb rooms or other hotel rooms to support residents. we will be working in close coronation with each other to make sure that everyone finds a temporary solution as they

develop their plans for rebuilding. we are also focused on getting funds into people's hands so we can help with some of their critical and urgent needs. this is called critical needs assistance and it provides $700 initially to provide food, water, medical supplies and other critical needs need right now. this is in addition to what they will be able to be eligible for, cash assistance for the loss of their homes or personal property . i encourage anyone that has not registered for fema assistance to contact 321-fema to get into the system and start the process. we also have over 300 personnel on the ground. [indiscernible] the response and recovery efforts in hawaii are going to

be a foal government response. we rely on the expertise of dozens of our partner agencies to make sure we have the right resources to support the recovery needs for the area and to make sure we are successful in finding leave to survivors. we also are making sure we get all of the appropriate information out to survivors. we want to make sure that our outreach and messaging is culturally responsive and to make sure we get messaging out to people so they know what is available to them. we have been on the ground since day one. we have an office here on a wahoo that is staffed with personnel working side-by-side with the state of hawaii every day. we were able to quickly integrate in with the governors team. our regional administrator was already on the ground for pre-existing meeting so he was able to connect with the governor.

and our federal partners, the coast guard and the department of defense are providing life-saving rescues. the coming days and weeks are going to be tough. they are going to be difficult as people acknowledge what they have lost and what the road ahead looks like. we will be with the people of hawaii every step of the way. we are already seeing a tremendous amount of effort and resiliency across the community. they are coming together to support each other as they work through what the plan forward looks like. together with our voluntary agencies and federal partners we will be in hawaii every step of the way to help residents take control of their recovery and help them rebuild in a way that will make them more resilient. and with that i will turn it over for questions. reporter: as i'm sure you know

there was a serious housing shortage in hawaii even before this disaster. if -- is fema looking at building any kind of temporary housing or temporary schools on maui while people work to rebuild given the fact that it could take them several years to rebuild their homes? and even if they are out there looking for somewhere for their families to stay short-term, it is possible they will not find it. >> the governor and i spoke at length about the housing shortage and what the challenges would be. he had already conducted a housing assessment and had plans in place for things he was going to do to increase the housing. that is going to give us a place to start from. he already had plans in place on where he wanted to expand housing options. we can combine that with our

federal program to help make that a reality. this is going to require every tool we have in the toolbox. we cannot rely on the traditional programs that we do in the continental u.s. we are working closely with the governor to better understand all of the available options. whether that means we bring in tiny houses or transitional housing units to help him create the communities he wants. we are not taking anything off the table and we will be very creative until people find a place to stay longer term. reporter: it is difficult to get staff and equipment and resources from the continental u.s. to hawaii but do you believe you now have the staffing you need to do a house by house search of the disaster area looking for the deceased in an expeditious manner?

>> as i said in my opening remarks, we have an office here on the island. that allowed us to integrate immediately and it was through that coronation that we were able to move our initial urban search and rescue team quickly to get into the area and begin the process. as we have learned, we have sent more personnel as well as more cadaver dogs to come into the area and they are working in conjunction with the maui fire department and sheriff's office to make sure we are doing this in a methodical way but also very respectful of the community to make sure we find everybody that is unaccounted for. i do believe we have the right amount of personnel on the ground integrated with the local officials to do this. reporter: what is your best estimate of how long that process will take? >> this is a really complicated

situation. the dogs can only work so long because of how hot the temperatures are. there are also hotspots so we have fire crews cooling down the area so the dogs can go in there. i hate to give an exact estimate because we want to be precise, methodical and respectful. reporter: is it possible for the president to visit without interfering with the rescue effort? >> we are focused on making sure we are doing everything we can to account for everyone that has been unaccounted for. the president has given me the space to make sure i am bringing in all of the appropriate federal personnel to do that. we will continue to do that. right now he wants to make sure we have all of the resources and space needed and not to disrupt operations. reporter: no visit by the president is on the schedule at this moment? >> we just want to make sure

that we are working to help this community identify everyone that is missing. reporter: has the federal government been able to fulfill every request that the state has made so far and are there any delays that you are aware of given the challenges of hawaii's location? >> the resources needed -- we continue to work with the governor and his team to better understand what is needed. as soon as he makes a request we get that into the process. even if you think you might need something a week from now or two weeks from now i've told the governor let us know now. if we don't need it we will turn it around. at this point i have no awareness of anything we have not been able to have. this will be a long-term recovery operation. we have the resources we need today.

reporter: you mention how this is an ongoing and lengthy process. cadaver dogs have only recovered -- have only covered 3% of the area. can you give us a sense of how -- how many people should we brace for? hundreds of deaths? >> i would refer you to the stateboard and what they think the estimate would be. you have to understand the situation on the ground right now. it is extremely hazardous. there are structures that are partially standing that engineers have to consider first to make sure they are safer the search and rescue teams to go into and for the dogs to go into. he also have to make sure that the dogs can continue their work. we want to make sure that we are working as quickly as possible but that we do it in a way that is a methodical, appropriate and

culturally sensitive to make sure we can account for everybody. we need to give them the space and time to do that. we have brought in additional cadaver dogs. i believe there are a few more coming and additional search and rescue personnel coming. reported: there are at least tens of thousands of active duty military personnel in hawaii. i believe they have not yet gotten involved in the recovery action yet. will fema get that military personnel involved in the recovery effort or anything along those lines? >> the department of defense is one of our strongest partners. we have worked with them on all of these different types of severe weather events we are responding to. [indiscernible] we have already worked with the

army corps of engineers and we will continue to work with the governor to understand what resources he needs and we will bring in whatever federal partner we can to support that. it is nice that we have a large letteri presence here that we can tap into to help us expedite getting resources in place faster. reporter: the administration included $12 billion for the fema disaster relief fund in the supplemental request to congress last week. even the extent of the wildfire damage, have you considered asking for more to pluck up that request and will you submit that to congress? >> as we were monitoring the fund, but we took into account was events like this so we could support initial response efforts. we do have adequate funding to

do this response we are doing right now. we will need additional funding to continue other projects. reporter: can you speak to the issue of the ongoing communications -- there were towers down. how much is the inability to communicate with the citizens and each other still an ongoing part of what you are dealing with and what can be done to augment communication capability? >> the initial communications -- what we are focused on is making sure we do have continuous communications to help people understand what resources are available, what the next steps in the process will be and where they can go to get information. there will be plenty of time for us to go back and learn lessons

from how the initial event unfolded but we need to stay focused right now and making sure they have accurate information on what resources are available to make sure they understand they can register for assistance with a fema and that we will be able to provide them additional support. reporter: to follow, cell towers are down and people do not have access to their devices. is there a concern that people cannot get the information because of the extent of the devastation? >> there are some cell towers down but where i was yesterday, i went to three different shelters on saturday and one on sunday, people had communication but we also have personnel in the shelters and there are multiple shelters around the island and we continue to send people into the shelters and we will stand up a disaster recovery center here in the coming days which will be a one-stop shop that will have

federal personnel, state personnel so people can start the process of rebuilding. reporter: funding, fema's own estimates suggested even just part of the recovery could top north of $5 billion. where are your estimates currently? how much are you communicating to congress and the white house that you will need for the recovery? >> there are a lot of reports out there right now talking about the potential cost of the disaster. fema has not put out any potential estimates. there are other reports out there. it is far too early to tell what this whole cost is going to be. as we continue to get better assessments of the infrastructure damage, we will have a better idea of what the total cost will be.

we have to ensure right now that we are doing everything we can that it is safe for responders to go in. reporter: do you have reason to believe there are any survivors currently unaccounted for? >> i think what we will find is people that have relocated somewhere and they will get reconnected at their family members. sometimes it is just a matter of making sure we can make that connection. we have a family assistance center that will help with that. but we are making sure we have teams in place. reporter: referring to reports about the activation of the warning sirens early on, will there be an investigation? and when you look at other

cities across the country that may be facing a similar threat due to increased vegetation dryness from climate change, is there a prevention plan in place? >> i would refer you to a state on what they are going to do to respond to the situation. we always want to look at lessons learned. as far -- as directed by congress we have a wildfire commission which has been making recommendations to congress on what we can do to support the building resilience in that that goes to congress later this year. it will have some good suggestions and recommendations on what we can do. ms. jean-pierre: thank you for

all you are doing. >> thank you for everything. ms. jean-pierre: safe travels. ok. as a reminder for all residents out there to continue listening to the state and local officials and register for disaster assistance. as a website that the administrator just shared with all of you. i will repeat it. www.disasterassistance.gov. we will be in maui supporting the survivors of this tragedy as you have just heard from the administrator, as long as it takes, providing all of the resources needed for recovery. i have a couple of more things and then i will get to your questions. as you all know, wincing as the first anniversary of the president signing the inflation reduction act into law. throughout the week, the president and his ministration will travel across the country to recognize the impact of this historic law. tomorrow, the president will

travel to milwaukee where he will visit a clean energy many factoring company and the vice president will travel to seattle, washington and visit a company leading in the construction of energy efficient buildings. she would be joined by the second gentleman and energy secretary jennifer. they will hold a celebration on wednesday in the east room where the president will speak alongside the epa administrator, speaker pelosi, leader schumer and many others. also the domestic policy advisor will join us at the briefing room. these officials and others traveling throughout the week will discuss how the inflation reduction act is key to building the economy from the middle out in the bottom up. it does that in five key ways. it is the largest investment in climate action in history and puts us on a path to reduce emissions by 50% by 2030. secondly, the inflation reduction act invest in america

with more than $110 billion in private sector investments and clean energy. manufacturing announced in the last year alone. it is lowering energy costs with several utility cummings already, announcing consumer rebates including $400 million from florida power & light. it is lowering health care costs by capping insulin at $35 for seniors. it is allowing many to negotiate lower prescription drug prices. and lastly, the inflation reduction act is making the wealthy pay more of their fair share by cracking down on wealthy tax cheats and requiring corporations to pay a 15% minimum tax. that is a lot of good done by one historic piece of legislation. the president and his team are excited to bring back message to the american people throughout the week.

without. -- with that. reporter: can you discuss the president's personal reaction as a father of the special counsel being appointed to investigate the hunter biden probe? ms. jean-pierre: this case was handled independently by the justice department under the leadership of a trump appointed u.s. attorney. this is consistent with what the president has been saying for a long while, going way back to his campaign days, that he would restore the department of justice independence from lyrical interference. we want to make sure that we continue that. since the white house has not been involved, i would refer you to any questions about this specifically to the department of justice and certainly to hunter biden's personal representative. i will say it we heard this from the president, he loves his son and he is proud of him

overcoming his addiction and how he is continuing to build his life. i don't have anything else to add to that. >> on his statement on the negotiations with the evacuation earlier today. can you talk more about why the president felt the need to issue the statement now? negotiation of another prospect -- is it exceeding? ms. jean-pierre: the white house has fairly regularly urged employers and unions to continue negotiating in good faith to reach an agreement that benefits both sides. this is what the president is doing with this statement. he feels strongly that the transition to a clean energy economy should provide a win-win opportunity for companies and workers, that is stated in the statement he -- you saw from the president. it is fairly regular that we do

this and so as we have said many times, the president believes in collective bargaining and that is what we want to see here. reporter: given what the admin's about the perils of the president traveling to hawaii now, does he want to travel there eventually to assess the damage and meet survivors? ms. jean-pierre: we don't have anything set at this time. we will have conversations with the admonition, the governor of hawaii on what the opportunities might be and what that may look like for a trip. right now we don't have anything to share. >> will he speak publicly about the death toll? ms. jean-pierre: you heard from him already on thursday. certainly you will hear from him continuously this week as he is going to be traveling. i don't have anything to share on that. but this is something the president truly is deeply concerned about. that is why you heard we had the administrator zoom in from where

she is in hawaii to take your questions. there are more than 300 fema personnel on the ground. there are more than one dozen federal agencies who are taking actions and that is including the coast guard, the u.s. navy. you heard me say that at the top. the department of defense. ima has staged more than 50,000 meals, 75,000 liters of water and cotton blankets. we will continue to be available and a whole of government response in maui to make sure they have everything that they need. you are going to continue certainly to hear from us on this issue. >> what is the concern from the white house about a potential work stoppage at u.s. auto plants given a tense nature of the negotiation deco ms. jean-pierre: i can say that president believes in collective bargaining. that is what the statement lays out. we saw how that worked well.

the teamsters and ups, they were able to come to the table and come to a neutrally beneficial agreement on both sides. we saw that with the west coast and we have seen this many times before. that is what the president wants to see and what he supports. we're going to have to be hopeful and positive that they will come to an agreement. reporter: we've heard china is a ticking time bomb and the chinese growth estimates it is higher. ms. jean-pierre: the president speaks candidly and he will continue to do so about the p.r.c. and our agreements -- disagreements. he has not shied away from that. it should come as no surprise that sometimes he will have tough things to say about each other and we certainly are not alone in that, in those comments. the president believes that diplomacy, including the recent high-level engagements undertaken by u.s. officials over the past few months is a

way to manage our competition but it is the way he believes is the best way we can lead forward especially as we are talking about foreign-policy policy and national security. that is what the president will do. he has never shied away on sharing his comments candidly. >> the israeli official is visiting washington this week. what is the status between these talks between israel, the united states? ms. jean-pierre: it is a broad-spectrum. they will talk about a broad spectrum of issues. this is part of routine engagement, nothing new here. we said in recent readouts of engagements with our is really partners, we agreed to continue to work together on several issues and stay in regular contact. this is part of that conversation and the agreement both sides have come to. reporter: now that the

investigation is in the hands of a special counsel, which has more sweeping authority, can you say with certainty that david weiss is not going to honor any connections between the president and his sons business dealings? ms. jean-pierre: i have said before the president was not in business with his son. that still stands. there will be dutch anything else with this case, i would refer to the department of justice. reporter: does it not seem coincidental that the president is facing this in the middle of an election? is he frustrated? ms. jean-pierre: here's what i can say about both questions. if you think about where republicans in congress have tried to do for years, they have been making claims and allegations of dust about the president over and over again. they have been investigating every single angle of this. and looking at for any evidence

to back those allegations. that what they've done for years and months and we have seen it over the past couple of weeks. the result of that, if you ask what we have seen from that, they keep turning up documents and witnesses showing the president was not involved, never discussed these business dealings and did nothing wrong. there has been zero evidence showing otherwise. that is what we have seen over the past several months and years. i will leave it at that. >> the criticism over the appointment of the special counsel who criticized the deal but he pushed through, and has been rejected. but the attorney for hunter biden also suggested if the official counsel brings any more charges that have already been brought it would be because something other than the fact of the law how come into play, suggesting he could potentially apply political pressure.

you had criticism in different areas from the white house, can the white house assure people that the case involving the president's son is being handled fairly? ms. jean-pierre: anything that has been said by hunters representative, would have to refer to his representative. what i can say is that the department of justice is independent. that is what the president believes. he believes the white house will not politicize the department of justice. this was done under the leadership of a trump appointed u.s. attorney as you all know. i'm not going to add anything more to that. reporter: to answer questions? ms. jean-pierre: i would refer to the burma justice. >> on iran. mike pence said this would amount to the largest ransom payment in american history and the israeli prime minister said

arraignments -- arrangements around not dismantling their info structure will go to terrorist elements sponsored by iran. most if not all americans support bringing home hostages. but is the adventure should not concerned that talking are giving iran $6 billion, they are putting marines on commercial vessels to bolster security against this state? ms. jean-pierre: you asked two questions so i will take the first one. i want to be clear that the negotiations for the release and return of the united states are ongoing -- to the united states of these individuals. they are ongoing. what is being discussed is not a payment of any kind. these are u.s. dollars. these are not even taxpayer dollars. what is being pursued is an arrangement wherein the iranian people with the oversight of the u.s., the treasury department, and aided organizations avail

themselves of iranian funds that have been held in a south korean account since 2018. this is the money the previous of ministration allowed iraq to make in keeping special accounts. they let iran spend billions of dollars and got nothing in return. the only thing we have discussed is a process through which these funds could be assessed for humanitarian purposes. we have full visibility about whether money is going on in for what purpose. we are discussing a good deal. we are still limiting how they can use their own money through this deal. the iranian people, with whom we have no quarrel, must get a break from the oppression, hunger and poverty that iran has afflicted upon them. the release of the nuclear deal, this positive step is not linked to any other issue or about anything else. we have not changed any aspect of our approach as it relates to

iran, which continues to focus on deterrence, pressure and diplomacy. diplomacy is an important part in how the president likes to move forward when it comes to foreign policy and this is about bringing home these u.s. citizens, reuniting them with their loved ones. nothing else. reporter: the u.s. relationship at this critical time? ms. jean-pierre: this is about bringing home u.s. citizens, bring them to their families. it is not about anything else. we have been very clear about that and we are going to make sure we do everything we can to get these u.s. citizens, who are unlawful dutch are lawfully detained, back home to their families. that is the president's priority. reporter: castro said there is ongoing cooperation between the justice department, not until after the justice department lawsuit is concluded.

there has not been a response. ms. jean-pierre: the department of justice is dealing with the legal aspect. i don't have any response to this. reporter: if there is any comment on a three-year-old migrant child who died while traveling -- because of governor abbott going to chicago. ms. jean-pierre: the loss of any child is heartbreaking so our condolences go out to the child's family. that is terrific news and horrific to hear that. i do have to say, governor abbott has an opportunity to work with us on this. on an issue that certainly is important for the american people. when you think about the border and dealing with a broken system , but what he continues to do is he continues to move forward in a dangerous and taking unlawful

action. it is undermining what we and the president are trying to do, trying to deal with a broken system in a humane way, trying to do it in a way that is effective and we have seen has border plan management be effective. it is unfortunate that he continues to do this. it is not just put a young migrant or migrants at risk. it also puts at risk the border patrol who are trying to do their jobs. and he gets in the way that every day. i'm very sad to hear about the death of this three-year-old. our hearts go out to the family. >> has the president given any advice that he should not speak about hawaii? he spoke the other day and -- the death toll is now the worst in history. he had an opportunity to stop by and do you expect he will have any standalone comments about the new level of loss and

devastation? ms. jean-pierre: you can expect to hear from the president on this issue. it is something that is deeply concerning to him when it comes to the wildfires we have seen in maui. that is why we have had the initiator here and why she was on tv last couple of days on the ground. she can speak directly to this. i just said you will hear from the president on this. i don't have anything to announce but he is the president. you're going to hear from him. heard from him on thursday and you heard from the administrator for the past several days. what the president wants to make sure is that maui and -- the government of hawaii has everything they need to support the people on the ground. it has been devastating. just mentioned the loss of life. you just heard from the admin a straighter who said she has been on the ground for two days and we have been there since day

one. you heard there are 300 personnel on the ground. this is something the president takes very seriously and you heard from the governor of hawaii, saying how he appreciates the efforts and what we have been able to do from the federal government. you're going to hear from the president. i don't have any thing to share this time. but let's not forget we did hear from him on thursday when he was in utah ahead of talking about the pact act, which is an initiative that is important to many americans. he took that time to speak to it. i'm sure you will be hearing from the president. reporter: has president biden spoken to any family memories -- family members of citizens or plan to in the future? ms. jean-pierre: i don't have any -- i can't speak to that. but he has speaking to a government dustbins being to the government and he has stayed in indication in close touch with the admin a straighter and the

team is negatively updating him on what is occurring. >> the number of democrats and progressives have called for this to be the climate emergency. has the president considered that label? ms. jean-pierre: i know he has been asked this question a couple times. this is a president who has taken the climate crisis seriously. he has called an emergency since day one, saying it is one of the crises we had to deal with coming into the a ministration. he sees it as an existential threat. of our times. for that reason, what he did automatically was declare it as a basis for emergency action under the defense reduction act. it sets a quiet -- it sets aside -- and to build out our electric grid. it has employed tens of millions

more to stand up manufacturing and source critical materials for electric vehicles and use the is to fight wildfires made worse by quite a change. to something the president has taken seriously. if you think about the inflation reduction act, as you hear me speak to many times, we are about to sell by the one-year anniversary of that, which has given the most investment in dealing with climate change than any other piece of legislation. what republicans in congress are trying to do, they're trying to take that away and repeal the ira. that is a problem. while we are trying to deal with this existential threat, this climate change crisis, the president is doing everything that he can to make sure that we are dealing with this in a way that actually leads to results. that is what the president is going to continue to do. reporter: on hawaii.

-- ms. jean-pierre: i'm sorry. reporter: has a conclusion been reached sumwalt just following their response like the alarms not going off? ms. jean-pierre: i know there is an investigation on that question. i'm not going to get ahead of that. do you have control of that? [laughter] all right. there's only a briefing happening now. there is going to be an investigation done. i'm not going to get ahead of that so i would refer you to state officials. what we are focused on and i have been very clear, the initiator has been clear on providing residents of hawaii with all the support and resources they need at this time, that is going to be our focus. we will let the local government deal with the investigation. reporter: there are inflation reports -- and privately we

desperately controlled reports. they said there was negligence. his biden committed to ending for-profit detention facilities? can you explain why the administration has not done this? ms. jean-pierre: that is some thing i would want to talk to our team about before responding to the report. i think the president is still committed to that, to what he laid out during his campaign. we just don't have anything to share beyond that or beyond his commitment that he is certainly going to continue to stay focused on. what i don't have anything specific on where we are without ice detention issue. reporter: the aclu has said that under president biden, a larger percentage of ice detainees are

in these privately run facilities impaired to the trumpet meditation. i want to understand how that is possible with the commitment you have expressed. ms. jean-pierre: let me first say, we have been very clear, we want the system -- we have done every thing we can to make sure we move forward in a humane way. that is something we have been committed to and a path we have gone down. as it relates to the ice detention, the private detention, would have to go back to the team and see where we are. i have not seen the investigative reporting you all have done. what i want to make sure i answer in a full way. i am sure we will get back to you on that. welcome to the briefing room. reporter: thank you mentioned earlier they attorney appointed

by former president trump. the fact that many democrats, many allies of the white house have used to defend a plea deal that was previously in place as well as the five-year timeframe the investigation has been taking. i'm wondering if the president believes that appointing a special counsel or transitioning to special counsel bolsters the independence ms. jean-pierre: of the investigation. ms. jean-pierre:--of the investigation. ms. jean-pierre: i'm not going to speak to that from here. we believe in partner justice. reporter: how has the white house responded to criticisms that the president should not have been vacationing at the beach as the maui crisis became the worst wildfire in the country? ms. jean-pierre: the president is deeply concerned about the people in maui. to the point where he has a whole of government approach

here as he has done many times to deal with these wildfires in hawaii. we have heard from the administrator, fema has been on the ground dealing with this, more than 300 fema personnel. we talked about the 75,000 liters of water and thousands of cots out there, like it's. there are more than a dozen federal agencies who are dealing with this issue right now that we are currently seeing in maui. it is a devastating site. the president and the first lady have been very clear about offering their condolences and making sure we continue the whole of government approach. the government -- we are continuing to be there for the government of maui. we have seen this before. he received two updates from the fema administrator.

the governor stressed yesterday within six hours of receiving hawaii and the request, there will be a response. governor green described this as having provided amazing support for recovery. the president was able to do that within those six hours. the president spoke to senator last night and thanks the president for the support of federal agencies for residents of hawaii. and so has the senator. we have heard from the president and i will quote him for what he said on thursday. we have dutch has directed that we have searched these firefighters, first responders and emergency personnel going around-the-clock. he will make sure that is it has everything you need from the federal government to recover. the president will concern -- is

concerned and will be there for the government of hawaii for as long as it takes and that is a commitment. reporter: should the american people see him on the phones rather than on the beach? ms. jean-pierre: you've got full records -- reports of when he has talked to the governor. we heard from him talking to the senator, directly from the ministry or. and you heard from the governor and the senators on the ground saying how much they appreciated the work of the federal government. i think that matters, that the folks who are on the ground, the elected officials are saying they are receiving the help that they need to deal with this devastating issue. that is what you are going to continue to hear from this administration and you will continue to see. he has been there from -- for two whole days on the ground fiber president -- by the

president's request. they're making to the people of maui have what they have. talk about a dozen agencies on the ground helping and assisting, hundreds of fema personnel, that is what matters for making sure they are actually seen on the ground. the people who know how to work this and how to deal with these devastating events, who could be helpful on the ground by the request of this president. reporter: on congress, i'm curious about the conversation that is been going on that brought that. secondly, any concern from the president or administration about ms. jean-pierre: we are grateful for the bipartisan support we have seen on ukraine since russia's unprovoked war. it has been a full-scale

invasion from russia. that support is going to continue, as we work together to make sure the ukrainian people have everything they need to fight bravely for their freedom. that's what we are hoping to continue to see. we believe we will continue to have that. as it relates to our engagement with congress, the senior administrator officials, the director, and our legislative director has -- have had numerous calls with both parties to explain the need and highlight the emergency nature of this request. we have been having those regular conversations. we will continue to engage with congress. that is something we do regularly, and to underscore the importance of delivering this. this has been done on a bipartisan way. we believe this will continue in a bipartisan way. the ukrainian people are fighting for their democracy, their freedom. we believe that it is important

we continue to support them. russia's unprovoked war, full out war on the ukrainian people. with that, we will see you on wednesday in the briefing room. thanks everybody. >> today, treasury secretary janet yellen delivers remarks on the impact of the inflation reduction act on the economy. from las vegas, watch live at 4:40 p.m. eastern on c-span, c-span now, our free mobile video app, or online at c-span.org. >> this week, c-span brings you campaign 2024 coverage, from the iowa state fair. watch chats with the republican presidential candidate, hosted by the iowa governor. hear from