Leavitt says Trump wants "unified proposal" from Iranian negotiators amid "internal division"

[0:00] Hi, I'm Lindsay Reiser. Let's go now to outside the White House, where Press Secretary Caroline [0:04] Levitt is speaking with reporters. There's obviously a lot of internal division. This [0:07] is a battle between the pragmatists and the hardliners in Iran right now, and the president [0:11] wants a unified response. And so as we await that response, there's a ceasefire with the [0:17] military and kinetic strikes. But Operation Economic Fury continues, and the effective [0:23] and successful naval blockade continues as well of ships and vessels that are moving to and from [0:30] Iranian ports. We are completely strangling their economy through this blockade. They're [0:36] losing $500 million a day. The Karg Island is completely full. They can't move oil in and [0:41] out. They can't even pay their own people as a result of this economic leverage that President [0:45] Trump has inflicted over them. So he's satisfied with that as we await their response. And we [0:51] will see. The president has not set a firm deadline to receive an Iranian proposal, unlike some [0:56] of the reporting I've seen today. Ultimately, the timeline will be dictated by the commander [1:00] in chief and the president of the United States. [1:02] Is there then who is in charge in Iran and who the administration is even negotiating with? [1:08] Well, we obviously know who we're negotiating with because our negotiating team has sat down [1:12] with those individuals in person. But obviously, there's a lot of internal fraction and internal [1:17] division, which again, just proves the effectiveness of Operation Epic Fury in the first place. [1:22] Their regime and many of its leaders for nearly five decades have been wiped off for the face [1:29] of planet Earth. So again, the president's offering them a little bit of flexibility because we want [1:33] to see a unified proposal to the president's very strong proposal. And he's made his red lines [1:39] very clear. Again, the United States maintains control over this situation, leverage over the [1:45] Iranian regime. Not only have they been significantly weakened and obliterated militarily, [1:49] but they are losing economically and financially every single moment that passes with this blockade. [1:55] So the president is going to continue to lead the free world, to run the United States of America [2:01] as we await the Iranian response. [2:03] Thanks a lot, Caroline. Two questions. What's the ultimate goal of this blockade? [2:09] Is it indefinite? And is the ceasefire that's in place right now also indefinite? [2:14] Look, again, I'm not going to set a timetable for the president. He has not done that, and I won't. [2:20] I know there's been some anonymous sourced reporting that there was maybe a three to five day [2:26] deadline. That is not true. The president has not set a deadline himself. Ultimately, [2:30] he will dictate the timetable. And again, he is satisfied with the naval blockade. [2:36] And he understands that Iran is in a very weak position and the cards are in [2:40] President Trump's hands right now. [2:44] On the issue of Virginia redistricting, he weighed in this afternoon, concerns about [2:49] why didn't he campaign more actively against this referendum? [2:55] Why not spend time on true social encouraging people to vote no before the vote, [3:01] then raise concerns after? [3:03] That's a question that's political by nature. As you know, I'm not part of the president's [3:08] political team anymore. I do sit here at the White House as a government employee. [3:12] Look, the president has a lot on his plate, a lot on his schedule. He did host a telephone call [3:18] prior to the election the night before, but he's made his position on the result of this election [3:24] clear to all of us. Mary Bruce. [3:26] The president is not setting a deadline with this fire right now, but this war has already [3:30] gone on longer than he said it would initially. How long should Americans be prepared for this war [3:35] to go on? [3:36] Well, look, I think President Trump ultimately will dictate the timeline and he will do so [3:41] when he feels is in the best interest of the United States and the American people. [3:45] Caroline. [3:46] Go ahead. [3:46] Thank you very much. [3:47] So in the same day, the president said that he doesn't want to extend the ceasefire and the bombs [3:52] would start falling after the end of the ceasefire. And unilaterally, he declared that the ceasefire [3:58] would be extended indefinitely. Iranian state media are openly mocking the president of the United [4:04] States and saying we didn't even request the extension of the ceasefire. What's the response [4:09] from the president of the United States? [4:11] The response is you guys all see a lot of different messaging coming out of Iran, [4:17] a lot of different rhetoric and language from them. I would caution you to take anything that [4:22] they say at face value. What we've seen is that what they say publicly is much different than what [4:27] they concede to the United States and our negotiating team privately. I've said that repeatedly to [4:31] all of you in the news media and you should take our word. [4:33] There's been some reporting about a possible bailout for Spirit Airlines. Can you update us on those [4:40] talks and why does the administration think it's a good investment to buy into a bankrupt airline? [4:45] Well, I understand the airline is bankrupt because the previous administration blocked the merger, [4:51] which was probably not a wise move. Obviously, this is something the Commerce Department and the [4:56] president are tracking. I don't have any updates or announcements, but the aviation industry is [5:01] very important to this president. In this White House, millions of Americans depend on it. [5:05] We want to see the best possible outcome, but I don't have any announcements today. [5:11] Thank you so much, Caroline. So how long is the president willing to wait for the Iranians to come [5:17] to the table? And does he trust the Iranians to come to the table? [5:21] Again, I've now been asked this question a few different times, a few different ways. I'm not [5:25] going to set a deadline. [5:25] Thank you, Caroline. [5:29] A lot of the negotiations are, it seems, public statements that we've seen the president come [5:33] on true social and the Iranians on X, a lot of back and forth there. Did the president's true [5:38] social post throughout the day ahead of these negotiations have a negative impact on negotiations? [5:42] I think look at where we are right now. The president chose to extend the ceasefire because [5:48] it's Iran who needs to get their acts together. The United States and President Trump have been [5:52] very clear in our demands and our red lines and what we need to see in the best interest of [5:57] the American people and our country and our allies from the very beginning. So the short answer [6:02] to your question is no. Does the White House have an understanding at this point of who [6:07] inside of Iran will have the final sign-off? The White House and our intelligence community [6:15] certainly has a good understanding. However, we want to see a unified response and a unified proposal [6:21] to the previous question's point. You see a lot of different messaging on social media from many [6:27] people within the regime and a lot of that public nonsense is not what we hear from them privately. [6:33] But again, we want a unified response and that's what the president is awaiting. [6:38] I'll leave our intelligence community and the president to decide. Nick, go ahead. [6:43] Thank you, Caroline. Does the White House have a response to the DOJ's indictment of the SPLC [6:48] as well as the allegations that donated funds were used to actually fund the very hate groups [6:55] and racist groups that it denounced? Yeah, I saw the indictment yesterday. I saw the acting attorney [6:59] general and FBI director do a press conference on it. It was quite shocking to me to learn of the [7:05] egregious violations of the law of the Southern Poverty Law Center towards committing. And I [7:10] think that's a story that should be on the front page of every newspaper in this country because [7:14] they've obviously been duping their supporters and the American taxpayers for far too long. It's a criminal [7:19] organization, clearly. And that's not our DOJ saying that or Todd Blanche saying that. That's a grand jury [7:27] indictment saying that. We have been listening to White House press secretary Caroline Levitt there [7:36] speak with reporters outside the White House after an interview with Fox News. She made some news in [7:41] the Iran war saying that the president can be flexible while waiting for a unified proposal saying [7:46] that the Iran regime is made up of pragmatists and hardliners and they're sort of, it appears to be [7:50] battling one another in regards to this proposal, which is a response to a proposal the president [7:56] sent, she said, in which he makes his red lines very clear. She also said that he is satisfied with [8:02] strangling their economy with the U.S. naval blockade as we await their response and there is no [8:07] firm deadline. She also said the U.S. maintains control of the situation and leverage over the regime. [8:14] So certainly mostly an Iran focused question. There are Ed O'Keefe asking a question about the president [8:21] in terms of his involvement with elections. We saw that Virginia passed their redistricting bill last [8:30] night. Secretary Levitt had said that he had made his position on the results clear and also said that [8:39] that was more of a question for his political team.