*EPF101 07/01/2002
Transcript: White House Press Briefing, July 1
(Bush trip to Ohio, Karen Hughes, Al Gore, terrorism, International Criminal Court, Bosnia/peacekeeping) (1250)

White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer briefed reporters on Air Force One July 1 as they traveled with President Bush on a day trip to Ohio.

Following is the White House transcript:

(begin transcript)

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Cleveland, Ohio)

July 1, 2002

PRESS GAGGLE WITH ARI FLEISCHER

Aboard Air Force One En Route to Ohio

9:25 A.M. EDT

MR. FLEISCHER: Good morning. The President this morning had his usual intelligence briefings. Then he departed the White House. He's currently on Air Force One -- so are you. The President, at 10:25 a.m., will participate in the roundtable with service providers, and then at 11:15 a.m., make remarks to a group -- let me look -- the United Way of Cleveland is hosting the President's speech at Cleveland's downtown historic State Theater. The speech will be given to an audience of about 3,000 people drawn from local charities, school choice organizations and non-profit community groups.

And the President is going to focus on one of his most important messages, which is how to bring help to people in need. And the President will specifically talk about welfare reform, faith-based programs, educational improvement, and increasing home ownership.

QUESTION: Is Director -- coming?

MR. FLEISCHER: Let me look. I'll tell you in a second.

And then the President will return to the White House where, this afternoon, he has a series of meetings with Cabinet advisors and staff. And then that's it for the day.

One final note for you. I just want to remind the press corps that you all are invited to the good-bye party -- or a good-bye party for Karen Hughes tomorrow, on Mary Matalin's balcony, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.n. -- in case you haven't gotten the word. Please be sure to RSVP to Karen's office by the end of today so people will know how much -- how many Doritos to buy. It's an off-the-record little soiree tomorrow evening, 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. to say good-bye to Karen. Karen would like to make sure as many reporters as possible could come.

And with that, I'm happy to take your questions.

Q: Why is that event closed?

MR. FLEISCHER: The roundtables have been closed for quite some time.

Q: Why are we going to Cleveland? There doesn't seem to be any political problems there.

MR. FLEISCHER: Are you suggesting this is a political --

Q: No, I'm asking, why we're going to Cleveland.

MR. FLEISCHER: Because the President likes Ohio. (Laughter.) This is just part of the President's routine travel to different regions of the country to promote his message.

Q: Is he going to mention vouchers today?

MR. FLEISCHER: I think that's highly likely.

Q: Is he going to actually use the word, "vouchers"?

MR. FLEISCHER: The President typically looks at it as school choice.

Q: Is that a yes or a no? Is he going to use the word, "vouchers"?

MR. FLEISCHER: As you know, the President speaks extemporaneously; far be it from me to know ahead of time each and every syllable that he would utter.

Q: A couple more things. I'm sorry, I'm full of questions today. Is the administration considering raising the code from yellow to orange for the 4th of July?

MR. FLEISCHER: The short answer is I don't know. The administration every day takes a look at the code and sees if there's any need to change it. As I indicated last week, large gatherings of the American people do present security issues that the American people are very familiar with. You've seen it at the Super Bowl, you've seen it at the Olympics. And as Americans gather for July 4th, it will be a time of both celebration and vigilance.

Q: One more. What's the President's response to Al Gore who said that the President is using the war on terrorism as a political wedge to divide the country, and he criticized the President for not having caught Osama bin Laden?

MR. FLEISCHER: Well, number one, the President, himself, has no reaction. The President is focused on winning the war on terrorism and keeping our country as united as it is. I'll just add that the country is united and will remain united, and the President is proud of that.

Of course, within the Democrat Party there are going to be many different people who jockey and vie with each other, and typically the way they do their jockeying and their vying is by being partisan or being critical of the administration. There's a lot of intra-Democratic Party politics going on.

Q: On the court and the Bosnian peacekeeping, is the administration going to let this go to the brink and pull out of Bosnia peacekeeping, and possibly let peacekeeping end, U.N. peacekeeping end in Bosnia?

MR. FLEISCHER: This is a very important matter of principle about protecting Americans who uniquely serve around the globe in peacekeeping efforts. The International Criminal Court presents many different dangers to the United States, to our peacekeepers, and to officials throughout our country.

"We are concerned that when the court comes into existence it will not only exercise authority over personnel of states that have ratified the treaty, but also claim jurisdiction over personnel of states that have not. I will not, and do not recommend that my successor submit the treaty to the Senate for advice and consent unless their fundamental concerns are satisfied. This treaty is also described as having significant flaws." Those preceding three sentences are what Bill Clinton said about this treaty. This administration shares those concerns. The treaty has significant flaws, and this is why, on an overwhelming bipartisan basis, the United States Congress has grave concerns about this treaty. And the United States will protect American citizens from the overreach of the ICC.

Q: Does that mean that the administration would allow Bosnian peacekeeping to end over this?

MR. FLEISCHER: The administration strongly supports Bosnian peacekeeping and we want to protect our peacekeepers so that they can keep the peace. We have given an additional three days time to try, hopefully, to bring this matter to a successful resolution. But the world should make no mistake; the United States will stand strong and stand principle and do what's right to protect our citizens.

I also note that many of the nations that are signatories to this treaty have built in similar protections to themselves. The United States simply asks that those same protections that are afforded other nations be afforded to the United States.

Q: Ari, while you mentioned that Al Gore's remarks were sort of part of the political jockeying and positioning of the Democratic Party, there has been, though, a tradition in the past of politics stopping at the water's edge. Do you think this breaks with that in terms of talking about making criticisms about the war on terror as being something new?

MR. FLEISCHER: You know, if the Democrats want to make the war a partisan issue, that is their right, that is their prerogative. And I strongly suspect that the voters, if given a choice, will overwhelmingly support President Bush and the Republicans if the Democrats try to make the war a wedge issue.

Q: Is the President aware of Al Gore's remarks?

MR. FLEISCHER: I think I've addressed the topic.

Anything else? All right.

END 9:37 A.M. EDT

(end transcript)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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