Excerpts From the Daily Press Briefing Pertaining to Western Hemisphere Affairs Full Briefing
MR. KELLY: Okay. Well, good afternoon. I will strive in the future to say good morning as often as I can. I’ll try and strive to get out here before noon. But I regret that the fire hose has still got a high volume to it and I still was absorbing a lot before I came down here. I’d like to start first with a statement that we put out regarding the Secretary’s travel to El Salvador and Honduras.
Secretary of State Clinton will travel to El Salvador and Honduras from May 31 to June 2. Secretary Clinton will travel to El Salvador to attend the presidential inauguration of Mauricio Funes on June 1
st. While in El Salvador, the Secretary will also attend a ministerial meeting of Pathways to Prosperity in the Americas. The Secretary will then travel to Honduras to lead the U.S. delegation to the Organization of American States General Assembly in San Pedro Sula on June 2
nd.
At the General Assembly, Secretary Clinton will meet with her counterparts from the other member nations of the Organization of American States to discuss the theme, “Toward a Culture of Non-Violence,” as well as continue the dialogue on issues identified at the 2009 Summit of the Americas, including promoting human prosperity, energy security, and environmental sustainability.
So with that, your questions.
QUESTION: Can I ask – does anyone have anything on this? I have a very brief scheduling question. What in the world is the Joint Summit Working Group?
MR. KELLY: The Joint Summit Working Group – she is meeting right now, as we speak, with the Joint Summit Working Group, and I’ll have to get you the details.
QUESTION: You don’t know either? (Laughter.)
MR. KELLY: I’ll have to get you the details. I guess I wasn’t part of the particular – I guess there was more water in the fire hose for the --
QUESTION: It doesn’t have to be detailed --
QUESTION: Is there a particular summit? Is that the deal?
MR. KELLY: I’ll get back to you. I’ll get back to you.
QUESTION: Does it have to do with mountains? What does it have to do with?
MR. KELLY: A summit is a meeting of leaders.
QUESTION: Well, it’s also, you know, a peak.
MR. KELLY: Well, we’ll get back to you. I do apologize to you that I don’t have the details of it.
QUESTION: Yeah. Okay, well, obviously, it’s something semi – you know, you think is semi-important in the building. Maybe --
MR. KELLY: Well, anything the Secretary’s got is important.
QUESTION: You would think – official photos are going to be released afterwards, so it would be just helpful for us to know exactly what --
MR. KELLY: We’ll get you the information.
QUESTION: It doesn’t have to do with knees or elbows or other, you know, joints that – no? Okay. Sorry. (Laughter.)
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QUESTION: Can you comment on the review that’s taking place with regards to USAID money allocated towards
Cuba and --
MR. KELLY: USAID money being allocated towards Cuba?
QUESTION: Yeah. Some reports --
MR. KELLY: No, I can’t comment on that, but I’m happy to get you that information.
QUESTION: Okay.
Taken Question
Question: What is the status of the money being given to Cuba?
Answer: For FY 2008, the United States Government provided $45 million for the Cuba Democracy program. The competitive process of making grant awards is on-going. Two-thirds of the funding has been obligated through signed agreements. We expect the balance of the funding to be awarded by late summer.
Plans for U.S. government assistance for FY 2009 have not been finalized.
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QUESTION: I’ve got another kind of housekeeping question. I’m still looking for an on-the-record answer about why the State Department decided that Bill Clinton’s appointment to be the UN Special Envoy for
Haiti was not deemed to need a review by the State Department for conflict of interest reasons, pursuant to the agreement between the Clinton Foundation and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
MR. KELLY: You know, I think – and I’m being very careful here, Matt – but I think the agreement was between the Administration and the Clinton Foundation. I don’t think the agreement was with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. And in general terms, I’ll tell you that I think it’s a good thing, in general terms, to have someone like Bill Clinton, with everything that he brings to bear in terms of marshaling international efforts --
QUESTION: I’m not suggesting that it’s a bad thing. I’m just asking why it wasn’t – why it was determined that there was no need for a conflict of interest review.
MR. KELLY: There was no need for a conflict of interest review because he was appointed by the UN Secretary General and he – it was deemed because he was in a non-compensated position that there was no legal reason to review the case.
QUESTION: So it only applies to compensated activities?
MR. KELLY: I’m going to give you one more short answer --
QUESTION: Because --
MR. KELLY: -- and then I’m going to refer you to the Clinton Foundation, okay?
QUESTION: Well, the Clinton Foundation --
MR. KELLY: Because this is really not something I should be addressing from this podium necessarily.
QUESTION: Well, no, it’s a State Department issue, because that agreement said that State Department lawyers would review at least some of his international activities. And I’m not suggesting that there’s any wrongdoing here. I just want – I just want – because conflict of interest just doesn't involve money. It can involve policy questions. It can involve influence and --
MR. KELLY: Okay. No, I – but I – as I understand the agreement – this is the last thing I’m going to say, and then I’m going to move on, if you don’t mind – is that what the agreement called for --
QUESTION: Well, I’ll just --
MR. KELLY: -- was reviewing compensation – was reviewing activities for which he was compensated. And that’s, you know, speeches, fundraising, activities like this. He’s – he has a salary of one dollar for this job, so that’s why it was determined there was no reason, no legal reason, to review this appointment.
