White House: ‘This Is a Terrible Act of Violence’

"This is a terrible act of violence and one that we condemn in the strongest possible terms. The thoughts and prayers of the president, the first lady, everybody here at the White House are with the families of those who were killed or injured in this attack and our thoughts are with our allies and friends right now. We're still obviously in the very early stages --stage-- trying to figure out what exactly happened, who is responsible and what their motivation was. What I can tell you is that the French have been stalwart allies as we have undertaken the strategy to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL, there are French pilots that are flying alongside American pilots and we are working closely with them on this effort. That also includes the effort to combat foreign fighters. You recall that the president back at the U.N. General Assembly meeting earlier this fall chaired United Nations Security Council meeting were they talked about the need to coordinate internationally to confront and combat foreign fighters. Our allies in France have been very cooperative in that effort, very supportive of that effort, and we will continue to work closely with them on it. I can tell you -- one last thing I will tell you is throughout this campaign, the French people have shown a tremendous bravery and courage as we -- as the world international community has confronted the threat from ISIL, we know that they are not going to be coward by this terrible act of violence."