W.H.: No Plans to Alter Summit on Extremism Due to Execution of Jordanian Pilot

‘For just the second time in United Nations’ history, the president convened a meeting … to talk about the broader effort to shut down the flow of foreign fighters’

HENRY: “Last one. You’ve got a summit on violent extremism coming up in a week or two. Has there been any thought about moving that up, given events over the last 24, 48 hours, that this should be at the top of mind at the White House, this should happen today, tomorrow? Where is the sense of urgency?”
EARNEST: “Well, Ed, the fact of the matter is this issue of foreign fighters and countering violent extremism is something that this administration has been focused on for a long, long time. And this is something that even in the earliest days of the administration, John Brennan went to NYU and gave a pretty important policy speech about our ongoing efforts to work with communities all across the country to try to counter violent extremism. And this, again, as part of this ongoing effort, the president, for just the second time in United Nations history, convened a meeting of the United Nations Security Council to talk about the broader international effort to shut down the movement of foreign fighters. And so this is something that is ongoing, and there is work that is done here in this White House on a daily basis to try to mitigate this threat to the American people. And the countering violent extremism summit that we're convening next week -- or in two weeks will be a very important part and an important contribution to that effort.”

Video files
Full
Compact
Audio files
Full
Compact