00:00How are you being pulled? Thank you. I wanted to ask you about some of the things the president
00:05said last week. Last week? Yes. Okay. Obviously, 13 U.S. servicemembers died at Abbey Gate during
00:12the Afghanistan withdrawal. And then this year, three U.S. servicemembers died in a drone attack
00:18in Jordan. And yet the president said, quote, he's the only president this century, this decade,
00:24that doesn't have any troops dying anywhere in the world like he did, end quote. I get having a bad
00:29night. But how did the president get that so wrong? So I appreciate the question. I really do. And I
00:34was asked about this, I believe, in the gaggle on Friday, I believe. And I said this, and I'll just
00:40reiterate this now. And again, I appreciate the opportunity. Look, the president cares deeply
00:46about our servicemembers. He does. And their families, their immense sacrifices that they've
00:51made to take on the... And he takes on his responsibility as a commander-in-chief. And
00:57that is something that certainly he will continue to do. I mentioned moments ago that tomorrow on
01:02July 4th, he's going to have active military members here and their families to thank them
01:07personally. And obviously, their families make sacrifices as well. And as you know, he attended
01:14the dignified transfer of the 13, as you just mentioned, brave servicemembers who lost their
01:18lives in Afghanistan on August 26th in 2021, and as well as the three who lost their lives in Jordan
01:26earlier this year. I was there with the president. And you can see how important he
01:34understood it was for him to be there for that moment, to be there for the families.
01:38And so I just want to be really clear about that, because he has so much gratitude.
01:44And we know that as a country, we can never repay them for their courage. But to your question,
01:51the president was making a comparison between how many servicemembers have died
01:55under his leadership versus in previous years. That's what the comparison that he was making.
02:01And he is doing – he was doing that because he cares so deeply – cares so deeply about them and
02:07their families and wants to keep troops safe. And that's what he certainly wants to continue
02:14to do. Let's not forget that for some time, he carried a card in his pocket about how many
02:20servicemembers were wounded and killed in Iraq and in Afghanistan. That's how much it was a
02:25reminder to him the times that we live in.
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