State Department Official Asked About 'Watered-Down' Human Rights Reports For Countries Close With Trump

During a State Department press briefing on Tuesday, Spokesperson Tammy Bruce was asked about perception that ''watered-down''

Transcript

00:00On the Human Rights Report and then on Gaza, what would you, without getting into the specific

00:06reports for specific countries, what do you say to the perception that some of the water

00:11and down reports appear to be for countries that have worked closely with the Trump administration?

00:17Well, I think that obviously President Trump is someone who's been working with a lot of countries.

00:23He's a man who's very active, as is the Secretary. I would ask that people view this as an indication

00:31of our point of view in general, that there's no country that is singled out for condemnation

00:39or singled out for praise. It's the nature of the consistency of how our diplomats,

00:46how President Trump and Secretary Rubio view the nature of what's happening in those countries.

00:51It does look different. It is a different approach. Philosophically, the American people

00:56voted in an approach that Donald Trump had described to them. And this happens, again,

01:02with every administration during the transition year when it comes to what matters to them

01:08and how they're going to project their own point of view, while also still making sure that Americans

01:17see the nature of what's happening around the world, because it's an important issue. And obviously,

01:23again, through our actions, I think we've demonstrated more than perhaps the previous

01:29administration with their giant reports, we've demonstrated very clearly President Trump's

01:33commitment to a world of peace and humanitarian future where everyone can enjoy and look forward

01:41to the future. Two more quick questions. The secretary, when he was a senator...

01:44I'll take one more, and then we'll move on. Sure. When he was a senator,

01:48he said in 2017 that, for the first time in a long time, the report would not be presented by the

01:54secretary of state. And he says, I hope they reconsider. Why isn't he now as secretary of state

01:59presenting the report to us today? Well, I think what I've discussed here in general is that

02:04he cares about this issue. We've seen him in his Senate career and even his career in Florida. And now,

02:10as secretary of state, committed to human rights every day. I think that certainly the next year's

02:17report is going to be a much more distinctive and clear framework of what matters to the Trump

02:23administration. But when it comes to the kind of rollout or the nature of how we're presenting it,

02:32I'm here at the podium discussing it with you. It is released to the American public. It was released

02:37to what's known for friends watching at home our bullpen, which are reporters who cover state and

02:43work from this building, attached to a variety of different platforms in the country and around

02:49the world. So I think that Secretary Rubio's approach, his work speaks for itself when it comes to his

02:57personal commitment to these issues.