During a press briefing on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked about State Secretary Marco Rubio saying the United States may have to 'step back' from Ukraine if peace talks with Russia are unsuccessful.
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00:00Caroline, we've heard so much about this Saudi trip planning, and the President has mentioned it himself before,
00:05but I don't think we've ever heard on the record what he hopes to achieve in Saudi Arabia and what the purpose of the trip is.
00:10Sure. Well, the President looks forward to this.
00:12It was supposed to be his first foreign visit, but of course now he is going to Rome this weekend to honor the Pope and attend the funeral.
00:20The President looks to strengthen the ties between the United States and these countries in which he will be visiting.
00:24He'll be having many bilateral meetings and talks, and we look forward to the trip and hope to see many of you there.
00:30And the meetings in London this week, do they have any nexus with the plans in Saudi Arabia?
00:35I can't speak to that. However, I do have an update on meetings when it comes to the Russia-Ukraine war.
00:41I was just in the Oval Office with the President, Steve Whitcoff, and they wanted everybody to know that the negotiations continue.
00:48We feel, again, we're hopefully moving in the right direction, and the Special Envoy Steve Whitcoff will be heading to Russia again later this week to continue talks with Vladimir Putin.
00:58Is that why Rubio is not heading to London? Is he accompanying Whitcoff to Moscow?
01:02I can't speak for the Secretary of State's travel schedule. I'd defer you to the Department of State.
01:06And then more broadly, just about the peace agreement, the talks that are ongoing.
01:11Rubio had said, Secretary Rubio had said that if things don't go the right way, that the U.S. might need to take a step back.
01:17What does stepping back look like? Does that a step back from brokering peace, or would that imply a broader withdrawal from U.S. support for Ukraine in the war?
01:28Look, I think it would be unwise for me to broadcast that from this podium. Ultimately, that's a decision for the President to make.
01:34But he's made it very clear he wants to see peace, he wants to see this war end, and he wants to stop the killing on both sides of this war.
01:42And he's been very clear about that for quite some time.
01:45And he has grown frustrated with both sides of this war, and he's made that very known.
01:49Brian.