During Tuesday’s State Department press briefing, Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott answered questions about Secretary Marco Rubio's goals in his trip to the Middle East region
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00:00Yes, Tommy, thank you. I'd like to ask you about the president's trip to the Middle East. He had some comments today in terms of talking about the way that the U.S. approaches countries in the Middle East and the criticism of past policy, saying that for too long, many American presidents have been afflicted with the notion that it's our job to look into the souls of foreign leaders and use U.S. policy to dispense justice for their sins.
00:27There's been a critique of the State Department, I think, externally by some analysts about the changes to areas of the department that deal with issues of human rights and kind of what had been traditionally seen as U.S. values issues.
00:42Is this the president endorsing that shift in terms of the State Department's focus? Do you think that that criticism that we've seen from civil society is accurate?
00:54Look, I think the results speak for themselves in terms of what President Trump and Secretary Rubio have been able to deliver for the American people, the results they've been able to deliver.
01:02President Trump is a peacemaker. He is a dealmaker and he is constantly putting Americans first.
01:07And when we approach foreign policy and a standard where we're approaching that American first perspective that allows opportunities to pursue common interests, that allows deals to be made, that allows us to have stronger bilateral relationships.
01:18We're finding those common areas to work together on and advance those common interests.
01:23As spokesperson Bruce has said many times from this podium, just because a framework changes does not mean that the priority necessarily changes as well.
01:32Oftentimes what we're seeing in terms of how we're approaching the State Department and other aspects are a way to deliver on our priorities better, more effectively, in a way that actually delivers results for the American people.
01:43We are making sure every single dollar that we spend from the State Department under Secretary Rubio is advancing the American interest.
01:49Does it make us safer, stronger, more prosperous?
01:51And I think that's a standard that the American people expect us to have here at the State Department.
01:56They're happy to see that. And the results, again, speak for themselves with perhaps the most successful, I would argue, the most successful 100 plus days in history in this past week.
02:04The results we have seen from President Trump speak for themselves.
02:06The results we have seen from President Trump speak for themselves.