Today's press briefing was replete with the kind of information we
have all been seeking. When will the Secretary return to the
department? Will she visit the press room? Will she
travel? Will she testify on Benghazi before John Kerry is sworn in?
Has John Kerry been in the building? The snippet with the answers to these questions and more is
below.
MS. NULAND: Happy, what is today, Thursday, everybody, and happy 2013. I have nothing at the top, so let’s go to what’s on your minds.
QUESTION:
Could we maybe first ask on scheduling? Now that the Secretary’s out of
hospital and home and resting, have you any updates on possibly when we
might see her back here again?
MS. NULAND: Well, first of
all, to confirm what Jo says, that the Secretary was discharged from the
hospital yesterday, that she’s resting at home. Some of the senior
staff who spoke to her about half an hour ago say that she’s sounding
terrific, upbeat, raring to go. She’s looking forward to getting back to
the office. She is very much planning to do so next week, and we’ll
have further precise details about that as she continues to make
progress.
QUESTION: Any idea whether it’s likely to be towards the beginning of the week or back end of the week, or --
MS. NULAND:
I don’t have any more details except that she’s very much looking
forward to coming back next week. But in terms of the precise timing,
we’ll let you know as soon as we know.
QUESTION: Has she made any calls to foreign officials, do you know, in the last day or so, or --
MS. NULAND: You mean in the 12 hours since she’s been released from the hospital, Arshad? (Laughter.)
QUESTION: She’s a formidable --
MS. NULAND: She is.
QUESTION: She’s a formidable person, so --
QUESTION: She is.
QUESTION: -- I don’t know if she’s made any calls or not, but I’m asking.
MS. NULAND: I don’t have any other foreign leader calls to report today beyond the two that she made on Saturday the 29th, but given that she is sounding really well, I’m sure she’ll be back into it soon.
QUESTION:
Great. And one other thing: Just – you said, I think, yesterday that
you were still working with the Hill to try to figure out when she might
testify on Benghazi. Is there any greater clarity on that?
MS. NULAND:
There isn’t, beyond saying that, as I said yesterday, she is committed
to testifying, and we are working with the committees on an appropriate
set of dates.
QUESTION: Is she likely to make an appearance before the press next week after her arrival in this building?
MS. NULAND: Is that a formal request for news, Said? (Laughter.)
QUESTION: Yes, and we would all love to see her.
MS. NULAND: I don’t have any schedule for her yet for next week, but as soon as we do, we’ll put it out as we always do.
QUESTION:
Toria, I missed the very top of what you were saying. Is – can you
describe any activities that she might have, and where she is at this
point? She’s in New York?
MS. NULAND: She’s at home in New
York. She is talking to staff. She is taking paper at home. She sounds
terrific. She’s looking forward to coming back to work next week.
QUESTION: Is she having visitors or --
QUESTION: (Inaudible.)
MS. NULAND: Sorry, Indira.
QUESTION: Is she getting any visitors?
MS. NULAND: Her family has been there. Beyond that, I don’t have any details for you, Indira.
QUESTION: Would you expect that there would be any restrictions on her activities once she does come back to work?
MS. NULAND:
I don’t have anything further on the medical side in terms of details. I
think you saw one of the statements that we put out that her doctors
have asked her not to do any international travel for a little bit, but I
don’t have any more details beyond that.
QUESTION: That’s the statement from a while ago.
MS. NULAND: Yes, exactly. Nothing new today.
QUESTION: Do you expect her to – I mean, does that mean that she’s not likely to make any trips before Inauguration Day?
MS. NULAND:
I don’t have anything to announce, but it sounds as if the doctors’
preference is that she not make any international trips for a little
while.
QUESTION: And has there been many messages coming
from the many of her counterparts around the world? Obviously, she may
not have talked to most of them, given that she’s not been very well,
but have you had a flood of messages from British Foreign Secretary and
the French Foreign Minister and --
MS. NULAND: I think you could call the number of goodwill messages a tsunami, yeah.
(Laughter.)
QUESTION: Oh, really?
QUESTION: Victoria --
MS. NULAND: Yeah.
QUESTION: -- a related question: Do we have any idea on when the hearing could begin for John Kerry?
MS. NULAND: In terms of the confirmation hearing?
QUESTION: Yeah, the confirmation hearing.
MS. NULAND:
No. Again, we’re also working with the Hill on an appropriate date for
the hearing. It goes to the calendar of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, which hasn’t yet been set.
QUESTION: Is it likely to begin after the 20th of January?
MS. NULAND: Again, I don’t yet have anything to announce, Said. As soon as we have an agreement with the committee, we’ll let you know.
QUESTION: The committee normally would announce that, wouldn’t they?
MS. NULAND: Yeah. Normally, they would announce it and we would confirm it.
QUESTION:
And on the point – that point, previously the committee was saying we
need the Secretary to testify before we go ahead with the hearing on
Kerry. Is that your understanding? Have you gotten an update from them?
MS. NULAND:
I think we obviously have made a commitment that the Secretary will
testify, and we are obviously looking for a date for Senator Kerry’s
confirmation hearings. To my knowledge, there hasn’t been any direct
link made between the two of them. We are eager for both to happen as
soon as is appropriate and as soon as the committee is ready.
QUESTION:
And on Kerry, previously, I guess it was, like, last week, he was being
prepped by the State Department some – on various issues for the – in
preparation for his nomination hearing. Is that continuing? Has he
physically been here? Has he been around?
MS. NULAND: It is
continuing. As you know, we have a well practiced procedure for
preparing new secretaries for confirmation hearings. The Senator was in
the building yesterday. He had a number of meetings with senior staff,
has received a huge pile of briefing materials. He is not in the
building today. My understanding is he’s up at the Senate today, but we
expect he’ll be back in the building on a regular basis starting
tomorrow.
