WEBVTT
1
00:00:01.040 --> 00:00:03.940
Sunday morning. What is today is a spokesman for the
2
00:00:04.200 --> 00:00:08.240
Department of State. His name is Tommy Pickett. And he
3
00:00:08.300 --> 00:00:12.529
joined the Department of State during the Trump-Vance administration in 2025.
4
00:00:12.529 --> 00:00:18.129
And previously you worked with the Republican National Committee at,
5
00:00:18.769 --> 00:00:24.589
I guess, working nationwide. Give us the pulse. Yeah, I was. Yep. Yep.
6
00:00:25.190 --> 00:00:29.690
And Tommy Pickett, give us the pulse. What's going on
7
00:00:30.210 --> 00:00:31.670
right now that you're concerned about?
8
00:00:33.250 --> 00:00:35.009
Well, there's a whole host of issues. I mean, one
9
00:00:35.030 --> 00:00:36.850
of the things that the State Department is focused on
10
00:00:36.869 --> 00:00:40.130
truly is worldwide. But what our priority is always is
11
00:00:40.189 --> 00:00:43.189
the safety and security of the American people, helping Americans
12
00:00:43.770 --> 00:00:46.429
that are abroad. That's something that our entire workforce is
13
00:00:46.490 --> 00:00:49.109
always focused on. And right now, one of the most
14
00:00:49.189 --> 00:00:51.520
pressing issues we see, of course, is the response to
15
00:00:51.549 --> 00:00:55.799
devastating floods in Nepal. We are actively coordinating with local
16
00:00:55.840 --> 00:01:00.259
authorities to try to locate Americans that need assistance to
17
00:01:00.299 --> 00:01:04.340
provide that assistance. We have immediately following the floods activated
18
00:01:05.019 --> 00:01:09.810
emergency assistance, including food, shelter, sanitation. And we're also having
19
00:01:09.950 --> 00:01:14.310
a surge of consular resources to provide assistance to Americans
20
00:01:14.329 --> 00:01:17.250
in that are in the region, Americans that are looking
21
00:01:17.290 --> 00:01:20.030
for loved ones. That's our highest priority every single day
22
00:01:20.090 --> 00:01:22.489
to help the American people. And that's why we're acting
23
00:01:22.530 --> 00:01:24.329
in that regard to get as many resources as we
24
00:01:24.370 --> 00:01:26.209
can to help those that need it.
25
00:01:28.290 --> 00:01:33.579
Understood. And I understand there's a lot of American citizens
26
00:01:33.939 --> 00:01:38.680
that are missing there. I mean, it was really bad.
27
00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:42.099
I saw pictures on it on television. And I mean,
28
00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:45.680
those waters were coming down like with a lot of strength.
29
00:01:46.980 --> 00:01:47.359
They were.
30
00:01:47.480 --> 00:01:49.200
One of the things we're seeing in this region is
31
00:01:49.219 --> 00:01:51.519
there's a lot of tourism in this region. So we're
32
00:01:51.540 --> 00:01:54.829
communicating with trekking companies that often have lists of clients
33
00:01:55.269 --> 00:01:57.469
in order to locate Americans who may be in the region.
34
00:01:57.489 --> 00:02:00.890
That's in addition to our conversations with local authorities. So
35
00:02:00.909 --> 00:02:03.500
you're exactly right to say that there were dozens of
36
00:02:03.530 --> 00:02:06.750
Americans in in this area, according to our best estimates.
37
00:02:07.310 --> 00:02:10.650
We are seeing some Americans being safely evacuated, and we're
38
00:02:10.689 --> 00:02:13.610
continuing to locate those Americans that are unaccounted for, both,
39
00:02:13.650 --> 00:02:17.610
like I said, working with trekking companies, working with local officials.
40
00:02:17.889 --> 00:02:21.069
We have our embassies, both in Beijing and Kathmandu, that
41
00:02:21.110 --> 00:02:24.150
are working on this 24-7. And for those that may
42
00:02:24.210 --> 00:02:27.610
have family members and are looking for information or looking
43
00:02:27.650 --> 00:02:29.370
for the latest on what we're doing, they can go
44
00:02:29.409 --> 00:02:33.240
to travel.state.gov, and there's emergency contact information there. So if
45
00:02:33.259 --> 00:02:35.599
you have a loved one that you believe is in
46
00:02:35.620 --> 00:02:37.419
the region, if you're looking for information, if you want
47
00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:40.110
to reach out to us, please go to travel.state.gov for
48
00:02:40.150 --> 00:02:42.550
that information to reach out to the embassy, to reach
49
00:02:42.590 --> 00:02:46.110
us here at the State Department. We're working on this 24-7.
50
00:02:46.169 --> 00:02:51.349
Tell us also, what else is bothering you of all
51
00:02:51.379 --> 00:02:52.639
the things going on this weekend?
52
00:02:53.860 --> 00:02:55.840
Well, one of the things that we're focused on in
53
00:02:55.900 --> 00:02:58.120
addition is, of course, border security. And the way the
54
00:02:58.159 --> 00:03:00.439
State Department, of course, we think of the Southwest border
55
00:03:00.840 --> 00:03:03.370
with border security, but the way the State Department really
56
00:03:03.389 --> 00:03:05.930
plays a role in this is visa security. It's something
57
00:03:05.949 --> 00:03:08.530
we've talked about quite a bit here from the State
58
00:03:08.550 --> 00:03:12.069
Department under Secretary Rubio. Part of that is really cutting
59
00:03:12.120 --> 00:03:14.960
down on fraud in our visa system. What we are
60
00:03:15.020 --> 00:03:20.199
seeing worldwide, really, are these fraud networks that are coaching
61
00:03:20.240 --> 00:03:23.900
people how to lie to consular officers to access the
62
00:03:23.960 --> 00:03:27.990
United States under fraudulent means. And some of the most
63
00:03:28.060 --> 00:03:31.210
insidious examples we're seeing of that is birth tourism, where
64
00:03:31.250 --> 00:03:35.530
we see people networks profiting, where they put social media
65
00:03:35.569 --> 00:03:40.090
advertisements out advertising American citizenship as if it were for sale.
66
00:03:40.629 --> 00:03:43.030
And we see that worldwide. So what we're doing is
67
00:03:43.169 --> 00:03:45.629
we launched this task force at the State Department where
68
00:03:45.650 --> 00:03:48.949
we are cutting down on these cases. We're dismantling these cases.
69
00:03:49.289 --> 00:03:52.530
And that includes working with law enforcement, working with counterparts
70
00:03:52.969 --> 00:03:55.300
overseas to to make sure that people know that if
71
00:03:55.340 --> 00:03:57.830
they lie to consular officers, if there's fraud, you're going
72
00:03:57.849 --> 00:04:01.009
to get your visa be revoked. We have revoked hundreds
73
00:04:01.110 --> 00:04:04.229
of thousands of visas already based off of criminal activity,
74
00:04:04.469 --> 00:04:06.939
based off of fraudulent activity, based off of people breaking
75
00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:09.379
the terms of their visas. We are cutting down on this.
76
00:04:09.719 --> 00:04:11.979
And it's essential to securing the border, because if you
77
00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:14.360
commit fraud, there will be consequences. We're not going to
78
00:04:14.379 --> 00:04:14.699
allow it.
79
00:04:14.699 --> 00:04:17.610
And I understand not only they're doing that with birth,
80
00:04:18.120 --> 00:04:20.089
they're doing that with marriages in Brooklyn.
81
00:04:21.610 --> 00:04:23.970
There's so many different fraudulent ways that this is happening.
82
00:04:23.990 --> 00:04:27.029
Of course, we saw recent announcements from the Department of Justice.
83
00:04:27.389 --> 00:04:30.430
That's part of the entire whole of administration approach under
84
00:04:30.470 --> 00:04:34.149
President Trump, where under the previous administration, you saw in
85
00:04:34.290 --> 00:04:36.500
many ways a blind eye turn to this. You saw,
86
00:04:36.779 --> 00:04:40.379
quote unquote, legal pathways being, in our view, abused to
87
00:04:40.860 --> 00:04:44.439
facilitate what was really an era of mass migration, which
88
00:04:44.540 --> 00:04:48.610
is inherently stabilizing. It's damaging. And under the Trump administration,
89
00:04:48.949 --> 00:04:51.790
we're putting an end to the era of mass migration,
90
00:04:52.170 --> 00:04:54.550
and we're putting an end to the abuse of our
91
00:04:54.629 --> 00:04:58.120
immigration and visa system. It's pretty simple to think we
92
00:04:58.139 --> 00:05:01.259
should have a visa system that is transparently applied, that
93
00:05:01.300 --> 00:05:04.779
is fairly applied, and that upholds the law. That's common sense.
94
00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:06.819
That's what the American people want, and that's exactly what
95
00:05:06.850 --> 00:05:07.310
we're delivering.
96
00:05:08.120 --> 00:05:13.029
Um, Mr. Pickett, we got another minute or so left.
97
00:05:13.310 --> 00:05:16.290
What else would you like to add to the and
98
00:05:16.329 --> 00:05:17.810
keep the American people informed?
99
00:05:19.029 --> 00:05:20.990
One of the other initiatives we really have here at
100
00:05:21.009 --> 00:05:23.560
the State Department is to address what's been a blind
101
00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:27.399
spot in our counterterrorism strategy, which is this surge and
102
00:05:27.459 --> 00:05:30.959
far left political terrorism we've seen worldwide. In the United States,
103
00:05:31.379 --> 00:05:34.019
that accounts for more attack, anti-government attacks and plots than
104
00:05:34.100 --> 00:05:37.259
any other ideological group. And in Europe, We see far
105
00:05:37.300 --> 00:05:40.800
left driven terrorist attacks and plots on par with jihadist
106
00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:43.519
terrorist attacks and plots. So what we've done is first
107
00:05:43.560 --> 00:05:46.399
we had that ministerial a few weeks ago. This past week,
108
00:05:46.459 --> 00:05:50.449
we also had our first terrorist designations against these far
109
00:05:50.490 --> 00:05:53.290
left groups, including what was called AI Collective, an Italy
110
00:05:53.350 --> 00:05:57.250
based group that is the digital infrastructure for so many
111
00:05:57.269 --> 00:06:00.639
of these antifa cells and violent extremists around the world
112
00:06:00.660 --> 00:06:03.639
to including domestically here in the United States. So by
113
00:06:03.720 --> 00:06:07.120
designating this group, we've actually seen these websites taking down,
114
00:06:07.139 --> 00:06:09.959
this digital infrastructure taking down, which was being used to
115
00:06:10.019 --> 00:06:14.019
plan attacks, to conceal illegal activity, even share information on
116
00:06:14.079 --> 00:06:17.759
how to build incendiary devices. So we're taking concrete action.
117
00:06:17.779 --> 00:06:20.350
We're addressing this blind spot. We're protecting the American people.
118
00:06:21.250 --> 00:06:24.069
Thank you so much for coming on this Sunday morning.
119
00:06:24.230 --> 00:06:28.170
And Well, we pray for America, and at the end
120
00:06:28.189 --> 00:06:31.930
of the day, we win, as the president says. And
121
00:06:32.290 --> 00:06:35.300
thank you for communicating that to the American people.
122
00:06:36.600 --> 00:06:37.540
Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it.
1
00:00:01.040 --> 00:00:03.940
Sunday morning. What is today is a spokesman for the
2
00:00:04.200 --> 00:00:08.240
Department of State. His name is Tommy Pickett. And he
3
00:00:08.300 --> 00:00:12.529
joined the Department of State during the Trump-Vance administration in 2025.
4
00:00:12.529 --> 00:00:18.129
And previously you worked with the Republican National Committee at,
5
00:00:18.769 --> 00:00:24.589
I guess, working nationwide. Give us the pulse. Yeah, I was. Yep. Yep.
6
00:00:25.190 --> 00:00:29.690
And Tommy Pickett, give us the pulse. What's going on
7
00:00:30.210 --> 00:00:31.670
right now that you're concerned about?
8
00:00:33.250 --> 00:00:35.009
Well, there's a whole host of issues. I mean, one
9
00:00:35.030 --> 00:00:36.850
of the things that the State Department is focused on
10
00:00:36.869 --> 00:00:40.130
truly is worldwide. But what our priority is always is
11
00:00:40.189 --> 00:00:43.189
the safety and security of the American people, helping Americans
12
00:00:43.770 --> 00:00:46.429
that are abroad. That's something that our entire workforce is
13
00:00:46.490 --> 00:00:49.109
always focused on. And right now, one of the most
14
00:00:49.189 --> 00:00:51.520
pressing issues we see, of course, is the response to
15
00:00:51.549 --> 00:00:55.799
devastating floods in Nepal. We are actively coordinating with local
16
00:00:55.840 --> 00:01:00.259
authorities to try to locate Americans that need assistance to
17
00:01:00.299 --> 00:01:04.340
provide that assistance. We have immediately following the floods activated
18
00:01:05.019 --> 00:01:09.810
emergency assistance, including food, shelter, sanitation. And we're also having
19
00:01:09.950 --> 00:01:14.310
a surge of consular resources to provide assistance to Americans
20
00:01:14.329 --> 00:01:17.250
in that are in the region, Americans that are looking
21
00:01:17.290 --> 00:01:20.030
for loved ones. That's our highest priority every single day
22
00:01:20.090 --> 00:01:22.489
to help the American people. And that's why we're acting
23
00:01:22.530 --> 00:01:24.329
in that regard to get as many resources as we
24
00:01:24.370 --> 00:01:26.209
can to help those that need it.
25
00:01:28.290 --> 00:01:33.579
Understood. And I understand there's a lot of American citizens
26
00:01:33.939 --> 00:01:38.680
that are missing there. I mean, it was really bad.
27
00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:42.099
I saw pictures on it on television. And I mean,
28
00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:45.680
those waters were coming down like with a lot of strength.
29
00:01:46.980 --> 00:01:47.359
They were.
30
00:01:47.480 --> 00:01:49.200
One of the things we're seeing in this region is
31
00:01:49.219 --> 00:01:51.519
there's a lot of tourism in this region. So we're
32
00:01:51.540 --> 00:01:54.829
communicating with trekking companies that often have lists of clients
33
00:01:55.269 --> 00:01:57.469
in order to locate Americans who may be in the region.
34
00:01:57.489 --> 00:02:00.890
That's in addition to our conversations with local authorities. So
35
00:02:00.909 --> 00:02:03.500
you're exactly right to say that there were dozens of
36
00:02:03.530 --> 00:02:06.750
Americans in in this area, according to our best estimates.
37
00:02:07.310 --> 00:02:10.650
We are seeing some Americans being safely evacuated, and we're
38
00:02:10.689 --> 00:02:13.610
continuing to locate those Americans that are unaccounted for, both,
39
00:02:13.650 --> 00:02:17.610
like I said, working with trekking companies, working with local officials.
40
00:02:17.889 --> 00:02:21.069
We have our embassies, both in Beijing and Kathmandu, that
41
00:02:21.110 --> 00:02:24.150
are working on this 24-7. And for those that may
42
00:02:24.210 --> 00:02:27.610
have family members and are looking for information or looking
43
00:02:27.650 --> 00:02:29.370
for the latest on what we're doing, they can go
44
00:02:29.409 --> 00:02:33.240
to travel.state.gov, and there's emergency contact information there. So if
45
00:02:33.259 --> 00:02:35.599
you have a loved one that you believe is in
46
00:02:35.620 --> 00:02:37.419
the region, if you're looking for information, if you want
47
00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:40.110
to reach out to us, please go to travel.state.gov for
48
00:02:40.150 --> 00:02:42.550
that information to reach out to the embassy, to reach
49
00:02:42.590 --> 00:02:46.110
us here at the State Department. We're working on this 24-7.
50
00:02:46.169 --> 00:02:51.349
Tell us also, what else is bothering you of all
51
00:02:51.379 --> 00:02:52.639
the things going on this weekend?
52
00:02:53.860 --> 00:02:55.840
Well, one of the things that we're focused on in
53
00:02:55.900 --> 00:02:58.120
addition is, of course, border security. And the way the
54
00:02:58.159 --> 00:03:00.439
State Department, of course, we think of the Southwest border
55
00:03:00.840 --> 00:03:03.370
with border security, but the way the State Department really
56
00:03:03.389 --> 00:03:05.930
plays a role in this is visa security. It's something
57
00:03:05.949 --> 00:03:08.530
we've talked about quite a bit here from the State
58
00:03:08.550 --> 00:03:12.069
Department under Secretary Rubio. Part of that is really cutting
59
00:03:12.120 --> 00:03:14.960
down on fraud in our visa system. What we are
60
00:03:15.020 --> 00:03:20.199
seeing worldwide, really, are these fraud networks that are coaching
61
00:03:20.240 --> 00:03:23.900
people how to lie to consular officers to access the
62
00:03:23.960 --> 00:03:27.990
United States under fraudulent means. And some of the most
63
00:03:28.060 --> 00:03:31.210
insidious examples we're seeing of that is birth tourism, where
64
00:03:31.250 --> 00:03:35.530
we see people networks profiting, where they put social media
65
00:03:35.569 --> 00:03:40.090
advertisements out advertising American citizenship as if it were for sale.
66
00:03:40.629 --> 00:03:43.030
And we see that worldwide. So what we're doing is
67
00:03:43.169 --> 00:03:45.629
we launched this task force at the State Department where
68
00:03:45.650 --> 00:03:48.949
we are cutting down on these cases. We're dismantling these cases.
69
00:03:49.289 --> 00:03:52.530
And that includes working with law enforcement, working with counterparts
70
00:03:52.969 --> 00:03:55.300
overseas to to make sure that people know that if
71
00:03:55.340 --> 00:03:57.830
they lie to consular officers, if there's fraud, you're going
72
00:03:57.849 --> 00:04:01.009
to get your visa be revoked. We have revoked hundreds
73
00:04:01.110 --> 00:04:04.229
of thousands of visas already based off of criminal activity,
74
00:04:04.469 --> 00:04:06.939
based off of fraudulent activity, based off of people breaking
75
00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:09.379
the terms of their visas. We are cutting down on this.
76
00:04:09.719 --> 00:04:11.979
And it's essential to securing the border, because if you
77
00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:14.360
commit fraud, there will be consequences. We're not going to
78
00:04:14.379 --> 00:04:14.699
allow it.
79
00:04:14.699 --> 00:04:17.610
And I understand not only they're doing that with birth,
80
00:04:18.120 --> 00:04:20.089
they're doing that with marriages in Brooklyn.
81
00:04:21.610 --> 00:04:23.970
There's so many different fraudulent ways that this is happening.
82
00:04:23.990 --> 00:04:27.029
Of course, we saw recent announcements from the Department of Justice.
83
00:04:27.389 --> 00:04:30.430
That's part of the entire whole of administration approach under
84
00:04:30.470 --> 00:04:34.149
President Trump, where under the previous administration, you saw in
85
00:04:34.290 --> 00:04:36.500
many ways a blind eye turn to this. You saw,
86
00:04:36.779 --> 00:04:40.379
quote unquote, legal pathways being, in our view, abused to
87
00:04:40.860 --> 00:04:44.439
facilitate what was really an era of mass migration, which
88
00:04:44.540 --> 00:04:48.610
is inherently stabilizing. It's damaging. And under the Trump administration,
89
00:04:48.949 --> 00:04:51.790
we're putting an end to the era of mass migration,
90
00:04:52.170 --> 00:04:54.550
and we're putting an end to the abuse of our
91
00:04:54.629 --> 00:04:58.120
immigration and visa system. It's pretty simple to think we
92
00:04:58.139 --> 00:05:01.259
should have a visa system that is transparently applied, that
93
00:05:01.300 --> 00:05:04.779
is fairly applied, and that upholds the law. That's common sense.
94
00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:06.819
That's what the American people want, and that's exactly what
95
00:05:06.850 --> 00:05:07.310
we're delivering.
96
00:05:08.120 --> 00:05:13.029
Um, Mr. Pickett, we got another minute or so left.
97
00:05:13.310 --> 00:05:16.290
What else would you like to add to the and
98
00:05:16.329 --> 00:05:17.810
keep the American people informed?
99
00:05:19.029 --> 00:05:20.990
One of the other initiatives we really have here at
100
00:05:21.009 --> 00:05:23.560
the State Department is to address what's been a blind
101
00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:27.399
spot in our counterterrorism strategy, which is this surge and
102
00:05:27.459 --> 00:05:30.959
far left political terrorism we've seen worldwide. In the United States,
103
00:05:31.379 --> 00:05:34.019
that accounts for more attack, anti-government attacks and plots than
104
00:05:34.100 --> 00:05:37.259
any other ideological group. And in Europe, We see far
105
00:05:37.300 --> 00:05:40.800
left driven terrorist attacks and plots on par with jihadist
106
00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:43.519
terrorist attacks and plots. So what we've done is first
107
00:05:43.560 --> 00:05:46.399
we had that ministerial a few weeks ago. This past week,
108
00:05:46.459 --> 00:05:50.449
we also had our first terrorist designations against these far
109
00:05:50.490 --> 00:05:53.290
left groups, including what was called AI Collective, an Italy
110
00:05:53.350 --> 00:05:57.250
based group that is the digital infrastructure for so many
111
00:05:57.269 --> 00:06:00.639
of these antifa cells and violent extremists around the world
112
00:06:00.660 --> 00:06:03.639
to including domestically here in the United States. So by
113
00:06:03.720 --> 00:06:07.120
designating this group, we've actually seen these websites taking down,
114
00:06:07.139 --> 00:06:09.959
this digital infrastructure taking down, which was being used to
115
00:06:10.019 --> 00:06:14.019
plan attacks, to conceal illegal activity, even share information on
116
00:06:14.079 --> 00:06:17.759
how to build incendiary devices. So we're taking concrete action.
117
00:06:17.779 --> 00:06:20.350
We're addressing this blind spot. We're protecting the American people.
118
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Thank you so much for coming on this Sunday morning.
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And Well, we pray for America, and at the end
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of the day, we win, as the president says. And
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thank you for communicating that to the American people.
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Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it.
