Louis Armstrong International Airport
Kenner, Louisiana

2:09 P.M. CDT

THE PRESIDENT:  I just promoted the general to a two-star major general. 

Q    Congratulations.

THE PRESIDENT:  She’s — she’s lucky to — she — she has a congressman she’s got to take care of all the time.  (Laughter.)  But this is it.  Th- — that’s why we were up- — upstairs.  I was pinning it on.  So, I just want to let you know what we were doing.

Q    Mr. President, how important is it to make this announcement that will aid the cancer fight?

THE PRESIDENT:  It’s critically important.  I started this back in the administration with President — at — at the time, when I was vice president. 

And we found out that — I traveled to every major cancer research facility in the world.  And we found out that there — a lot more we could do if they shared more data and information.  It wasn’t being shared.  That was the Cancer Moonshot.

And then, when I got elected when I ran for president, I decided to set up a cancer facility patterned on DARPA, which is the Defense Intelligence Agency position that is separate and apart from everything else.  They’re the ones that came up with everything from — anyway, they — all of the major breakthroughs.

So, that’s what we’re doing with DARPA.  And we’re going to continue.  We’ve — a billion five the last three years, and we’re going to continue it. 

But we — I’ll let you get out of the sun. 

Q    Mr. President, are you very concerned about the situation in the Middle East?

THE PRESIDENT:  Of course I’m concerned about it.  We —

Q    Speaking to Benjamin Netanyahu, there have been reports that you told him to stop bullshitting.  Like, what exactly are you doing to put pressure on him to get to the table? 

THE PRESIDENT:  If I told you what pressure I was putting on, it wouldn’t be very much pressure, would it?

Anyway, so —

Q    Mr. President, what do you have to say about what’s happening in Russia and Ukraine?  Have you spoken with anyone in the Ukrainian government? 

THE PRESIDENT:  I’ve spoken with my staff on a regular basis probably every four or five hours for the last six or eight days.  And it’s — it’s creating a real dilemma for Putin.  And we’ve been in direct contact — constant contact with — with the Ukrainians. 

That’s all I’m going to say about it while it’s active.  Okay?

Q    On the Middle East.  Do you think you can still get to a ceasefire deal, or is that starting to be a distinct pos- — a distant possibility?

THE PRESIDENT:  It’s getting hard.  We’ll see what Ukrai- — we’ll see what Iran does, and we’ll see what happens if there’s any attack.  But I’m not giving up.

Q    Are those two things tied together?  Is — do you have the understanding that Iran could cease or stop doing a — an action if a ceasefire deal was possible?

THE PRESIDENT:  That’s my expectation, but we’ll see. 

Thank you.

2:12 P.M. CDT