In an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Attorney General Loretta Lynch previewed the remarks President Barack Obama will make when he speaks to the country Sunday evening about the recent terrorist attack in San Bernardino.
“What you’re going to hear from him is a discussion about what government is doing to ensure all of our highest priority — the protection of the American people,” the attorney general said.
She also said that he’ll speak on the actions the United States has taken to keep the homeland safe since the attacks in Paris last month. But there will be an element of politics to the speech.
President Obama will do more than just call for calm, he will ask “Congress to review measures and take action.”
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Lynch’s staff later confirmed that the president will specifically call on Congress to review certain gun control measures.
Lynch also reiterated that the San Bernardino investigation is a “terrorism investigation” because of the “indications that we do have of radicalization.”
However, Lynch would not say definitively that Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik were radicalized or that there is any evidence that they were part of a “larger group or cell.”
“We are looking at everything we can find out about these two killers live. How they grew up. Where they grew up. Where they met. All of those things will provide us guidance.”
The Justice Department is working “closely” with foreign counterparts to learn as much as they can, including Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, she said.
Along with the FBI, the ATF, as well as the U.S. Marshals office are involved in the “wide-ranging investigation.” In four days the federal investigators have conducted over 300 interviews, but the Attorney General cautioned that this investigation is a “marathon and not a sprint.” However she would not say that the FBI needs to change how surveillance decisions are made or that the NSA’s now defunct bulk data program needs to be reinstated. She also encouraged Americans to “say something” if they are suspicious of someone around them. “Our view is that if you have concerns that rise to a suspicion that someone that you either know or see on a regular basis is evidencing a change in behavior or discussion — threatening language … alert law enforcement rather than taking matters into your own hands.” This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com
Shawna Thomas
Shawna is a Senior Producer of "Meet the Press" and also works on expanding the show to multiple NBC News and social media platforms. Before that she was one of NBC News' White House producers, reported on Congress and helped plan NBC's coverage of the 2008 presidential election.
She has a degree in political communication from the George Washington University and a graduate degree in journalism from the University of Southern California. Recommended
