First Lady Pool Reports of July 23, 2020

**FLOTUS IHS Pool Report 1**

Report Part 1...

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EVENT: First Lady participates in the Indian Health System (IHS) TaskForce Briefing on addressing the systematic abuse of children within IHS

10:04AM: CONWAY enters dining room - wishes GRISHAM a happy birthday.

10:05AM: FLOTUS enters room. "Systematic problems put children at risk..." Native American children, like all children deserve to live in safe, nurturing environments.

FLOTUS thanks TaskForce members for asking the tough questions toward solving the dangers Native American children face in the IHS system.

Head of IHS TaskForce:
- The IHS TaskForce travelled the country and found dedicated employees frustrated by institutional inefficiencies, bureaucratic red tape, and lack of reporting over systematic abuses toward children.

- Case in point; pedophile doctor in the Indian reserve system was allowed to slip through the cracks and work for the US and abuse and exploit children.

- This TaskForce transcends politics. This is not just a moral issue, it is a righteous mission. The president recognized that and tasked this group to ask the tough questions.

- We found decades of systemic failures that allowed for predatory doctors to abuse children.

- Native American women and children are over represented in the victim class; this is what this TaskForce aims to resolve

10:16AM: TASKFORCE MEMBERS INTRODUCE THEMSELVES...

**FLOTUS IHS Pool Report 2**

TaskForce participants led by First Lady.

Key statements made by each member:

White House
Stephanie Grisham, Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff & Spokesperson to the First Lady
Emma Doyle, Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy to the First Lady
Kellyanne Conway, Assistant to the President and Senior Counselor

- this TaskForce would not have happened without the leadership of the President and the First Lady.
- this is a continuation of the Administration's dedication to America's children.

Members of the IHS Taskforce:
Trent Shores, United States Attorney and Task Force Co-Chair

- We have taken a whole of law enforcement and government approach; FBI, Special Agents of HHS.
- Protecting children transcends politics.
- We as TaskForce established a national hotline. A way for nurses, workers in the IHS to be able to come forward without retribution on suspected abuses of children in IHS
- Beyond the Hotline, we established a system by which to report, investigate, and hold accountable.
- Our founding fathers championed certain innate rights - the first one, fundamentally: Life. Native Americans and their children should be able to protect and nurture and care for the health of their children without fear of endangering their wellbeing.

Bo Leach, Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Bureau of Indian Affairs
Stephanie Knapp, Child/Adolescent Forensic Interviewer, Federal Bureau of Investigation's Office for Victims Assistance, Child Victim Services Unit
Shannon Bears Cozzoni, Tribal Liaison and Assistant United States Attorney, US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma

Curt Muller, Special Agent, HHS Office of the Inspector General

- Major problem we have identified: Lack of reporting and fear of speaking up. We continue to work with IHS but help members come forward. Sexual abuse of children in IHS tracked to at least 1992.
- Our office continues to work these cases with our partners in DOJ and the respective reservations.

Tim Davis, Chairman, Blackfeet Nation

- major issues we found in the IHS; lack of national standards and a constant passing of the buck to lowest untrained levels

Santee Lewis of the Navajo Nation
- Greeted the room in Navajo, thanking the administration for the opportunity to speak out on behalf of the Navajo people.
- Protecting Native American children requires more work especially considering many are living under a system that does not necessarily lead to the same opportunities that non Native American children face.