(USA TODAY) The White House says President Obama will address the nation from the Oval Office at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on Sunday about the steps the government is taking to keep people safe after the attack this past week in California.
This will be Obama’s first Oval Office address since August of 2010, when he discussed the end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq.
“The President will provide an update on the ongoing investigation into the tragic attack in San Bernardino,” the White House said in a statement. “The President will also discuss the broader threat of terrorism, including the nature of the threat, how it has evolved, and how we will defeat it.”
Obama received an update on the investigation Saturday from top aides.
“The President’s team highlighted several pieces of information that point to the perpetrators being radicalized to violence to commit these heinous attacks,” Obama said. “The President’s team also affirmed that they had as of yet uncovered no indication the killers were part of an organized group or formed part of a broader terrorist cell.”
He will talk about his determination that the Islamic State group must be destroyed. And he will make the case that the United States must draw the nation’s values – its commitment to justice, equality and freedom – to prevail over terrorist groups.
The president spoke earlier Saturday with a key ally in the fight against the Islamic State, French President Francois Hollande.
“The President briefed President Hollande on what we know about the attack (in San Bernardino) and steps our intelligence and law enforcement agencies are taking to investigate.,” the White House said in a statement.
