First Lady Pool Reports of January 16, 2024

FLOTUS Pool Report # 1 - Park City, Utah

After addressing students and faculty at Hunter High School in West Valley, Utah where she shared a message of hope for educators, First Lady Jill Biden stopped at a fundraising event for the Biden Victory Fund at the home of Mark and Nancy Gilbert in Park City, Utah.

Mark Gilbert served as the United States Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa. He was appointed by former president Barack Obama in 2014.

Biden addressed a group about 100 campaign donors in living room of the mountain top home.

Nancy gave opening remarks, reminiscing on her and the ambassador's history with the Bidens.

"Some of you aren't [democrats]but you are here today because you care you care about defending democracy. You care about a woman's right to choose, about justice and fairness and you care about our country," Gilbert said.

As Biden stepped to the podium, she was met with applause and chanting: "Four more years!"

She said that this election is unlike any she'd ever witnessed because what's at stake is democracy itself.

"As my husband said, 'democracies don't have to die at the end of a rifle. They can die slowly, subtly, silently, one freedom one right at a time. One hope at a time.'"

"A court decision, a voting law, a big lie repeated over and over and over again. The temperature gradually increasing, unnoticed by many until the pot has boiled over."

"I wish this election were about simple policy differences about the kinds of good faith debates. Remember that we used to have as Democrats and Republicans, but it's no longer like that today. Today, it's about the survival of America's democracy, a battle for the soul of this nation, between those of us in this room and the hundreds of millions more across the country."

Biden said that the President has incredible strength and has proven himself time and time again.

"Anybody can tell you what they want to do. But Joe Biden can tell you what he's done. He passed the boldest climate legislation in America. He guided one of the strongest economic recoveries in modern history. He battled Big Pharma and he won. He brought people from both sides of the aisle to common ground, which so many people said was going to be impossible. And he's done it all with integrity, with humanity and with wisdom because that's who he is."

Biden mentioned recent events such as Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas conflict and that she wouldn't wish that to occur during any presidency.

She emphasized starting efforts for the President's reelection was paramount.

" I want to take you back. I want you to remember what it felt like on the morning after that 2016 election when we fell short. Remember that feeling? Remember when you woke up? And you said 'Oh, my God, what just happened?' We can't let that happen again."

She ended her remarks by promising to uphold and reinstate rights that have been lost.

"We can do incredible things together. We will uphold the rule of law. We will restore a woman's freedom to make her own healthcare decisions. We will defend our democracy and together guess what? We are going to win this election."

FLOTUS Pool Report # 2 - Park City Utah

Following her brief visit at Ambassador Mark Gilbert's home, First Lady Jill Biden made another stop for the Biden Victory Fund at the home of Glenn and Susan Rothman in Park City.

Biden's remarks were similar to those she made at the Ambassador's home but she addressed a much more intimate crowd of about 25 donors over dinner.

Biden began by recalling the time she met her husband.

"Many of you ... might have heard, Joe asked me to marry him five times," Biden said. "But what you may not know is exactly what happened the fifth time that merits a different answer."

She said she'd never forget, it was the spring of 1977 and the then-senator gave her a "ultimatum:" he was leaving for 10 days and when he returned, he wanted an answer.

"I was unquestionably in love, but after a painful earlier divorce, I was also scared and hardened to the difficulty and the fragility of relationships."

Biden said, however the President was always reassuring and his love for his late wife Neilia Biden encouraged her.

"It's hard to know what you owe a spouse who died before you came along.... Some let questions of what would have been eat away at their peace of mind. But from the beginning, Joe made it clear that there was room enough for both of us. I knew that if he could love Neilia as deeply as he did, then I could be loved that completely, too.

Biden said that the President has maintained the same high quality of character in their marriage as he has leading the U.S.

"Always unflappable, always unflinching," Biden said. "You see that in his character and through the highs and lows of this country, of this world."

She cited the insurrection, recent wars and the pandemic.

"I'm so proud and so grateful, really, that Joe is our president during these uncertain, unpredictable and tumultuous times."

She asked her small audience to remember how it felt when the President was elected in 2020 and compare that feeling to when former President Donald Trump took office in 2016 after they had "fallen short."

"And that's why we're here. That's why we have to start early. And that's why we have to work harder than we've ever worked before. To push harder than we've ever pushed before."

"We have to begin now. We have to meet this moment as if our rights are at stake. And we have to make this moment as if our rights are at stake. Think of all of our rights that have been taken away because they are. As if our democracy is on the line because, guess what, it is."