Pool Reports of August 2, 2021

Pool report #1: Briefing now at 1:30 p.m., and Gene Sperling will attend

Greetings from the White House where it's 77 degrees and cloudy.

The president is scheduled to be returning from his weekend in Camp David shortly. Our initial gather was scheduled for 12:15 pm, but a voice just came over the loudspeaker telling the pool that the gather time had been pushed back.

The briefing has been pushed back to 1:30 p.m. and there will be a guest.

From the WH: "White House American Rescue Plan Coordinator and Senior Advisor to the President Gene Sperling will join the press briefing with Press Secretary Jen Psaki at 1:30 PM."

Pool report #2: We are gathering for POTUS's arrival from Camp David

[APP Note: No additional text was included in this report.]

Pool report #3: POTUS arrival

Marine One landed at 12:41 pm.

He left M1 masked at 12:43 pm, took his mask off, gave a lingering look to reporters upon his approach, said something inaudible, and walked into the White House.

From the WH:

Returning with the President from Camp David on Marine One:
Bruce Reed, Assistant to the President & Deputy Chief of Staff
Annie Tomasini, Assistant to the President & Director of Oval Office Operations
Yohannes Abraham, Deputy Assistant to the President & Chief of Staff and Executive Secretary for the National Security Council

Pool report #4: Briefing is now at 2 p.m.

[APP Note: No additional text was included in this report.]

Pool report #5: Briefing pushed back to 2:30 p.m.

[APP Note: No additional text was included in this report.]

Pool report #6: Briefing time came and went

It is 2:42 p.m.

When asked about the delay, an administration official told your pooler that there was "a lot going on" today.

Pool report #7: Briefing is now at 3 p.m.

Fourth time's the charm

Pool report #8: Briefing began at 3 p.m.

[APP Note: No additional text was included in this report.]

Pool report #9: Briefing wrapped at 3:59 p.m.

[APP Note: No additional text was included in this report.]

Travel/photo lid called at 4:30 p.m., with exceptions

The White House called a travel/photo lid, with an exception for pool members scheduled to cover a virtual DNC fundraiser at 7 p.m.

Pool report #11: Pool was allowed to listen in on DNC virtual fundraiser beginning at 7:16 p.m.

Here is the run of show, per the WH:

The program for the virtual fundraising reception for the Democratic National Committee featuring the President:

* Remarks from Chair Jaime Harrison, Democratic National Committee
* Remarks from Tom Campion, who introduces the President
* Remarks from the President

We are listening by audio and I think we were patched in during Harrison's remarks. I will send notes from POTUS's remarks. Note: The previous pool report was not numbered, but should have been numbered #10.

Pool report #12: Fundraiser highlights

POTUS began addressing the DNC at 7:19 pm. He stopped speaking at 7:29 p.m. and the pool was cut off from the audio as the president prepared for a virtual photo line.

WH will release a transcript later but here are some highlights for you to check against transcript and audio. I attached an Otter file, but if you can't download it, email me and I'll send it to you.

On voting rights: "The single most important thing that we have to do is we have to protect the voting system, protect the sacred right to vote. It's under assault in ways I haven't seen in my entire career and I was the guy who was able to get the Voting Rights Act extended 25 years before … We're going to fight like hell so that doesn't happen. That is one of the most important things we can do."

On bipartisan infrastructure deal: "I had to make some compromises, but it's going to make a gigantic difference. It's going to transform the economy. It's going to eliminate all lead pipes in America, so people have decent drinking water."

On the GOP: "The Republican party today offers nothing but fear and lies and broken promises. We have to keep cutting through the Republican fog."

On the 2020 election: "It really was, in my view, a battle for the soul of a nation, of basic decency, building the middle class from the bottom up in the middle, rather than waiting for it to trickle down."

"We won in 2020 as a unified party, and as we look to 2022 we need to stay unified. The question American people are going to be asking is whether we're helping them and their families."

On democracy: "If we make the right decision in the next few years, in 50 years, people are gonna look back and say, this was the moment that America won the 21st century."