Pool Reports of December 13, 2023

In-town pool report #1 - participants in POTUS meeting with family members of hostages

From the White House:

The President is holding a private meeting with the family members of Americans who were taken hostage by Hamas during the terrorist attacks in Israel on October 7. Participants in the meeting include:

• Secretary of State Antony Blinken
• Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer
• Yael Alexander
• Adi Alexander
• Ruby Chen
• Roy Chen
• Ronen Neutra
• Orna Neutra
• Jonathan Dekel-Chen
• Gillian Kaye
• Aviva Siegel
• Elan Siegel
• Shir Siegel
• Hanna Siegel
• Liz Naftali

Joining the meeting by phone are:

• Jon Polin
• Rachel Goldberg
• Iris Haggai

In-town pool report #2 -- family members of hostages coming to sticks

Some family members of Americans who were taken hostage by Hamas are coming to the stakeout location.

In-town pool report #3 - names of family members coming to the sticks

• Ruby Chen
• Jonathan Dekel-Chen
• Orna and Ronen Neutra
• Yael and Adi Alexander
• Liz Naftali

In-town pool report #4 - comments from family members

Family members of hostages who met with Biden spoke for about 6 minutes.

Jonathan Dekel-Chen called it a terrific meeting. He said the families feel they have no better friend than Biden. He declined to detail their conversation.

"We're going to keep the private conversations private."

Liz Naftali:

"We'd love a Christmas miracle."

"We know they are working 24 hours a day."

Here's a link to my otter:

https://otter.ai/u/k5jRX96nm259apDIFkDZ3O1wahE

In-town pool report #5 -- press briefing timing

The press briefing will begin following the National Infrastructure Advisory Council event, for which we do not have an updated start time.

In-town pool report #6 -- gathering for Biden's remarks

Pool is gathering for Biden's remarks at a meeting of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council. The remarks will be livestreamed.

In-town pool report #7 - 2-minute warning & list of attendees

We have a 2-minute warning for Biden's remarks.

From the WH:

In attendance for the President's remarks at a meeting of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council:

Biden-Harris Administration
Liz Sherwood-Randall, Assistant to the President & Homeland Security Advisor
Mitch Landrieu, Senior Advisor & Infrastructure Implementation Coordinator
Caitlin Durkovich, Deputy Assistant to the President & Deputy Homeland Security Advisor for Resilience and Response

National Infrastructure Council Members
Maria Lehman, Council Vice Chair, GHD Infrastructure Leader
Alan Armstrong, President and CEO, Williams Inc.
Manu Asthana, CEO and President, PJM
Camille Batiste, Senior Vice President for Global Supply Chain & Procurement, Archer Daniels Midland
Madhu Beriwal, CEO and President, Innovative Emergency Management, Inc.
Josh Descant, CEO, REV
Christine Fox, Senior Fellow, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
David Gadis, CEO and General Manager, DC Water
Norma Jean Mattei, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New Orleans
Clara Pratte, Founder and Partner, Navajo Power
Gil Quiniones, CEO, ComEd
Pasquale Romano, President and CEO, ChargePoint
Luis "Vance" Taylor, Chief of Office and Access & Functional Needs, California Governor's Office of Emergency Services
Tony Thomas, President and CEO, Windstream
Conrad Vial, Senior Executive, Sutter Health
Sadek Wahba, Chairman and Managing Partner, I Squared
Michael Hayford, Chief Executive Officer, NCR Corporation

Speaking Program
The President

In-town pool report #8 — remarks concluded/no responses to shouted questions

Biden entered the Indian Treaty Room at 1:20 p.m. and began brief public remarks. The press was moved out at 1:24 pm.

He did not respond to shouted questions as press left but instead walked around the room shaking hands with council members.

Some comments during brief remarks:

Biden said when folks see big infrastructure projects in their home towns, it brings them hope, pride and a sense of security

"It's not just about building infrastructure. It's about building better infrastructure."

In-town pool report #9 -- briefing to begin at 2 p.m.

The new time for the press briefing is 2 p.m.

In-town pool report #10 -- 2-minute warning until briefing

A 2-minute warning was given at 2:09 p.m.

In-town pool report #11 -- briefing ends

The briefing ended at 3:13 p.m.

In-town pool report # 12 -- lid

The WH called a travel/photo lid at 4:34 p.m.