Pool Reports by Meridith McGraw, POLITICO
| Sent: | Reports: |
| January 15, 2020 10:35 |
WH Pool Report 1 - Good morning Good morning on this busy day in Washington. There have not been any changes to the president's schedule (below) but stay tuned for any updates. Feel free to reach out with questions. Thanks! 11:15AM THE PRESIDENT greets the Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China 11:30AM THE PRESIDENT participates in a signing ceremony of an agreement between the United States and China 12:15PM THE PRESIDENT has lunch with the Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China 2:15PM THE PRESIDENT meets with the Secretary of Defense |
| January 15, 2020 10:51 |
WH Pool Report 2 - Statement on Pelosi "The only thing Speaker Pelosi has achieved with this sham, illegitimate impeachment process, is to prove she is focused on politics instead of the American people. The Speaker lied when she claimed this was urgent and vital to national security because when the articles passed, she held them for an entire month in an egregious effort to garner political support. She failed and the naming of these managers does not change a single thing. President Trump has done nothing wrong. He looks forward to having the due process rights in the Senate that Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats denied to him, and expects to be fully exonerated. In the meantime, after President Trump signs the historic China Trade Deal greatly benefiting the people of this country, he will continue working and winning for all Americans, while the Democrats will continue only working against the President." Stephanie Grisham. |
| January 15, 2020 | [APP Note: Report #3 does not exist or was not received by the APP.] |
| January 15, 2020 12:32 |
WH Pool Report 4 - East Room event, ongoing Ongoing — the president is still speaking and the trade agreement has not yet been signed but sending along initial color and notes: Before the event began, Kushner, Kudlow, Lighthizer, and Short each made their way over to Dobbs at one point to shake hands and chat. As guests were waiting for the event to being Mulvaney came over to talk to McCarthy, Meadows, and Nunes — all sitting next to each other in the front row. Then McCarthy had to take off and was replaced by Sen Cramer. President Trump walked into the East Room at 11:50a with Vice Premier Liu He. Standing behind the President was VP Pence, Lighthizer, and Mnuchin. "Today we take a momentous step one that has never been taken before with China as we sign phase one of the trade deal," Trump said. **The president said he would be going to China in the "not too distant future" and acknowledged President Xi, who he said was watching. Trump welcomed VP Pence to make remarks. Then the president jumped back in to tick through a long list of officials, lawmakers, and businessmen and women to offer comments, compliments, anecdotes and jokes. The Chinese delegation stood to the president's side as he spoke. First Trump noted Lighthizer's work on the trade deal, the he gave special kudos to Mnuchin, and Kushner, Kudlow, Navarro, Amb Brandstad, and Chao who were not on stage. Although he called them out by name, special guests and lawmakers were not on the president's teleprompter. Instead the president noted them from a list he read from the podium. **Trump, after noticing the Gov of SD in the audience, said he might go to Mt Rushmore for the 4th of July and fireworks. Then he moved on to giving his thoughts, comments, and suggestions to business leaders from major corporations like Qualcomm and UPS. The extemporaneous comments about guests lasted at least 30 minutes. He is now talking about the trade deal. Additional report coming. |
| January 15, 2020 13:08 |
WH Pool Report 5 - East Room event concludes At 1:05p phase one of the trade deal was officially signed by President Trump and the Vice Premier and signatures were displayed to the audience. Before they signed, the president gestured for the large group of lawmakers to join him, then the vice premier did the same. Pooler's view was blocked! Check quotes... "It just doesn't get any bigger than this not only in terms of a deal but keeping these two giants in harmony, Trump said before sitting down with the vice Premier. Before the signing, President Trump outlined some of Phase One of the trade deal with China. He said there will be restrictions on currency manipulation and protection of intellectual property, and noted that they agreed to take action against counterfeit goods. The president said tariffs will be taken off if they are able to negotiate with the Chinese on Phase 2 of the deal. He said he doesn't expect a phase 3. The president said the trade deal would lead to "even stronger world peace." The President invited Amb Lighthizer and Sec Mnuchin to briefly speak. Before thanking the Vice Premier, the president noted he forgot to note Sen Capito of WV in the front row. "China is an incredible, incredible nation," Trump then continued, and invited the Vice Premier to speak. The Vice Premier read a letter from President Xi in Chinese, and an interpreter shared the letter in English. "I believe...China US relations will deliver even more results to our people in the years ahead," Xi said in the letter. Xi ended by wishing a happy new year to President Trump and the First Lady. At some point during the remarks (unclear when) some House members in the audience left. I did not have headphones for translation of the Vice Premier's remarks, apologies. The president shook hands with audience members before leaving the East Room. |
| January 15, 2020 13:30 |
WH Pool Report 5 - President Trump brought guests briefly to Green Room Unexpectedly, President Trump walked into the Green Room where the pool was assembled and brought with him Steve Schwarzman, Nelson Peltz and Michael Pillsbury. The president said they would take some questions, then left his guests in the Green Room to make short statements. The president said we would then come in for lunch. Peltz this was a "world shaking event we would be able to do this and keep the tariffs in place." Pool is waiting to go into the State Dining Room now. |
| January 15, 2020 13:40 |
WH Pool Report 6 - State Dining Room President Trump, sifting between Lighthizer and Pence, thanked the Chinese on reaching a deal. "This is deal we have been talking about for 30 years...," Trump began. "We will be working together on North Korea....we will be working together for the benefit of the world." The Vice Premier, sitting across from the President said through a translator, the trade agreement is "good for the world..and conducive to the world peace and prosperity." The President responded to one question and said said he has a "great relationship with China." He then gestured for the press to leave and the press was then we ushered out. Will send more quotes shortly. |
| January 15, 2020 14:15 |
WH Pool Report 7 - Quotes from State Dining Room spray Quotes from State Dining Room spray: President Trump on doing the deal in phases: "The more I thought about this the better it is. You can get your arms around it better. I like it better, the way we've done it." President Trump: "I just want to say this is a great day for both China and the United States, this is an agreement that people have been talking about for 40 years and never were able to get even a piece of paper signed. We never had an agreement. And this is going to be a great agreement for both countries. Its far greater than 200 billion dollars and it will grow greater every year. It also unifies the countries. And president Xi has been so nice as to talk about other things outside of the agreement such as fentanyl, we're working on that, we're going to be working very closely together on North Korea, and as I said inside, it's like a world class chess match or poker match. We're going to work together, and we're going to work together for the benefit of our countries. But also very importantly for the benefit of the world. So this is a very big day for the United States and it's a very big day for China this is a day nobody thought. Could happen and it did happen so it's my honor to be here. So Mr. Vice Premier I must say it's a great honor to become your friend." Vice Premier, via translator: "Mr President I very much agree with your words. This is an agreement that is good for China, good for the United States and good for the whole world. The agreement is an economic and trade agreement but its implication goes far beyond and economic and trade deal. The world today is full of uncertainties and with this agreement it will be something that is conducive to world peace and prosperity." As the pool was being escorted out, the president responded to a shouted question about China. Trump: "Great relationship, we have a great relationship. I would say the highest the best its every been, both on trade and even on military cooperation. This will lead to so many other things. So we have a great, well-knit relationship, really the best it's ever been. You have to remember we've never had an agreement. It's been a free for all, this is a great agreement and phase two will start soon but this is far more comprehensive than anyone ever knew about in the press, from intellectual property to currency, so nobody knew that, nobody knew the deal until today when we released it. It's a bigger deal than people thought. It's a tremendous step toward an unbelievable relationship, so really it's the best it's ever been." When will you visit China? "Soon," Trump replied. |
| January 15, 2020 14:33 |
WH Pool Report 8 - State Dining Room lunch background from WH From the WH -- Today, President Donald J. Trump will host a lunch in the State Dining Room to celebrate the historic Economic and Trade Agreement Between the United States of America and the People's Republic of China. The following individuals are expected to attend: The White House Trump Administration Chinese Delegation |
| January 15, 2020 16:52 |
WH Travel Pool 9 - Travel/Photo lid At 4:50p the WH called at Travel/Photo lid (there wasn't a lunch lid for those wondering). FYI, I've asked about reports of a call between President Trump and Turkish President Erdogan today. Have a good night! |
| January 15, 2020 18:21 |
WH Pool Report 10 - Erdogan readout Readout from Judd Deere: Today, President Donald J. Trump spoke with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. The two leaders discussed the security situation in Syria and Libya, the protests in Iran, and Iran's downing of Ukraine International Airlines PS752. |
Pool Reports by Ching-Yi Chang, Shanghai Media Group
| Sent: | Reports: |
| January 15, 2020 10:38 |
Foreign Pool Report #1 Prior to the U.S.-China Signing Ceremony Nin Hao! Hello! It's my honor to serve as your foreign pooler again today. This is a big day for the two countries. Pre-set was just over, the final gather set to be 11:15 AM, at the same time, according to the White House, U.S. President Trump will meet with China's Vice Premier Liu at 11:15 AM as well. And as far as your foreign pooler knows, the Vice Premier will come to the White House around 11 AM. And the signing ceremony will be 11:30 AM. According to Chinese media, the Vice Premier comes to the U.S. this time with three titles: the Member of Political Bureau of CPC Central Committee, Vice Premier of the State Council, and the Chinese leader of the China-U.S. Comprehensive Economic Dialogue. And he comes to the U.S. was at the invitation of the U.S. The Chinese delegation to the White House is almost the same like the past few times, they are: Zhong Shan, China's Commerce Minister; Yi Gang, Governor of China's Central Bank; Ning Jizhe, Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform ; Liao Min, Vice Finance Minister; Zheng Zeguang, Vice Foreign Minister; Wang Zhijun, Vice Minister of Industry and Information technology; Han Jun, Vice Agriculture Minister; Wang Shouwen, Vice Commerce Minister; and of course, Cui Tiankai, Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. is attending. (In Chinese language, surname comes first, and given name comes later) According to the editorial in Chinese, the agreement is with principle, limited, and is a good agreement. |
| January 15, 2020 13:36 |
Foreign Pool Report #2 Vice Premier Liu's Remark At 12:45 PM. Vice Premier Liu read President Xi's letter to President Trump. And there was an interpreter, so your foreign pooler just "very roughly" translates what the Vice Premier said in Mandarin later to help you have some sense of what he just said. First of all he thanked everyone. And he said, it's a mutually beneficial agreement. Economy and trade is the driving force for China-US relations. Although there were setbacks in the negotiations, but they didn't give up. They reached agreement on the basis of equality and mutual respect. He then said, "difficulties are not scary, there are always more solutions than difficulties." He then said, both sides should implement the agreement based on equality and mutual respect. Regarding the second phase, he said, everything is difficult at the beginning. A good start is half success. And he mentioned about the first phase of the deal. And then he talked about China's market welcomes investment, for China's GDP per capita reaches 10,000 USD. He said, the door of China will open wider. China and the United States have huge interests and can cooperate with each other. He quoted President Xi and said there are a thousand reasons to make a good relationship between China and the US. Cooperation benefits each other, and fighting hurts each other as well. He then sincerely thanked those who have promoted China-US relations. And he wished everyone Happy Chinese New Year. He concluded at 12:59 PM, and invited Chinese Ambassador Cui to talk, translation to follow. Your foreign pooler is just ushered into the state dinning room. |
| January 15, 2020 14:23 |
Foreign Pool Report #3 President Trump Took Two Questions Actually and Ambassador Cui's Remark Ambassador Cui spoke in Mandarin from 12:59 PM to 1:01 PM in the East Room. And here are just rough translation to give everyone a sense of what he said. He first thanked everyone, and then he said China and the US reached an agreement based on equality and mutual respect. He said, the great development of China has been made by the 1.4 billion Chinese people. It is hoped that the two sides will use the agreement as an opportunity to increase trust, dispel doubts, reduce misunderstanding and misjudgment. And your American pooler did a great pool report about State Dining Room. Just some color here. Your foreign pooler actually shouted out a question to President Trump at the end about when he will visit China. He replied with one word, "Soon!" There were 12 Chinese officials at the dining table plus an interpreter. And there were no food on the table at the time. There were menus on the table but your foreign pooler was too far to read. Your foreign pooler was ushered out of State Dining Room at 1:37 PM after spending roughly 5 minutes being there. |
Donald J. Trump (1st Term), Pool Reports of January 15, 2020 Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/349672