Pool Reports by Eli Stokols, Los Angeles Times
| Sent: | Reports: |
| June 14, 2021 12:04 |
Travel pool report #1 - rolling to NATO Good morning from Brussels. Pool departed the RON at 10:39 a.m local time and proceeded to the security sweep at the U.S. ambassador’s residence on the edge of the Parc du Bruxelles, the POTUS RON. The Beast pulled out of Rue Zimmer, where an American flag and a rainbow flag are both flying atop the pole, and was rolling at 12:03 p.m. En route to NATO headquarters now. |
| June 14, 2021 12:22 |
Travel pool report #2 - NATO arrival Motorcade arrived at NATO headquarters at 12:19 p.m. after an uneventful drive across town. Pool broke off from the motorcade and is on the move to a press hold — did not see POTUS. The first meeting on POTUS schedule is with Baltic leaders and it is closed press. After that, POTUS meets with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and there’s a family photo — those events are open to a very limited pool ahead of the main NATO meeting at 1:30, when we are also anticipating a quick spray for a limited pool. |
| June 14, 2021 12:43 |
Travel pool report #3 - Biden and Stoltenberg greeting Pool is holding but we just received a live video feed of a meet and greet with POTUS and Jens Stoltenberg that was not listed on our schedule — and pool had no presence there. Here's a short wrap on what we (and perhaps anyone watching the NATO live feed online) saw: Both sat in chairs angled toward one another (photo below). Biden told Stoltenberg that NATO is "essential for America." And he praised the Secretary General "for your incredible leadership…I wish you were not leaving." He continued: "There is a growing recognition over the last couple years that we have new challenges. We have Russia, which is acting in a way that is not consistent with what we had hoped, and we have China." "NATO is critically important for U.S. interests in and of itself." "Article V we take as a sacred obligation," Biden continued, noting that "NATO stepped up" when America was attacked on 9/11. "I want NATO to know America is there." More TK.. |
| June 14, 2021 13:48 |
Travel pool report #4 - Family photo A bit before 1 p.m. local time, your pooler was positioned on a riser — along with one still photographer and the TV pool only (it's very limited pool access here today) — to observe the "family photo" in a central corridor/atrium area of the main NATO headquarters building. A three-story cube of angled video screens with the summit logo was positioned behind where the leaders were to stand and facing the riser. Security gradually cleared the area of people. Pool watched a live feed on those screens of Secretary General Stoltenberg greeting the leaders individually as they walked across a blue stage, bumped fists or bowed and posed momentarily for photos together. The feed paused briefly and then President Biden, apparently running late, was seen at 1:27 walking through the hallway where we are positioned and into the room where Stoltenberg was greeting the leaders. Then the video feed came back on at 1:33 and we saw Biden, grinning, enter and walk across the stage, the last of some 28 attending leaders to do so. Moments later, the lights came up in the main hall and the leaders began to enter at 1:40, with Britain's Boris Johnson the first one out. They gathered on the grey marble floor and stood on small spots — everal feet apart — marked with the abbreviation of their country facing the riser. POTUS was positioned in the center of the front row. Stoltenberg stood just over his right shoulder. Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan was to his left, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis to his right. They were asked over the loudspeaker to remove their masks and look at the camera for 15 seconds. Then they were asked to turn back to the video cube to watch a video presentation — a sizzle reel of sorts for the NATO alliance that had the organizations objectives ("combat climate change", "support the rules based international order," e.g.) interlaced with still photos and video and a heavy orchestral soundtrack. Then the man on the loudspeaker said: "Please put your masks back on and proceed to Room One." They filed out at 1:46 with Biden stopping to speak with a group of three leaders that included Canada's Justin Trudeau (will effort names of the other two). |
| June 14, 2021 13:48 |
Travel pool report #5 - Stoltenberg greeting/ no news no news, some color. At 1:32 pm local ?President Biden greeted and posed with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg outside NATO headquarters. He was the last of the alliance's leaders to walk across a blue-carpeted arrival area set up outside NATO headquarters for the official greetings. Biden did a little knee-bend, arms outstretched, in greeting as he emerged from behind a divider. "Good to see you," from each a d a little other small Tal, including Biden again praising Stoltenberg for "doing a good job." "Think they got enough?" Biden asked as cameras whirred. They stood a few feet apart as they spoke, then did a shoulder grab as Biden exited past him. "This way?" Biden asked. Tthere was an unexplained delay of about five minutes between the leader immediately before him (Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan) and Biden. Biden and Stoltenberg had met in Washington one week ago, on June 7. Your restricted pool saw each of the leaders make their entrances and greet Stoltenberg. French President Emmanuel Macron appeared to bend the covid rules with a double arm grasp with Stoltenberg. |
| June 14, 2021 14:03 |
Travel pool report #6 - List of attendees / housekeeping Because of some quirks here at NATO limiting pool access and having separate poolers at various events, co-pooler Anne Gearan and I both sent out notes labeled as "Travel pool report #4." Mine from the family photo should have been labeled #5, so this short update is #6. The White House sent along some lists (below), and your pool determined that as Biden walked out of the main hall with Justin Trudeau, he also spoke briefly with the president of Bulgaria and prime minister of Spain (whose names are below). Pool is back in the hold room for a while as the main meeting gets underway. Josh Wingrove of Bloomberg is our representative in the room for a portion of this meeting, so we will send his report along as soon as he's out. From the White House: The President met earlier with the following Baltic leaders:
Joining the President in the family photo:
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| June 14, 2021 14:14 |
Travel pool report #7 - Start of North Atlantic Council meeting Here is a report from Josh Wingrove, our only pool representative allowed into the opening of the main session of the North Atlantic Council at the NATO summit. This may be our last report for a bit; as there is nothing else open to the pool until the Erdogan bilat at 5 p.m. local. From Josh: President Biden entered the room and walked around the length of the table. He fist-bumped Romanian President Klaus Iohannis in a brief greeting, and later spoke with Boris Johnson and NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Goeana. Biden also spoke somewhat at length with Turkey's Erdogan, in a group of roughly half a dozen people, before Jens Stoltenberg came over and the two of them then took their seats. Biden sat between Johnson and Stoltenberg. France's Emmanuel Macron then came over and leaned in to speak with Biden. Your pooler could not hear any of their conversations. Stoltenberg then started the session and Macron walked around to his own seat. Stoltenberg spoke. Excerpts include: "No nation and no continent can deal with these challenges alone, but Europe and North America are not alone. We stand together with NATO." Belgium Prime Minister Alexander De Croo spoke also as the host. Excerpts include: "We gather here today to reconfirm our commitment to transatlantic soldiarity" Then the public portion of the meeting ended and pool was taken out of the room. Biden made no public remarks. |
| June 14, 2021 16:22 |
Travel pool report #8 - WH statement on Duda, Iohannis conversations You've probably seen the readout on the Duda meeting that just went out. The pool received this additional statement… Attributable to a White House Official: In a separate conversation with President Duda and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, President Biden expressed appreciation for the opportunity to engage with the Bucharest Nine (B9) eastern flank allies, which occurred at a May 10 summit co-chaired by Presidents Duda and Iohannis, in advance of today’s NATO Summit. |
| June 14, 2021 16:41 |
Travel pool report #9 - schedule delayed We just received word that the plenary session is ongoing and that the schedule is roughly an hour delayed. That would put the Erdogan bilat, on the schedule for 5 p.m. local, at 6 now. There's also a crawl on the in-house NATO video feed alerting that Stolternberg's presser is delayed and that "timings for all other press conferences will be revised." |
| June 14, 2021 17:18 |
Travel pool report #10 -- heading to Erdogan bilat Pool is now on the move to the Erdogan bilat, so things are not quite as backed up as we were initially told. And unlike the earlier sprays, this one is open to the full pool. Stand by... |
| June 14, 2021 18:24 |
Travel pool report #11 — still holding for Erdogan bilat We’re still waiting outside the bilat room, where we’ve been situated for going on an hour. It’s unclear what’s happening and possible the meeting is underway and simply started without a spray. But we don’t know that’s the case. We’re all trying to figure it out. Working back to the last note I sent— Pool was transported (via electric tram) around 5:20 p.m. from the press center across the street to the bilateral meeting rooms adjacent to the headquarters. Long wait ensued outside the doors to the room as various things were negotiated. POTUS actually arrived a bit before 6 p.m. and was spotted waiting inside the room. Erdogan, it was clear, had yet to arrive. Again, not clear at this point if the bilat is underway…will send updates when we have something. |
| June 14, 2021 18:34 |
Travel pool report #12b — bilat seems to have begun Per the Turkish presidency's Twitter account: https://twitter.com/trpresidency/status/1404474877613154313?s=21 WH pool still hasn't gotten any confirmation. |
| June 14, 2021 19:21 |
Travel pool report #13 — pool spray of Erdogan bilat (no news) Pool finally went in at 6:16 p.m. — after a wait of 112 minutes — so the spray that was scheduled for the top of the bilat turned out to be at the bottom. By the time we entered, Turkey had already put out some video of the meeting. POTUS and President Erdogan, who we're told ended up having an initial discussion without any aides before moving to an expanded bilat with aides, were seated on opposite sides of a long rectangular table in front of their respective flags, now flanked by aides. Everyone in facemasks. Blinken, Austin and Sullivan at the table with Biden, who said "we had a very good meeting" as wranglers shouted at us to leave the room. When a reporter called out to POTUS "we couldn't hear you, sir," he responded: "I didn't say anything." We were in there less than two minutes. No news. Pool moving out of the bilat building. |
| June 14, 2021 19:37 |
Travel pool report #14 — Biden presser soon Pool has moved into the auditorium of the main building for the POTUS press conference. At least 100 journalists are filling the seats, which are spaced about three feet apart. I’ll send a note when this starts but it’s open press — you can find a livestream on whitehouse.gov/live |
| June 14, 2021 19:47 |
Travel pool report #15 — US-Turkey expanded bilat attendees From the White House: In attendance at the Turkey bilateral meeting, along with the President:
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| June 14, 2021 21:27 |
Travel pool report #16 — 2-minute warning to Biden presser They just announced two minutes to Biden coming out. About 20 minutes earlier, SOS Blinken, SECDEF Austin and Douglas Jones, the US ambassador to NATO came in through a side door and took seats in the first row. |
| June 14, 2021 21:28 |
Travel pool report #17 — Biden presser starts POTUS took the stage at 9:28 p.m. local time. Jen Psaki and Kate Bedingfield also just came in and took seats up front. Jake Sullivan too. By the way, there are teleprompters set up for him here. He didn’t have them yesterday during his G-7 presser at the Newquay airport. Remarks are open press. |
| June 14, 2021 21:54 |
Travel pool report #18 — presser concludes POTUS ended his press conference at 9:54 p.m. He took five questions. Pool moving swiftly to the vans, will be on the move shortly. |
| June 14, 2021 22:02 |
Travel pool report #19— POTUS coming to 9/11 memorial Pool was escorted through the main entrance and then positioned by WH staff ?beside the 9/11 memorial, a piece of the World Trade Center that sits on the lawn outside the NATO headquarters. POTUS is planning to stop here on his way out. The Beast is idling nearby. POTUS spoke earlier in the day during his greeting with Jens Stoltenberg about how he sometimes feels the need to remind Americans than the one time Article V was invoked was after 9/11 when NATO allies came to the aid of the U.S. Standing by on the lawn… |
| June 14, 2021 22:15 |
Travel pool report #20 — POTUS at 9/11 memorial / motorcade rolling POTUS walked out alone at 10:04 p.m. and stepped over the 9/11 memorial. He stood and read the plaque and then stepped up to the piece of steel from the WTC, touched it briefly, stepped back in front of the plaque to gather his thoughts. He turned to his left and Jens Stoltenberg was walking toward him. They shook hands and had a short conversation, chest to chest at close range. Pool couldn’t hear their words as a helicopter flew overhead. Stoltenberg put his hand on Biden’s shoulder and they continued to talk. Biden then put both hands on his shoulders and they shook hands, turned and walked together toward the motorcade. They stopped and continued to chat as the pool was directed to the vans. We didn’t see POTUS get into his limousine. We are rolling for the RON at 10:14. Here’s a photo of the memorial plaque from co-pooler Anne Gearan. |
| June 14, 2021 22:29 |
Travel pool report #21 — more info on bilats Motorcade still rolling to RON, but on-passing this note.. Attributable to a White House official: In addition to the bilateral meetings read out earlier, President Biden also held individual conversations with President Pedro Sanchez of Spain, President Zuzana Caputova of Slovakia, Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic of Montenegro, President Rumen Radev of Bulgaria, Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway, Prime Minister Antonio Costa of Portugal, and Prime Minister Xavier Bettel of Luxembourg on the margins of the NATO Summit. |
| June 14, 2021 22:36 |
Travel pool report #22 — RON and lid Motorcade rolled to a stop alongside the US Embassy at 10:33 p.m. POTUS pulled into the gates and the press van split off and headed back to the press hotel at 10:34. Travel/photo lid called. |
Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Pool Reports of June 14, 2021 Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/350384