Pool Reports by Eli Stokols, Los Angeles Times
| Sent: | Reports: |
| June 27, 2022 09:05 CEST |
Travel pool report #1 - holding at G-7 site KRUN, Germany Good morning from Schloss Elmau. I'll be your print pooler for day two of the G-7 summit. Pool arrived on site just after 7:30 a.m. CEST (DC +6) and we've been holding prior to the first of two pooled working sessions focused on Ukraine, which is scheduled to start at 10. It's a limited pool going into those two sprays today, but the family photo with the expanded group of leaders is open to the full pool. If more events (bilats?) are added to the schedule, we'll pass that along. WH says they're not tracking anything else as of now. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions. |
| June 27, 2022 09:57 CEST |
Travel pool report #2 - awaiting spray of G-7 session on Ukraine The three-person US pool has moved over to Schloss Elmau Yoga Pavilion along with other countries’ pools and we are entering now for the spray of the G-7 Summit Session on Ukraine. The virtual address from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is scheduled for 10 a.m. |
| June 27, 2022 10:15 CEST |
Travel pool report #3 - Ukraine session spray (no news) Pool was brought up some stairs to hold on a balcony outside the meeting room, then entered at 10:11a.m. The G-7 leaders were already seated at a round table, with POTUS between Johnson and Scholz. Biden, with his back to the pool, had his suit jacket in, the others all had them off. The video screens showing Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky were arrayed at opposite ends of the table. No one spoke aside from Johnson, who turned around and told photographers jostling for position, "easy, chaps." Pool pushed out very quickly at 10:12. Heading back to hold. |
| June 27, 2022 10:31 CEST |
Travel pool report #4 - back in hold, family photo likely moving up Pool is back in the hold. The WH passed along the official list of attendees for this morning's working session (below). Two other notes from the very brief spray: Biden was holding a folded up newspaper (not clear which) while pool was in the room. European Council President Charles Michel, like Biden, was also wearing his jacket. Additionally, the expanded family photo is likely moving up because of weather concerns, so we're expecting it to occur before the lunch session rather than after. From the WH: The President is attending the G7 working session on the World in Conflict - Exchange on Ukraine in the Yoga Pavilion of the Schloss Elmau with the following leaders: Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany |
| June 27, 2022 12:10 CEST |
Travel pool #5 - expanded family photo underway Pool is now in place near a riser in a stone driveway with a long slate water installation in the middle. This is the location for the expanded G-7 family photo with the leaders from the other countries (Argentina, India, Indonesia, Senegal and South Africa). Chancellor Scholz walked out at 12:06 p.m. and will greet each leader individually, one by one, on a red carpet across from the riser where two groups of all the countries’ flags are positioned. Dress code continues to be no ties. This will be going for a few minutes until the working lunch. The WH sends along this list with everyone taking part: The President is taking a family photo with the following leaders at the Front Courtyard: Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany |
| June 27, 2022 12:35 CEST |
Travel pool report #6 - family photo complete After all the individual leaders from outside the G-7 posed with Scholz for welcome photos, the German chancellor went back inside. Someone came out and rolled up the red carpet. About 15 minutes later, at 12:31; the entire group re-emerged from indoors for the family photo. POTUS was one of the last to emerge and walked over to greet Indian PM Narendra Modi, tapping him on the shoulder. Then Biden moved to the bottom step in the middle of the group, took his aviator sunglasses out of his pocket but did not put them on. The group stood for a few minutes as shutters clicked away. They turned and went back inside at 12:34, although Macron and Modi spoke for a moment and were the last leaders to enter the working lunch. |
| June 27, 2022 12:42 CEST |
Travel pool #7 Greetings from your supplemental pooler, who is on hand at the Fidelio, where President Biden is attending a large-group working lunch on climate, energy and health with G7 leaders and guest leaders (who were also in the family photo). Pool was led into the room at 12:31 pm local, as the leaders gathered outside for their photo. Leaders filed in starting at 12:34 pm. Aggressive photographers shielded pool’s view, but we saw Biden chatting with French President Macron and the Indonesian president, Joko Widodo. Biden took his seat next to Italian Prime Minister Draghi and spoke briefly, tho inaudible to pool. The leaders were sitting around a long oblong table. Biden appeared to be smiling for much of the time pool saw him. Pool was led out at 12:37 pm. |
| June 27, 2022 13:42 CEST |
Travel pool #7a -- clarifying aggressive photographers Your pooler wishes to make clear that foreign photographers -- not from the WHCA pool -- were the ones who aggressively blocked print poolers from full view of President Biden at the working lunch. Apologies that this was unclear. |
| June 27, 2022 13:33 CEST |
Travel pool report #8 - lunch attendees From the WH: POTUS is now attending the working lunch on Investing in a Better Future – Climate, Energy, and Health with the following leaders: Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany |
| June 27, 2022 14:00 CEST |
Travel pool report #9 - Sullivan ON RECORD gaggle Jake Sullivan came over to the press filing center at Schloss Elmau around 1 p.m. and spoke on the record for 20 minutes about the morning session with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The White House will eventually send an official transcript, but here is an overview with several quotes: Sullivan confirmed that the new U.S. aid package will include new air defense systems... "I can confirm that we are in fact, in the process of finalizing a package that includes advanced air defense capabilities," he said. "As [Biden] told President Zelensky, we do intend to finalize a package that includes advanced medium and long-range air defense capabilities for the Ukrainians, along with some other items that are of urgent need, including ammunition for artillery and counter-battery radar systems." Zelensky, he said, spoke about yesterday's missile attacks on Kyiv and told the G-7 that he wanted "additional air defense capabilities that could shoot down missiles out of the sky." On the discussion with Zelensky, broadly: "A lot of it was detailed and sensitive. It was a real conversation about strategy." "What we're trying to do with this point is tailor our military assistance to the particular, immediate needs of Ukrainians on the battlefield at a given point in time." Zelensky made clear he wants to shorten the war: "He believes that a grinding conflict is not in the interest of the Ukrainian people for obvious reasons. So he would like to see his military and those in the West who are supporting his military and making maximum use of the next few months to put Ukraine in as good a position as they can possibly be in." On price caps, Sullivan said the delay with a final agreement by the G-7 had less to do with irresolvable issues than the novelty and complexity of the approach. "The single biggest factor here is this is not something that can be pulled off the shelf as a tried and true method...it is a new kind of concept to deal with a particularly novel challenge, which is how to effectively deal with a country that's selling millions of barrels of oil a day." An eventual G-7 agreement on price caps, he said, would mark "pretty dramatic step forward" and would amount to "one of the more significant outcomes of G-7 summit." Sullivan wouldn't say whether agreeing on and imposing price caps was likely to happen in a matter of weeks or months. "There is no reason though, that if leaders come together around this, that there couldn't be relatively rapid work done on it," he said. Looking ahead to the NATO Madrid summit, Sullivan said US is "trying to resolve as many [issues Turkey has with Finland and Sweden joining the alliance]" before and during the summit. Asked if Biden would hold a bilat with Erdogan, Sullivan said "nothing's scheduled at the moment" but didn't rule it out. "Let's see how the next 24 hours unfold, there is activity occurring." Finally, Sullivan said Biden and China's Xi "will have the opportunity to engage over the course of the next few weeks." He said that "there is increasing convergence at the G-7 and NATO around the challenge poses" but that "competition does not mean confrontation." "We're not looking to divide the world into rival blocks and make every country choose" he said. "We want to stand for a set of principles that are fair to everybody. And we want to ensure that we're working with like-minded partners to hold China accountable to adhere to those rules." |
| June 27, 2022 16:12 CEST |
Travel pool #10 - travel/photo lid The WH called a travel/photo lid at 4:10 p.m. CEST. They also pass along the final list of attendees from the last G-7 session of the day, which was closed to the pool: The President is attending the G7 working session on Food Security and Gender Equality with the following leaders: Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany |
Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Pool Reports of June 27, 2022 Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/356626