Pool Reports of June 28, 2021

WH in-town pool report #1

Good afternoon. We have a two-minute warning for the daily press briefing. You can watch live at https://www.whitehouse.gov/live/.

WH in-town pool report #2

The press briefing with Jen Psaki ended at 1:32 pm ET.

WH in-town pool report #3

We have a lunch lid until 3:30 pm ET.

WH in-town pool report #4

Your pool has gathered in the briefing room for POTUS' meeting with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, who arrived at the White House at 4:00 pm ET. We're heading into the Oval shortly.

WH in-town pool report #5

Your pool entered the Oval Office at 4:15 pm ET.

POTUS and Israel's outgoing president were seated by the fireplace. Your pooler will be sending fuller quotes after this because it was a bit hard to hear.

"I just wanted to thank the president for being here," he said. POTUS said his commitment to Israel "is ironclad" and that he has an "unwavering commitment to your self defense."

"Iran will never get a nuclear weapon on my watch," he said.

He reiterated his Article 2 authority to conduct air strikes over the weekend.

He said he would be hosting Israel's new prime minister, Naftali Bennett, at the White House "very soon."

He expressed support for Israel's normalization with countries throughout Africa and the Middle East.

Rivlin said that Israel has no greater ally than the Hnited States, and that democratic values bond the two nations together.

Responding to a shouted question on infrastructure, the president responded: "My bottom line on infrastructure is exactly what I negotiated."

Pool was escorted out at 4:21 pm ET.

WH in-town pool report #6

Your pooler is seeking out better audio of the bilat as his own is quite poor. In the meantime, the White House passes along a list of participants in the President's meeting with H.E. Reuven Rivlin:

U.S.

The President
T. H. Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor
T. H. Wendy Sherman, Deputy Secretary of State
T. H. Brett McGurk, Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa
T. H. Barbara Leaf, Senior Director for the Middle East and North Africa
Ms. Julie Sawyer, Director for Israel and Palestinian Affairs

Israel

H.E. Reuven Rivlin, President of the State of Israel
H.E. Gilad Erdan, Ambassador of the State of Israel to the United States
Mr. Harel Tubi, Director General
Brigadier General Alaa Abu Rukun, Military Secretary
Ms. Naomi Kandel, Spokesperson
Ms. Shulamit Yona Davidovich, Senior Foreign Policy Advisor

WH in-town pool report #7

All,

Sincere thanks to the radio pool for its audio of the bilat between POTUS and Rivlin, transcribed below:

POTUS: Well I'm really happy to have President Rivlin here. And I don't want to – it's not technically appropriate, but I am so delighted his daughter is here, she's in the back right there. I got to, got to meet her, and talk about our kids and grandkids and all alike.

Anyway, I just want to thank the President for being here, and, and for your dedication to strengthening the relationship between the United States and Israel.

RIVLIN: Thank you.

POTUS: And as the American press can tell you, my commitment to Israel is – well, they can't tell you anything, actually. They're not supposed to. But it's ironclad. It's real. It's something that I often say: if there weren't an Israel we'd have to invent one.

And so this includes – we're, you know, we're committed to unwavering commitment to self-defense. And today, we're going to be discussing a broad range of challenges, including Iran. What I can say to you: Iran will never get a nuclear weapon on my watch, as they say.

And, and, you know, I directed last night's airstrikes targeting sites used by the Iranian backed militia groups responsible for recent attacks on U.S. personnel in Iraq. And I have that authority under Article II, and even those up in the Hill who are reluctant to acknowledge that have acknowledged that's the case.

I also want to be clear that, as I said, my team and I are already working closely with the Israeli government that took office earlier this month. I'm looking forward to hosting Prime Minister Bennett at the White House very soon.

And the US fully supports normalization of the relationship between Israel and Middle Eastern countries that you're making some headway on – in Africa as well. And beyond the important progress, we are really looking forward to building back a wider block of peace and stability.

Going forward, Mr. President, the United States and Israel will continue to work together to advance peace in the region, and stability. And I've only one regret – losing you as president. But not immediately, not soon.

RIVLIN: For Israelis, enough. For the Americans, eight years could be, eh, a bit longer. But for the Israelis, seven years is enough.

POTUS: [Laughs] Well, welcome.

RIVLIN: It's good to be president, I must say, yeah.

POTUS: Well, you've, you've done an incredible job. You've been a great friend.

RIVLIN: I did my best.

POTUS: Oh you did your best, and it was as good as it could be. Thank you. Everybody. Do you have anything else you'd like to say?

RIVLIN: I would like to say that I'm delighted, really delighted to be here once again, in the White House meeting you, the President of the United States.

Of course, I have to repeat what we know very well: Israel has no greater friend, ally than the United States of America. You are our best friends. And we are sharing. We are best friends. And the bond between the people of Israel and the people of America is based on the understanding that we are sharing values – values of democracy, and values of liberalism. And because of that, of course, we, according to a real friendship, can from time to time discuss matters, and even they agree not to agree about everything. But we count on you're really declaration just now, really – both the Israelis to understand that we have a great friend in the White House. We do.

Mr. President, thank you. God bless you. God bless the people of America. And God bless the relationship between our two nations.

POTUS: I agree with you. Thank you very much. Thank you all very much.

[INAUDIBLE QUESTIONS]

REPORTER: Will you – Mr. President, will you say on camera what your statement said Saturday? What is your bottom line on infrastructure?

POTUS: My bottom line on infrastructure is exactly what we negotiated. Thank you.

WH in-town pool report #8

Israel's President Rivlin is about to gaggle at the sticks following the conclusion of his meeting with POTUS. You can watch live.

WH in-town pool report #9

We have a travel/photo lid as of 6:05 pm ET, with the exception of the president's remarks at a virtual fundraising reception for the Democratic National Party later this hour. Your pool will cover that event via dial-in.

WH in-town pool report #10

POTUS took part in a virtual fundraising reception for the DNC from the White House tonight. Your pool dialed in for his remarks, which are transcribed below:

###

We haven't even sat down with each other. You know, anybody who contributed or raised as much funds as you did – everyone expects to be knocking on my door for – you've never asked me for a single thing. You've raised an enormous amount of money, and you said, 'the reason why we haven't gotten together, Mr. President, is because we didn't want to distract you. We want you to keep going.' I really mean it. I hope everybody understands that about almost all of you on this call. And I want to thank you for your incredible support."

And Jamie, I think that Leader Clyburn was correct. You're the choice for this job. You're doing outstanding leadership. And let me just say you're part of something special. We're bound together by one of the most consequential campaigns in the history of this country – and it really was about the soul of America.

I just got back, by the way, from Europe, after being there for I guess 13 days – I forget how many days. And I met for five days with the G7 nations. And then there were four others who were there, India, Australia – I won't go into detail, too boring for you.

Then I went to NATO meeting, with all the NATO representatives there and the heads of state. And then I went to meet with Putin. Actually in between I did the EU. And here's the bottom line. I know you all understood it – the incredible damage done internationally by the last outfit that sat in this seat. And I have to say, sitting here tonight, I've lived through what we've lived through – we know just how important it was. It turns out it was even more important than I thought it was.

Think about the last 150 days. The American Rescue Plan delivered shots in the arms, and by the way, we are in a position where we're close to making sure that 70% of all the people in America will have been fully vaccinated, or at least get one shot by independence day. We're way ahead – no one thought we could do that. And I'm in the process of being able to announce very shortly that we're going to generate half a billion doses we're going to give away after taking care of every single American, a half a billion doses given away to the poorest countries in the world. That's what you do when you really want to help and influence people around the world.

Beyond, the act put shots in arms and checks in pockets for hundreds of millions of Americans who were on the edge – keeping food on the table, roof over their head. And maybe the thing I'm proudest of is getting us back on track to cut child poverty in half.

150 million Americans are fully vaccinated now – the fastest job growth in the first four months, I'm told, not because of me but because of all of you, of any previous presidency. Projected economic growth at nearly 7%, the highest in four decades.

And just last week I announced a bipartisan agreement in the Senate that's going to make one of the biggest investments in infrastructure, ever – rebuilding our roads and bridges, delivering high-speed internet to every American, rural and as well as in urban areas; delivering clean water, getting rid of those lead pipes for every American; building a more resilient power grid; installing an electric vehicle charging stations, over half a million of them.

It's the largest investment in public transit ever, and the largest in rail since the creation of Amtrak fifty years ago.

It's about creating millions of good-paying jobs, and it's about our economic competitiveness.

You all know better than I because you're all successful people, but we're in a race for the 21st Century, for who is going to have the strongest economy in the 21st Century. And the rest of the world's not waiting around. We have more to do, and we have to move fast, and move quickly.

This agreement, this infrastructure bill, signals to the world that we can function. We can deliver. We can do significant things and show that America's back.

That's the message I delivered and received during the trip in Europe. I announced that America is going to help vaccinate the world, because that's who we are – that's what we can do.

I also rallied our European allies to holding China to the same rules of the road for a global economy of the 21st Century. I made clear to President Putin in Russia that relations between America should be stable and predictable, we should be able to cooperate where we have our interests, on nuclear non-proliferation and climate change. And where we have differences, I made it clear to President Putin – that I understand why, we have to understand what exists, and whether its on cyber attacks or interference in our economy, I will respond. I will respond. And I know we'll respond to specific kinds of actions that harm U.S. interests.

The bottom line of all this at home and abroad is that we're proving that our democracy can deliver for the people when autocrats are betting we can't. But we've got a lot more to do.

As we invest in our physical infrastructure, we also have to invest in our human infrastructure – the so-called Biden Family Plan Bill.

We're going to move on the American Families Plan that will deliver child care, paid leave, universal pre-K, two years of community college and so much more.

And I will take the American people on the need to protect the sacred right to vote. It's under assault in ways I haven't seen in my entire career and that's what got me involved in the first place. It's about who gets to vote and whether the vote counts.

We have a system that does both with integrity and independence, but Republicans want to do what no political party has ever tried to do – get to decide if your vote counts. It's outrageous. We're going to fight like hell to make sure that doesn't happen.

The work ahead is not going to be easy, and I'm going to need all of you to help do that work. The DNC is going to need you. Because here's the deal. We won in 2020 as a unified party, and we need to stay unified to do the big, consequential things. If we make the right decisions in the next four – few years, in 50 years people will look back and say, this was the moment America won the future. We can't do it without you, and it's not hyperbole to suggest what I said, that America won the future.

The bottom line is that there's so much at stake, but I promise you, I promise you – I've heard from almost every major world leader, I've heard from every major world leader. We can do this – because we can in the process be helping the rest of the world by doing well for ourselves. May God bless America, may God protect our troops.

###

After his remarks, the president took part in a "virtual photo line," which was not accessible to reporters.

Have a good evening.

Foreign pool #1 POTUS and Israel President Reuven Rivlin

Pool was ushered to the Oval office at 4:16 pm, both Presidents were sitting down, POTUS pointed out to Ravlin's daughter who was attending. He said he is going to be discussing broad range of challenges including Iran, "what I could say is that Iran will never get a nuclear weapon, on my watch".

On US strike in Iraq and Syria he said : "I directed last night airstrikes, targeting site used by the Iranian backed militia group responsible for recent attacks on US personnel on rack, and I have that authority under Article Two ."

He announced that he is working to welcoming the new Israeli PM to the White House soon.

"I'm looking forward to hosting. Prime Minister Bennett at the White House very soon."

Rivlin is the first high ranking Israeli official to meet with President Biden at the White House, he will also meet with House speaker Nancy Pelosi and many other congressional leaders from both parties.

On Tuesday, Rivlin will be heading to NY to meet with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres .

Reuven will be officially succeeded by President Isaac Herzog on July 9.

Foreign pool 2 #POTUS and Israel President Reuven Rivlin

President Rivlin spoke in English, after few short comments with POTUS he said the following :

"Of course, I'd like to say, and to mention that I'm delighted, really delighted to be here once again in the White House, and with the President of United States. Of course, I want to repeat what we know very well, Israel has no greater friend and ally than the United States of America."

He talked about shared values between the two countries, he added that the shared values are based on democracy and liberalism, he also mentioned that sometimes both countries don't agree on everything.

He ended by saying " we have a great friend, Mr President. God bless you. God bless the people of America, and God bless the relationship between our two nations and our two countries". Thank you. Thank you.

Reporters shouted questions on Iran, POTUS didn't answer. We were ushered out.

Please check against official transcription.

Per WH, here is the list of attendees:,

Participants in the President's meeting with H.E. Reuven Rivlin:

U.S.

The President
T. H. Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor
T. H. Wendy Sherman, Deputy Secretary of State
T. H. Brett McGurk, Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa
T. H. Barbara Leaf, Senior Director for the Middle East and North Africa
Ms. Julie Sawyer, Director for Israel and Palestinian Affairs

Israel

H.E. Reuven Rivlin, President of the State of Israel
H.E. Gilad Erdan, Ambassador of the State of Israel to the United States
Mr. Harel Tubi, Director General
Brigadier General Alaa Abu Rukun, Military Secretary
Ms. Naomi Kandel, Spokesperson
Ms. Shulamit Yona Davidovich, Senior Foreign Policy Advisor

Foreign pool #3 Rivlin stake out

Per White house the meeting concluded around 5:40 pm. President Rivlin came out to the stake out position, he spoke first in Hebrew then in English mainly repeating what he said at the Oval office, he was rushed by his assistant to finish so he can be on time for his congressional meeting. He was asked about the status of Israel - US relations, he describes it as " excellent " . I couldn't hear the other question.

I recorded from a far, voice note is attached above.