Pool Reports of March 1, 2024

Pool Report 1/Running late

We are still waiting for instructions to gather for President Biden's meeting with Italian Prime Minister Meloni in the Oval Office, which was scheduled to begin at 1.

We do not yet have new guidance on timing.

Pool Report 2/Gather

The pool is gathering for the Oval pool spray, a full hour later than scheduled. We have no explanation for Italian PM Meloni's late arrival.

Pool Report 3/Oval gaffe

The pool entered the Oval Office at 2:01.

President Biden began his remarks saying he played Ray Charles' "Georgia on My Mind" as the Italian PM walked into the Oval before us. He said they would discuss the conflict in Ukraine.

Biden then said "innocent people" died in Gaza and that there would be air drops of aid into Ukraine, though he appeared to mean Gaza, which he then specified as he continued to speak.

The pool was escorted out at 2:10. Biden did not answer shouted questions.

Pool Report 4/Biden quote on airdrops

President Biden said of Gaza airdrops:

"Innocent people got caught in a terrible war unable to feed their families and you saw the response when they tried to get aid. But we need to do more and the United States will do more and in the coming days, we are going to join with our friends from Jordan and others to provide airdrops of supplies into Ukraine and seek to open up other avenues into Ukraine, including the possibility of a marine corridor delivering large amounts of humanitarian assistance."

"Aid flowing to Gaza is nowhere nearly enough now — it's nowhere nearly enough. Innocent lives are on the line and children's lives are on the line."

Pool Report 5/Meeting info

The White House shares the following:

The President is participating in a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy.

U.S. Manifest

The President
T.H. Antony Blinken, Secretary of State
T.H. Gina Raimondo, Secretary of Commerce
T.H. Jake Sullivan, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
T.H. Steve Ricchetti, Assistant to the President and Counselor to the President
T.H. Jack Markell, Ambassador of the United States to the Italian Republic
T.H. Amos Hochstein, Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor to the President for Energy and Investment, National Security Council
T.H. Daleep Singh, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics
Mr. Andrew Johnson, Acting Senior Director for Europe, National Security Council

Italy Manifest

H.E. Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister of the Italian Republic
H.E. Mariangela Zappia, Ambassador of the Italian Republic to the United States
Mr. Fabrizio Saggio, Diplomatic Advisor
Gen. Franco Federici, Military Advisor
Amb. Luca Ferrari, G7/G20 Sherpa
Ms. Patrizia Scurti, Chief of the Private Office
Mr. Fabrizio Alfano, Chief of the Press Office
Mr. Tommaso Longobardi, Head of Communications and Institutional Media
Mr. Alessandro Gonzales, Deputy Chief of Mission

Pool Report 6/Fuller Gaza quotes

Here's a fuller and slightly cleaned up transcript of President Biden's Gaza remarks (apologies, a couple words were slightly off in prior report due to poor audio quality):

"Also we're going to discuss the Middle East and yesterday's tragic and alarming event in north Gaza, trying to get humanitarian assistance in there."

"And the loss of life is heartbreaking. People are so desperate that innocent people got caught in a terrible war unable to feed their families and you saw the response when they tried to get aid in."

"And we need to do more and the United States will do more."

"In the coming days, we are going to join with our friends in Jordan and others in providing airdrops of additional food and supplies into Ukraine and seek to continue to open up other avenues into Ukraine, including the possibility of a marine corridor to deliver large amounts of humanitarian assistance."

"In addition to expanding deliveries by land, as I said, we're going to insist that Israel facilitate more trucks and more routes to get more and more people the help they need. No excuses, because the truth is aid flowing to Gaza is nowhere nearly enough now — it's nowhere nearly enough. Innocent lives are on the line and children's lives are on the line."

"We should be getting hundreds of trucks in, not just several. And I won't stand by, we won't let up and we're... trying to pull out every stop we can to get more assistance in."

"Hopefully we will know shortly.... We are trying to work out a deal between Israel and Hamas — the hostages being returned and the immediate ceasefire in Gaza for at least the next six weeks, and to allow the surge of aid to the entire Gaza Strip, not just the south."

Pool Report 7/Gather for departure

The press has gathered for President Biden's Marine One departure to Camp David.

Pool Report 8/Qs

President Biden emerged from the White House residence at 5:59 and took many questions over two minutes, including about Gaza, the border and the impeachment inquiry.

I'll send quotes when they are checked.

Pool Report 9/Q&A

Marine One lifted off at 6:06. Granddaughter Maisy was aboard, as was Bruce Reed.

Below is a partial transcript. Please note a few exchanges were not audible to your pooler and may be missing from this.

Will there be a Gaza ceasefire deal by Ramadan?

"I'm hoping so. We're still working real hard at it. We're not there yet

What is the holdup right now?

"I'm not going to tell you that because [inaudible]"

Would he talk with Putin about peace in Ukraine?

[inaudible]

Why are you waiting to take executive action on the border?

"Because we need more forces on the border. I don't have the authority to do that."

About Speaker Johnson accusing him of lying about interactions with son and brother's business partners:

"Tell him to read the record of every single witness. These guys have got to stop."

But you did interact with their partners?

"I did not interact with their partners."

Other Q&A contributed by other reporters:

So you think there may never be a ceasefire negotiated?

"I'm still hoping for it. You know, it's not over until it is over."

What needs to happen in the negotiations?

"There has to be an agreement on the timing. And they're still far apart."

When will the first airdrops happen in Gaza?

"I'm not sure yet."

Will he see Benny Gantz this weekend?

"No"

Pool Report 10/Week ahead

President Biden arrived at Camp David at 6:38, the White House says.

And the White House shares the following week-ahead guidance:

WEEK AHEAD 3/2-3/10

On Tuesday, the President will depart Camp David and return to the White House.

In the afternoon, the President will convene a meeting of his Competition Council.

On Thursday, the President will address the people's representatives in Congress at the State of the Union. The First Lady, the Vice President, and the Second Gentleman will attend.

On Friday, the President and the First Lady will travel to the Philadelphia area of Pennsylvania.

Later, the President and the First Lady will travel to Wilmington, Delaware, where they will remain overnight.

On Saturday, the President and the First Lady will depart Wilmington, Delaware and travel to the Atlanta area of Georgia.

In the evening, the President and the First Lady will return to Wilmington, Delaware, where they will remain until Sunday.

On Sunday, the President will depart Wilmington, Delaware, and return to the White House.

Foreign Pool Report #1 Background Ahead of Meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni

Buongiorno a tutti,

I will be your foreign pooler today for President Biden's meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

The bilateral is scheduled at 1pm.

Per Italian officials, there is no press conference or gaggle scheduled after the bilat. However, our Italian colleagues are expecting that (maybe, nothing official yet) she might do a brief Q&A.

Meetings:

It will be the second meeting between President Biden and Prime Minister Meloni in about seven months. Giorgia Meloni met Joe Biden in Washington on July 27, 2023. On that occasion, the two leaders issued the following Joint Statement: Joint Statement from President Biden and Prime Minister Meloni | The White House

The two leaders met for the first time at the margins of the G20 summit in Bali, in November 2022. The latest interaction of Prime Minister Meloni with President Biden took place at the virtual G7 Summit chaired by Italy from Kiev last Saturday, February 24.

Schedule:

In the context of the Italian Presidency of the G7 for 2024, Giorgia Meloni is visiting Washington today and Toronto tomorrow.

She will meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on March 2nd at 11.30AM.

Agenda and priorities for the bilat:

Per Italian officials, the primary objective of this visit is to share with President Biden the priorities of Italy's G7 Presidency: defense of the rules-based international system and continuous support to Ukraine; the conflict in the Middle East, with its consequences on the global agenda; priority attention to Africa, with the aim of building a partnership model beneficial to all; continued focus on the Indo-Pacific region; the importance of migration issues; artificial intelligence.

The conversation will focus on major international issues:

- First and foremost, Russia's aggression against Ukraine and continued support for Kyiv. (Before she took office, Meloni was seen as favorable to maintaining good relations with Russia. Some of her political partners had close ties to Putin and Russia. But after Russian invasion, Meloni has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine, backing sanctions against Russia and aid packages to Ukraine).

- The situation in the Middle East and preventing regional escalation, humanitarian support for Gaza, and security and stability in the Red Sea. (On Thursday Giorgia Meloni said this about the deaths of people waiting for aid in Gaza: "It was with deep dismay and concern that I learned the dramatic news of today's events in Gaza. There is an urgent need for Israel to ascertain the dynamics of what happened and who is responsible. The numerous new civilian victims require ongoing negotiation efforts to be immediately stepped up in order to create the conditions for a ceasefire and a release of the hostages").

- Cooperation with the African continent and the Mattei Plan, with a view to exploring opportunities for collaboration in areas of common interest.

- Supply chain security

- Transatlantic coordination regarding challenges and opportunities posed by China (Meloni ended Italy's participation in a Chinese trade and investment initiative known as Belt and Road that had worried the United States).

- Preparation for the upcoming NATO Summit, to be held in Washington on July 9th-11th, marking the 75th anniversary of the Atlantic Alliance.

The agenda will also focus on the "excellent bilateral relations in all sectors between Italy and the United States", and on continuing to strengthen them based on the Joint Statement adopted by the two leaders during Prime Minister Meloni's first visit to Washington since the beginning of her term, on July 27th last year.

The United States is home to a sizable and well-integrated Italian-American community (more than 20 million), in addition to over 325,000 Italian citizens residing in the country. In 2023, the United States was the third-largest destination market for Italian exports, with trade totaling around $102 billion (with a $44 billion surplus in favor of Italy), and the presence of Italian companies in every economic-industrial sector, including defense and aerospace.

Bio:

Giorgia Meloni is 47 years old.

She has been a member of the Italian Parliament since 2006.

From 2008 to 2011, she was Minister of Youth under PM Silvio Berlusconi.

In 2012, she co-founded "Fratelli d'Italia" (Brothers of Italy) and has been its leader since 2014. The party's ideology has been described as nationalist and right-wing populist. FdI is the successor of Alleanza Nazionale (National Alliance) which has its roots in fascism.

She took office on 22 October 2022, becoming the first Italian woman to hold that position. She was leading a right-wing coalition that won the majority in the 2022 general election.

She is governing on a very anti-immigration platform.

She describes herself as a Christian conservative. She is opposed to same-sex parenting. Her government is vocal in its defense of traditional families.

Before taking office, she had been very critical of the European Union and promised she would "clash with Brussels over budget issues", but once in office she didn't do it. Since being sworn in, she has steadfastly backed NATO support for Ukraine, especially on military aid for Kyiv against Russia's invasion.

Meloni has twice been invited to speak at CPAC, as leader of the FdI, in 2019 and 2022, but she haven't attended the Conference after taking office.

Foreign Pool Report #2 NO Q&A WITH PRIME MINISTER MELONI

For those wondering if Italian Primer Minister Giorgia Meloni would do a brief Q&A after the bilat… the answer is no. She is going straight to the airport after the meeting.

Foreign Pool Report #3 Oval office quotes Giorgia Meloni

When your foreign pool entered, POTUS and Prime Minister Meloni were seated next to
each other. The fireplace was lit.

POTUS announced Gaza airdrops at the top. The pool clarified this in lower press: when POTUS said airdrops into Ukraine, he meant in Gaza.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she was "delighted to be here today". Here are some quotes (please check all quotes against tape):

• Middle East: "The crisis in Middle East is of the utmost concern. We need to coordinate our actions in order to avoid an escalation and in this regard, we do fully support of the US mediation Air Force. The humanitarian crisis is our number one number one priority. Italy is concentrating its contribution on these. Meanwhile, we are cooperating with all regional actors that must be part of any future outcome. We should work together on concrete steps to guarantee the two state perspective, which is the only long term sustainable solution and then the root is attack on commercial vessels that are in danger of freedom. of navigation in Red Sea are unacceptable".

• Africa and migration: She proposed a global alliance against human trafficking. "Right thing we have to remember that Africa is now a core component to this of the country incredibly rich in human and material resources. But he has been neglected and neglected, exploited with a predatory approach from time and I want to reverse this approach together with you, which is also a root cause of the migration crisis. We need to support Africa's development on anything but bases and portals and an illegal migration while fighting human trafficking. Human trafficking has become the most financially rewarding trying to move away and we cannot accept it. No any longer for this reason I came here today also with a proposal to launch a global alliance against human trafficking".

POTUS didn't respond to any of the shouted questions.