Pool Reports by Daniel Bush, Newsweek
| Sent: | Reports: |
| March 11, 2022 09:17 |
In-town pool report #1 -- Good morning Good morning from the White House. President Biden is scheduled to deliver remarks on the war in Ukraine from the Roosevelt Room at 10:15 am. The White House did not provide further details, but it was widely reported yesterday that POTUS is expected to announce today that the U.S. is joining the G7 and EU to call for suspending normal trade relations with Russia. Per daily guidance, Biden will depart for JBA at 10:40 am, and leave at 11 am for Philadelphia, where he is scheduled to speak at the House Democratic Caucus Issues Caucus this afternoon. |
| March 11, 2022 09:20 |
In-town pool report #1 -- Good morning that should be *House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference |
| March 11, 2022 10:15 |
In-town pool report #2 -- Gather delayed for Biden remarks The pool was initially told to gather at 10:05 ahead of Biden's remarks, but has been instructed to hold off. The remarks were scheduled to start at 10:15. Will send more timing updates when we get them. |
| March 11, 2022 10:25 |
In-town pool report #3 -- Gathering now for remarks The pool has now been instructed to gather in the briefing room. |
| March 11, 2022 10:30 |
In-town pool report #4 — Waiting in Roosevelt Room The pool is waiting in the Roosevelt Room. |
| March 11, 2022 10:31 |
In-town pool report #5 — Two-minute warning [APP Note: No additional text was included in this report.] |
| March 11, 2022 10:32 |
In-town pool report #6 — Biden speaking The president entered the Roosevelt Room at 10:31 and began his remarks. Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM0kkjzeNQY |
| March 11, 2022 10:41 |
In-town pool report #7 -- POTUS remarks ended Biden spoke from 10:31 to 10:40. The president took one question after on potential Russian chemical/weapons attack in Ukraine, saying only that he wouldn’t discuss intelligence. The pool is headed to the South Lawn for Biden's departure to Joint Base Andrews. |
| March 11, 2022 10:56 |
In-town pool report #8 -- Biden departs White House President Biden left the Oval at 10:47 am and walked towards Marine 1. Before boarding he stopped to briefly greet a few dozen White House staff gathered on the other side of the South Lawn entrance. Pool could not hear the exchanges. The president boarded Marine 1 at 10:50. M1 was wheels up at 10:55. Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates is scheduled to gaggle aboard AF1 en route to Philadelphia. With that, handing off to the out-of-town pool |
Pool Reports below by Katie Rogers, The New York Times
| Sent: | Reports: |
| March 11, 2022 11:10 |
Travel pool report #1: Departure for Philadelphia Good morning from JBA, where it's 50 degrees and sunny. POTUS is on his way to Philadelphia. He arrived at JBA via M1 at 11:04 a.m. and did not stop to chat while boarding. We are wheels up shortly at 11:08 a.m. Deputy press sec Andrew Bates is scheduled to gaggle aboard AF1 at 11:15 a.m. - you can find it on the White House live stream page. See rest of today's schedule below. 11:00 AM THE PRESIDENT departs Joint Base Andrews en route Philadelphia International Airport 11:45 AM THE PRESIDENT arrives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 12:15 PM THE PRESIDENT delivers remarks at the House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference 2:10 PM THE PRESIDENT tours an elementary school, highlighting the impacts and investments of the American Rescue Plan on its one-year anniversary 3:50 PM THE PRESIDENT departs Philadelphia, Pennsylvania en route Camp David More from the WH: Upon arrival at Joint Base Andrews, the President will be greeted by: Traveling with the President on Air Force One to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: |
| March 11, 2022 11:53 |
Travel pool report #2: Philadelphia arrival / gaggle ongoing AF1 touched down at 11:46 am in the middle of a stand-up press gaggle. Andrew Bates took questions about the earlier trade announcement and broader questions on Russia. Gaggle is ongoing and accessible on the WH live stream page. |
| March 11, 2022 12:05 |
Travel pool report #3: En route POTUS climbed into the Beast at 11:56 am and we are en route to speech location. |
| March 11, 2022 12:21 |
Travel pool report #4: Arrival The route to the Hilton was uneventful. Motorcade pulled up at 12:11 pm with no eyes on POTUS. A group of protesters outside are waving signs and calling for immigration reform. The chant is: "What do we want? Citizenship!" Pool is headed into a ballroom to set up for the president's remarks. |
| March 11, 2022 12:21 |
Travel pool report #4a: More from the WH & gaggle audio The President is greeting with House leadership: House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference Speaking Program: Here is a link to an Otter of earlier gaggle since I heard the WH audio cut out |
| March 11, 2022 12:34 |
Travel pool report #5: POTUS begins remarks He took the stage at 12:32 pm to a standing ovation. The event is on the WH live stream page but will send along some highlights. |
| March 11, 2022 13:22 |
Travel pool report #6: Remarks conclude POTUS speech ended at 1:19. Pool was ushered to a hold while the president was expected to come back out and answer questions. (Just not ours.) Highlights below but check against transcript! House speaker Nancy Pelosi was welcomed to the microphone before the president began speaking. She praised the strength of the Democratic caucus and referenced a prayer when referencing the president: "Where there is despair there can be hope and you have brought us hope." She said the Ukrainians are "fighting for their country and fighting for democracy." She thanked the president for joining them on the first anniversary of the American Rescue Plan. She said people who called Jan. 6 legitimate political discourse was a "threat to democracy." "So much is at stake, nothing less than democracy, but also what democracy means. … The time has found you." She praised the president's "vision and values" and knowledge, and called him a strategic thinker. "Every day in his life he has made a difference," she said. POTUS - "our special guest," she said, took the stage at 12:41 pm. Some highlights: He said this year's election was the most important off-year election in modern history. If Dems lose the House or Senate, he said, "the only thing I'll have then is a veto pen." POTUS stressed the importance of unity and keeping the majority, and suggested the two go hand in hand. "We are a democracy and in order for it to work you need a consensus … We have not been able to do that for a lot of important things," POTUS said. POTUS said he spent the better part of an hour on the phone with Zelensky "who I speak to almost daily." He stressed the importance of NATO unity to "ramp up economic pressure on Putin and further isolate Russia on the global stage." He said the ruble has lost more than half its value since the West began "crushing" the Russian economy. He said America would "welcome Ukrainian refugees with open arms" and send an "unmistakable message that we would defend every inch of NATO territory," which is why 12,000 troops have been moved into Europe. He said if Russia moves toward NATO it would mean "World War III," but said it wouldn't be fought by American troops in Ukraine. "We will not fight the third world war in Ukraine … That's called World War III." He praised the American Rescue Plan helped keep a roof over 4 million people's heads who were about to be evicted - "just a little bit of breathing room" - and he touted 678,000 jobs created in February. He blamed a large part of rising inflation on the price of used cars, the coronavirus, and a gummed-up supply chain. He also blamed Putin then held up a paper copy of a fact-check from the NYT's Linda Qiu that asserts the Republicans are falsely blaming the president for inflation. He waved a paper printout of a Wapo opinion piece and suggested the crowd read both as a "bit of a primer." He said the ARP contributed to 0.3% inflation. "Democrats didn't cause this problem. Vladimir Putin did." He again called for the importance of reducing the cost of childcare and costs for medicines including insulin for Type 1 diabetes. He said the loss of his first wife and daughter that he got a lot of credit for traveling on Amtrak but only did so because he couldn't afford childcare. In a portion of remarks very similar to his speech last night, POTUS said childcare should be capped at 7% of a household's income. Again says he is not Bernie Sanders - he supports people becoming billionaires but wants them to pay their fair share. "We're building a better America. A more fair America," he said. |
| March 11, 2022 14:05 |
Travel pool report #7: En route to school Motorcade departed the Hilton at 2:01 pm. POTUS is scheduled to tour a nearby school where he is expected to talk about ARP benefits. Miguel Cardona, the education secretary, came along on this trip. |
| March 11, 2022 14:17 |
Travel pool report #8: School arrival and background Motorcade pulled up up at 2:14 pm after a drive through Philly. People lined the streets at different junctures, filming and waving. Here is more on where we are and what we are doing from the WH: Honorable Luis Muñoz-Marín Elementary School The Hon. Luis Muñoz-Marín Elementary School is a public school in the School District of Philadelphia. The school is a Title I, dual-language (English and Spanish) school that enrolls about 600 students from preschool through eighth grade. In 2019, the school was recognized for making significant progress in school performance among schools in the district. The school's student body is primarily Hispanic (83%) and Black (15%). Well over 95% of the students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Many of the students are originally from Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic and still have family there. The Hon. Luis Muñoz-Marín Elementary School has deployed American Rescue Plan funding for a number of purposes aligned with the President's call to action in his State of the Union address and Unity Agenda to hire more school staff, provide tutoring, and address student mental health. As a result of additional funds provided through the American Rescue Plan, the school has been able to launch afterschool enrichment programs that it says have improved the school's culture and supported student mental health, paid teachers to provide reading interventions after school for students that have experienced the most learning loss as a result of the pandemic, and hired coaches for their teachers, which the school has said resulted in teachers improving their instruction more quickly. The school is named after José Luis Alberto Muñoz Marín, the first elected Governor of Puerto Rico who is regarded as the "father of modern Puerto Rico." The American Rescue Plan's Support for Philadelphia Schools The School District of Philadelphia received $1.1 billion from the American Rescue Plan's Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund and its plan for those funds includes:
The School District of Philadelphia has also provided in-school COVID-19 testing and hosted school-based vaccination clinics utilizing resources from the Biden-Harris Administration. The City of Philadelphia separately received $1.4 billion from the American Rescue Plan's Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) program. The City reported that, without the American Rescue Plan, "there would simply have been no way to avoid layoffs and service cuts that would have jeopardized the well-being of our residents, particularly the most vulnerable, and likely deepened racial disparities and inequities that the pandemic has exposed and exacerbated." In total, the American Rescue Plan provided Pennsylvania with more than $5 billion in relief for K-12 schools. |
| March 11, 2022 14:19 |
Travel pool report #8a: WH sends a correction Following has been corrected The American Rescue Plan's Support for Philadelphia Schools The School District of Philadelphia received $1.1 billion from the American Rescue Plan's Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund and its plan for those funds includes:
The School District of Philadelphia has also provided in-school COVID-19 testing and hosted school-based vaccination clinics utilizing resources from the Biden-Harris Administration. The City of Philadelphia separately received $1.4 billion from the American Rescue Plan's Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) program. The City reported that, without the American Rescue Plan, "there would simply have been no way to avoid layoffs and service cuts that would have jeopardized the well-being of our residents, particularly the most vulnerable, and likely deepened racial disparities and inequities that the pandemic has exposed and exacerbated." In total, the American Rescue Plan provided Pennsylvania with more than $5 billion in relief for K-12 schools. |
| March 11, 2022 14:43 |
Travel pool report #8b: Photo line before event The President is participating in a photo line with elected officials and local leaders: Governor Tom Wolf, Pennsylvania |
| March 11, 2022 14:37 |
Travel pool report #8c: More on school events Per WH POTUS Overview of Art Afterschool Programs (Library) The President is getting an overview of art afterschool programs at the Hon. Luis Muñoz-Marín Elementary School. Location: Library, Hon. Luis Muñoz-Marín Elementary School Attendees: Secretary Miguel Cardona, U.S. Department of Education Mayor Jim Kenney, City of Philadelphia Noel Candelaria, Secretary-Treasurer, National Education Association (NEA) POTUS Overview of Language Afterschool Programs (Classroom) The President is getting an overview of language afterschool programs at the Hon. Luis Muñoz-Marín Elementary School. Location: Classroom, Hon. Luis Muñoz-Marín Elementary School Attendees: Secretary Miguel Cardona, U.S. Department of Education Mayor Jim Kenney, City of Philadelphia Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05) Noel Candelaria, Secretary-Treasurer, National Education Association (NEA) |
| March 11, 2022 15:24 |
Travel pool report #9: School event, color color color At 2:46 pm, POTUS entered a library where several students were waiting. They were wearing meet-the-president finery, which included blazers, fancy dresses, and slouchy masks. The president pulled up a chair alongside their table and asked "how you guys doin'?" "What a beautiful dress!" he told one of the students. He asked them if they were learning how to read, then he was told that the students had benefited from ARP funds with an arts intervention program. "The most rewarding part is seeing their creative confidence grow," their teacher, Ms. Allred, told the president. "Man look at this sport coat. You are looking good man," the president told another student during the presentation. The pool was ushered out as the students told them what they liked best about school. Much of the discussion was inaudible due to a lack of microphones and a chorus of little voices. We were taken to another classroom where one student said they learned in Spanish and English and that they were in third grade. One of the assembled kids said they thought the president was a superhero. POTUS and Secretary Cardona entered at 3:06 pm and one of the kids yelled, "He's heeeerrree!" In Spanish, Mr. Cardona told the kids he was Puerto Rican and had started out learning in Spanish, knowing very little English. He said his studies were the reason he is now able to work alongside the president. He praised the kids for being bilingual and bicultural. POTUS shook hands with the teacher and said he was delighted to be there. "We were supporting you so much and we were rooting for you so much and we love you," the teacher told him. POTUS said his wife is from Philly and his daughter lives in Philadelphia. He then took questions from students. One student asked him if they could go back to school more because leaning by computer was hard, and she preferred being able to hug her friends in school. "Makes a big differences being in school, doesn't it?" he asked. Another girl, who said she was 9, gave him a hug and handed him a drawing. The president showed the cameras the drawing, which was of a grey-haired president in a grey suit. "I want you girls to remember, no serious guys til you're 30," the president told the group. He then told the girl who gave him a drawing that his little sister is his best friend in the word. The pool was ushered out at 3:12 pm as the same little girl was agreeing with him that siblings are nice but complaining that her brother steals her donuts. "Now, that's getting serious," the president remarked. Pool is holding at 3:22 pm. |
| March 11, 2022 15:52 |
Travel pool report #10: Departing for airport Motorcade departed the school at 3:49 pm on the way to the airport. Demonstrators outside of the school were gathered in support of Ukraine. From the airport, POTUS will detach from pool and take Marine One to Camp David. Pool will take the plane to JBA without him. From WH: The student who gave the President a drawing was Mia Parrilla. |
| March 11, 2022 16:20 |
Travel pool report #11: Departure for Camp David Motorcade pulled up to the airport at 4:08 pm. We did not have eyes on POTUS as he boarded but M1 lifted for Camp David at 4:16 pm. The rest of us will be wheels up to JBA on the plane formerly known as Air Force zone shortly. Annie Tomasini, Assistant to the President & Director of Oval Office Operations Yohannes Abraham, Deputy Assistant to the President & Chief of Staff and Executive Secretary for the NSC |
| March 11, 2022 17:13 |
Travel pool report #12: JBA The president’s plane arrived, sans president, at JBA at 4:57 pm. Pooler has asked about the president’s arrival time at Camp David and about a lid. Two points of clarity: The two officials listed in the last pool report were aboard M1 to Camp David with POTUS. And it’s Air Force One, not Air Force zone, as fun as that sounds. |
| March 11, 2022 17:47 |
Travel pool report #13: Lid A lid was called at 5:40 pm. |
| March 11, 2022 18:33 |
Travel pool report #14: One more The President was wheels down at Camp David at 5:15 PM, per WH |
Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Pool Reports of March 11, 2022 Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/354896