Pool Reports of March 4, 2022

In-Town pool report 1: Good morning and call

Good morning from a chilly Washington.

Ahead of the call time for the pool later this morning, the White House passes along the following:

President Biden is scheduled to call President Duda of Poland this morning around 1130 EST.

I'll be in touch again later — we expect to see the President several times today given the schedule.

In-town pool report 2: background

Passing along this background on the President's event today from the White House. You also likely received a fact sheet with more background directly from the WH this morning.

At 12:25 PM, the President will deliver remarks on the jobs report and his commitment to a Future Made in America.

In attendance with the President at this event:

• Brian Deese, Assistant to the President & Director of the National Economic Council
• Barbara Humpton, CEO of Siemens
• Celeste Drake, Made in America Director
• Lonnie Stephenson, International President, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)
• Johnny Le, Member of IBEW Local 220 in Fort Worth, TX
• IBEW and Siemens workers

Run of show:

• Celeste Drake
• Barbara Humpton
• Lonnie Stephenson
• Johnny Le
• The President

In-town pool report 3: Gathering

Pool is gathering for the Made In America event in South Court Auditorium.

The event will be live streamed and is scheduled to start at 12:25.

In-town pool report 3a: Still waiting

Just checking in to say at 12:30 pool is still holding outside (as in, external to the building in the chilly air) of South Court. No timing updates.

There can be spotty cell service inside, fyi. Again, this will be live-streamed so I'll only be selling color.

In-town pool report 4: Briefing update

As we continue to wait outside South Court, passing along from the WH about the briefing:

The Press Secretary will be joined at the podium today by CEA Chair Cecilia Rouse.

In-town pool report 5: Poland call

From the WH:

President Biden's secure call with President Duda of Poland has completed. They spoke from 1152 - 1245 EST.

We're still waiting but the wranglers mercifully moved us to a hallway a bit ago.

In-town pool report 6: Event

Pool (and broader press) entered South Court at 1:08 pm

We have a 2 min warning

In-town pool report 6a: event begins

The presidential music played at 1:13 and (a maskless) Biden and his guests (see pool report 2) came on stage.

The screens behind them displaying "Made in America" branding also features a live feed of a crowd watching at the Siemens Plant in Pomona, Ca.

Biden (wearing a Navy suit and light blue tie) entered directly in front of it, pausing and waving at the screen.

You're watching it live.

In-town pool report 7: Briefing timing

Per the WH:

The press briefing will begin after the President's event.

In-town pool report 8: event over

After more than 15 minutes of remarks, the president wrapped the event. He ignored shouted questions, including the quite audible "Did Putin commit a war crime?"

While he was listening to others' remarks, Biden seemed bemused by the event and engaged. He shook his head lightly when the Siemens president said some people (she said wrongly) think technology will displace workers. He smiled when Johnny Lee, the IBEW member who introduced him, spoke about embodying the American dream.

(I mentioned earlier the screen showing Pomona. On the other side of the stage was a twin feed from Grand Prairie, Tx).

The Oval spray for the bilat is scheduled for 2:30 and the briefing is supposed to be after this event. If I get timing updates, I will share them.

In-town pool report 9: Gather for bilat

Pool is gathering for the Finnish bilat.

In town pool report 10: Oval

Pool entered the oval at 2:55 to Biden and the Finnish leader seated maskles before the fire.

After less than three minutes of opening remarks by each we were ushered out and a din of questions and wrangler shouting went unanswered.

Biden and the Finnish president exchanged a joke about the scene as we were being pushed out but I couldn't catch it. Quotes coming.

In-town pool report 9a: First quotes

Here are the rough quotes from the event, I'll get fuller ones shortly. As always check against transcript:

Biden said he was delighted to have a "good friend" here "at what is a critical moment."

"We've been in regular touch for some time now," Biden said. "We agree it's not only an attack on Ukraine it's an attack" on European security and on global security.

"We're committed to helping Ukraine defend itself" and answering humanitarian need, Biden said.

The Finnish president said "Thank you very much for the opportunity to have this discussion with you. We are really living in very difficult times."

He thanked Biden for his leadership adding, "we need it now."

There was a joke at the end about something Obama said about Nordic countries and the Finnish leader responding something like "we don't start wars."

Going to listen back.

That is different than the private joke your pooler observed them sharing as we left but could not hear.

In-town pool report 11: Fuller quotes from bilat

Sorry about the numbering, the last one should have been 10a, not 9a, and I'm just going to go ahead and make this report 11.

Here are fuller quotes from my Oval Office recording, such as it is. I refer you to the full video for more.

Biden:
"I'm delighted to have a good friend here with us today … at what is a critical moment."

"We've been in regular touch for some time now, and coordinated a united transatlantic response to hold Russia accountable … for unjustified aggression"

"We agree it's not only an attack on Ukraine it's an attack on the security of Europe and the global peace and stability. And Finland is a critical partner of the United States, a strong defense partner as well, a partner to NATO especially in the strength and security of the Baltic Sea area."

"We're committed to helping Ukraine defend itself and support of the humanitarian need of the Ukrainian people. And we're coordinating on everything from sanctions (to) … broader global issues."

Finnish president:
"Thank you very much for the opportunity to have this discussion with you. We are really living in very difficult times. I want to thank you also for the leadership you have showed. We need it now. Our thoughts today undoubtedly now are with the Ukrainian people who are fighting bravely for their country and we do our best to help."

Biden
"You know my predecessor who sat in this seat, President Obama used to say (if the majority) were Nordic countries, we'd be fine."

Finnish president:
"Well we usually don't start wars."

In-town pool report 11a: Private joke

With a big assist from radio pooler Tamara Keith, I'm back in your inbox to share that the quote is actually "it would be alright if we left everything to the Nordic countries," which I misheard as something about the majority.

Also the private joke as we left the room was Biden telling the Finnish president that his dog was barking.

Pool can confirm that a dog was barking quite loudly and it was still audible as we exited the office and passed by the rooms next door. Tamara spotted Commander by the window, and reports that he was not looking super happy to see the crowd.

In-town pool report 12: Bilat ended

From the WH:

President Biden's bilateral meeting with His Excellency Sauli Niinistö, President of the Republic of Finland, ended at 4:26 PM EST.

In-town pool report 13: Bilat participants

Passing this along as well:

Participated in the President's bilateral meeting with H.E. Sauli Niinistö, President of the Republic of Finland:

U.S. Manifest
The President
T. H. Jake Sullivan, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
T.H. Toria Nuland, Undersecretary for Political Affairs, U.S. Department of State
T.H. Dr. Amanda Sloat, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European Affairs, NSC
T.H. Eric Green, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Russia and Central Asia
David Fabrycky, Director for NATO and European Affairs, NSC

Finland Manifest
His Excellency Sauli Niinistö, President of the Republic of Finland
Ambassador Mikko Hautala, Ambassador of Finland to the United States
Dr. Hiski Haukkala, Secretary General
Dr. Petri Hakkarainen, Director of Foreign and Security Policy

In-town pool report 14: Gathered for departure

Pool is assembled, Oval Office-facing, for the president's departure.

In-town pool report 15: no questions and travelers

The president left the Oval at 5:49 and walked to Marine 1 at a distance from the pool. He gave us a wave and briefly greeted the guard at the guard shack.

He did not respond to a range of shouted questions, which it's possible he couldn't hear over the helicopter noise and distance.

He boarded M1 at 5:51.

Assembled outside the South Portico was a crowd of two dozen or so onlookers.

From the WH:

Traveling with the President to Wilmington on Marine One:

• Cedric Richmond, Assistant to the President & Senior Advisor & Director of the Office of Public Engagement
• Brett McGurk, Deputy Assistant to the President & Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa
• Stephen Goepfert, Special Assistant to the President & Personal Aide to the President

In-town pool report 16: Wheels up

M1 was wheels up at 5:55 pm against a lovely sunset.

Handing off to out of town pool. I'll tweet some pictures of the sunset scene (and there are a few from earlier) @talkopan.

Pleasure gracing (overloading) your inboxes today. Until next time.

Travel pool report #1 — Marine One landing

Good evening,

I'm your out-of-town pooler.

Marine One landed at Delaware Air National Guard Base, where the sky is mostly clear and the temperature is about 36°, at 6:45 p.m. The president entered the motorcade shortly after.

The motorcade is now rolling at 6:49 p.m.

Travel pool report #2 — Lid

The motorcade dropped President Biden off at his residence at 7:01 p.m., and the White House called a lid at 7:04 p.m.

Have a great evening, everyone.

Bilateral meeting with Sauli Niinistö, President of the Republic of Finland, in the Oval Office Peter Kleim

The statements of both Presidents ahead of their meeting in the Oval Office were brief. Besides their expressions of solidarity with the Ukrainian people they underlined the traditionally close relationship between their countries.

President Biden stated that the attack on Ukraine was also an attack on European security.

President Niinistö thanked for today's opportunity to discuss current issues with POTUS "in these very difficult times". He also thanked President Biden "for the leadership he has chosen". Niinistö said also that the Ukrainian people "fight bravely for their country".

There was a joke at the end of the meeting by President Biden which your pooler could't hear completely: kind of it would be good is everything would be left to the Nordic countries. Please rely on official transcript.

There was no word about a possible NATO membership of Finland, which currently is a "NATO Enhanced Opportunities Partner" like its Scandinavian neighbor Sweden.

Sauli Niinistö is a former head of the the centre-right National Coalition Party (NCP) and was reelected in 2018 as an independent.