Pool Reports of September 16, 2022

In-Town Pool Report #1 - Briefing slightly delayed

Good afternoon.

I will be serving as your pooler today. The White House just announced that Karine's briefing will be delayed by 15 minutes, now scheduled to start at 1:15.

There are no updates as of now to the rest of the public schedule, which at this time only includes a pool spray at the top of a bilateral meeting between POTUS and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office at 2:15 p.m.

Karine confirmed yesterday that POTUS will be meeting with the families of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, but there is no indication of when that will take place. As of now, there's no indication that a public readout will be provided. I will endeavor to find out.

In the meantime, holler if you need anything.

(This pool report courtesy of my new iPhone 14 Pro Max.)

In-town pool report #2 -- 2 min warning to briefing

The warning was given at 1:26 pm

in-town pool report #3 -- gather for bilat pool spray delayed slightly

no updated time yet.

in-town pool report #4 -- bilat gather changed to 2:20 pm

[APP Note: No additional text was included in this report.]

In town pool report #5 — briefing ended at 2:19

Pool is beginning to gather for the pool spray.

In town pool report #6 — bilat pool spray.

Pool was brought into Oval at 2:35 pm for the pool spray with POTUS AND Cyril Ramaphosa, president of South Africa.

Will send updates soon

In town pool report #7 — pool spray over, no news, no questions.

Will send a few quotes shortly. Mostly just warm words between the two leaders.

In-town pool report #8 -- bilat quotes

POTUS was seated to the left of President Ramaphosa in the Oval Office when the press were let in, and it sounded like POTUS jested with his counterpart that the press were a "dangerous crowd", though he said it with a smile. President Ramaphosa laughed heartily.

POTUS welcomed Ramaphosa and recalled visiting South Africa. He also told a story about meeting Nelson Mandela for the first time as a senator, calling Mandela "extremely gracious." He said the United States and South Africa would continue to work together on trade, climate, food security, Covid-19 and more. "South America has quite a voice" on the world stage, POTUS said.

President Ramaphosa said it was a "joy" to meet POTUS and thanked him for the invitation to the White House. He talked about discussing trade and investment. President Ramaphosa thanked POTUS for the United States' help with COVID-19. "Thank you for the support that the United States gave us to fight Covid-19, the vaccines you made available." President Ramaphosa also said he wanted to talk about regional security and insurgents in Mozambique.

The press was quickly rustled out after about a total of 9 minutes. There were several shouted questions, but none as loud as the press aides telling reporters to leave. POTUS appeared only to smile and did not answer any of them.

Per the White House:

Participating in a bilateral with President Joseph R. Biden and President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa, President of the Republic of South Africa:

U.S. Manifest

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. Samantha Power, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development
T.H. Reuben Brigety, Ambassador of the United States to the Republic of South Africa
T.H. Molly Phee, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs
T.H. Judd Devermont, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs, National Security Council

South Africa Manifest

H.E. Dr. Naledi Pandor, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation
H.E. Nomaindiya Mfeketo, Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa to the United States
Ms. Phindile Baleni, Director General in the Presidency
H.E. Maud Dlomo, Deputy Director General: Americas and Europe
Ms. Roshene Singh, Deputy Director General: Presidency
Mr. Steyn Speed, Advisor to the President
Mr. Vincent Magwenya, Presidential Spokesperson

in town pool report #8a -- correction to POTUS quote

This should be "South AFRICA has quite a voice" on the world stage, POTUS said.

apologies for the error

in town pool report #9 -- one addendum

Thanks to colleagues, I have one more POTUS quote to pass along. POTUS said: "We really need to make sure we fully understand one another."

Am told we may get a head's up when the Griner / Whelan meeting begins. Will pass along if that happens.

in-town pool report #10 -- POTUS at Ramaphosa departure

POTUS walked out of the West Wing with President Ramaphosa at just before 4 pm as the South African president departed. The two men shook hands and appeared to exchange pleasantries that were not able to be heard by the press. As Ramaphosa got into his car, POTUS waved and said "thank you very much."

Thanks to Kéthévane Gorjestani, our foreign press pooler who was there for the brief exchange.

in town pool report # 11 -- griner / whelan meetings underway

From the White House:

Participating in a meeting with the President to discuss his continuing commitment to bringing Paul Whelan home safely:

Jake Sullivan, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
Elizabeth Whelan, sister of Paul Whelan

Participating in a meeting with the President to discuss his continuing commitment to bringing Brittney Griner home safely:

Jake Sullivan, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
Mrs. Cherelle Griner, wife of Brittney Griner
Lindsay Colas, agent for Brittney Griner

These meetings are being held in the Oval Office. These meetings are closed press. The meetings began at 4:51 PM.

in town pool report #12 -- a bit more about griner / whelan meetings

The White House has informed your pooler that the meetings were done separately, not together, and that the Whelan meeting happened first followed by the Griner meeting. I was told that as of 5:54 pm, the meetings had not yet wrapped up. But I was also told that the White House DOES NOT intend to confirm when they are both concluded.

There will, however, be a lid eventually, and so that should tell us all something.

In town pool report #13 -- lid

The White House called a lid at 7:10 pm. That's all for me. Have a great weekend everyone.

Mike

Foreign pool report #1 - Background

Hello all,

I'm your foreign pooler for today's bilateral meeting between President Joe Biden and President Cyril Ramaphosa (ram-uh-POE-suh) of South Africa.

The meeting is scheduled for 2:15pm.

Meetings:

The 2 leaders last spoke on the phone in April. Among other things, they discussed the war in Ukraine and its impact on global supply chains and food security in Africa.

They also met in person in June of last year on the margins of the G7.

Priorities for bilat:

From the South African presidency:

"The leaders will meet to discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest, including trade and investment, climate change, food security, energy, and peace and security. President Ramaphosa will reaffirm the importance of the strategic and mutually beneficial relations between South Africa and the United States. The President will further emphasize the need for enhanced multilateralism and dialogue as the means through which the challenges facing humanity can be addressed. These include the urgent need to stimulate economic recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic."

According to SA foreign minister, Ramaphosa is expected to push for more dialogue between Russia and Ukraine.

(The SA President has stuck to a neutral position when it comes to the war. SA abstained from UN vote condemning Russia earlier this year.)

Context:

Last month, Secretary Blinken traveled to South Africa.

At the time, the SA Foreign Minister accused Western nations of "bullying" Africa into condemning the invasion of Ukraine.

A related topic is the "Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa Act", which passed in the House but is pending in the Senate.

South Africa and other African governments oppose the legislation, whose real aim they say is to punish African countries that do support the US position regarding Russia.

In December, Biden is set to host the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington.

Climate deal:

$8.5billion financing deal to help SA shift to cleaner energy, pledged by US, UK, France, Germany and EU at COP26 in Glasgow last year.

US Special envoy for climate John Kerry said the deal "depends on President Ramaphosa, we're waiting for the South African government to put some things on the table." "It would be great to have it done by" COP27 in Egypt in November, he said. "That's what I am hoping but I'm not saying we will."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-15/kerry-says-south-africa-climate-deal-progress-up-to-ramaphosa?leadSource=uverify%20wall

Schedule:

President Ramaphosa had breakfast with the VP this morning at her residence. Per VP pooler: Ramaphosa said he would like to see the relationship between the two countries "strengthened."

Per SA presidency:

He wa also set to meet Congressional leaders as well as veterans of the Civil Rights Movement "who were instrumental in lobbying the American public against apartheid and who remain loyal to the cause of anti-racism in both the United States and South Africa."

He will be holding a press conference today at 5pm at the Ritz.

He'll be leaving DC on Saturday for London to attend the Queen's funeral

Bio:

Cyril Ramaphosa is 69 years old. Following President Jacob Zuma's resignation in February 2018, Ramaphosa was elected President by the National Assembly. In 2019, the ANC led by President Ramaphosa won the general election and Ramaphosa was elected to his first full term as president.

He's been the President of the ruling ANC since December 2017.

Prior to leading the country, Ramaphosa was Zuma's deputy president from 2014 to 2018.

He also served as ANC secretary general when Nelson Mandela was ANC president. He was an anti-apartheid activist and was a leading negotiator during the country's transition to its first democratic elections in 1994.

Foreign pool report #2

Here's Cyril Ramaphosa's address to the congressional black caucus and anti-apartheid veterans:

https://www.thepresidency.gov.za/speeches/address-president-cyril-ramaphosa-during-meeting-congressional-black-caucus-and-anti-apartheid-veterans-during-his-visit-united-states

Foreign pool report #3 - South African delegation

From the SA presidency:

The delegation is as follows

Dr Naledi Pandor, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation

Ambassador Nomaindia Mfeketho, SA ambassador to the US,

Ms Phindile Baleni, Director General of the Presidency,

Ambassador Maud Dlomo, Deputy Director General Americas and Europe

Ms Roshen Singh, Deputy Director General/Chief of Staff Office of the President

Mr Steyn Speed, Special Advisor to the President

Mr Vincent Magwenya, Presidential Spokesperson

Foreign pool report #4

Pool was ushered in at 2:35pm. The 2 leaders were standing, shaking hands and joking.

POTUS spoke first for a couple of minutes.

Ramaphosa followed.

Here are some quotes from Ramaphosa: (as always please check against tape)

"the United States is an important partner for South Africa for trade and investment."

"We Really welcome the opportunity to be here so that we can extend those relations and get more companies to invest in South Africa to create jobs. We're also here to say thank you for the support of the United States to South Africa and the African continent with regards to finding the covid 19 vaccines that you've made available."

"we'd like to discuss what I call global stability and security, particularly in relation to our region where we have insurgents targetting one of our neighboring countries, Mozambique."

Ramaphosa also said he had "wonderful conversations" with the VP this morning.

We were ushered out as soon as he finished speaking at 2:44pm by some particularly loud & intense "thank you press." Neither leader answered shouted questions. I tried asking about Russia but it's unclear whether they could even really hear us.

Foreign pool report #5

SA President walked out of the WEst Wing at 3:55pm with POTUS. The 2 shook hands again and joked (your pooler couldn't hear what was said). As Ramaphosa got into his car, Biden waved and said "thank you very much."

Foreign pool report #6 - Ramaphosa presser

Your pooler obtained audio from President Ramaphosa's presser off campus after his bilat with POTUS.

He called it a "very fruitful & positive engagement"

He said he raised almost 20 issues with POTUS, including:

-Malign Russia activities bill: "We raised this as a concern that if that bill were to go through it would marginalize Africa because it would seem like Africa would now be punished for having a partner like RUssia. For the most part African countries are non-aligned and we expressed the view that it would be unfair for the US to punish African countries by just merely associating with Russia."

-Russia/Ukraine conflict: "Our position on this is respected, it is known and recognized, and of course we both also expressed the view that we would like this conflict to come to an end as soon as possible."

Questions:

How can the conflict in Ukraine can be resolved: "Clearly the conflict has to be resolved. Our view is that it can best be resolved through dialogue and negotiations."

Response to Kirby comment "no punishment" and whether he asked Biden to veto the Russia malign activities bill if it comes to his desk: "We've expressed our discomfort and opposition to it.... I think it will harm Africa and marginalize the continent. I think it's a misplaced type of legislation." "We should not be told by anyone who we can associate with."

Says legislation would be "counterproductive" and undo what POTUS is trying to achieve regarding more cooperation with the continent w/ upcoming African leaders Summit in December.

He said he would be engaging w/ members of congress involved in the Russia malign activities legislation tonight.