In-Town Pool Reports of February 12, 2021

In town pool report #1

Hello,

I'll be your pooler for today. Joe and Jill Biden took an unscheduled stroll of the north lawn before call time that the pool wasn't notified about. The president was wearing blue jeans and stopped for a moment to talk to the cameras. Here is the C-Span link: https://www.c-span.org/video/?508974-1/president-biden-lady-view-white-h...

In town pool report #2 — Invite for press briefing questions

Currently there's a scheduled briefing with the press secretary at 12:30 pm Eastern. As I'm your pooler, feel free to send me your top questions and I'll try to get as many as I can in (though it will likely only be only one or two).

In town pool report #3

We're heading into the pool spray in advance of Biden's oval office meeting with governors and mayors on Covid relief. The list of attendees again is:

Governor Andrew Cuomo, New York (D)
Governor Asa Hutchinson, Arkansas (R)
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, New Mexico (D)
Governor Larry Hogan, Maryland (R)
Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Atlanta, GA (D)
Mayor Latoya Cantrell, New Orleans, LA (D)
Mayor Mike Duggan, Detroit, MI (D)
Mayor Francis Suarez, Miami, FL (R)
Mayor Jeff Williams, Arlington, TX (R)

In town pool report #4

Pool brought into oval office at 11:44. POTUS sitting at head of room next to VP, guests seated on couches.

POTUS: when we got in the level of vaccines we thought were available "was not the case."

Says he wants to learn from first responders, those on the ground, what they need in recovery plan.

More quotes tk

In town pool report #5

POTUS did not take questions. Pool escorted out of room at 11:47.

In town pool report #6 — Biden readout

More fulsome Biden quotes from pool spray:

President opens by saying the most important piece of the American Rescue plan is getting enough vaccine out.

"But equally consequential is that we need to help the states economically in terms of unemployment to being able to ensure they're able to get back to schools, what role the federal government should play in helping getting that done."

"You folks are all on the front lines and dealing with the crisis since day one. I'm not making a political statement but it's just it's taken a while [inaudible] they've been working on their own in many cases."

"I think the federal government has a major role to play here. But these are the folks that are on the ground dealing with it every single, solitary day. And they see the failings and they see the successes when they occur. What I really want to know about is what should that recovery plan, should we have more or less of anything in it, what do they think they need most?"

Biden compares governors and mayors to his experience for years as a senator commuting to Washington: "I'd get asked questions by the conductors and shoe shine guys and ticketmasters. And every single day these folks are home, every single day they're meeting with their constituents."

In town pool report #7 — Press briefing pushed to 1

Update on scheduling:

The Press Briefing with Press Secretary Jen Psaki, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is now at 1PM.

In town pool report #8 — Briefing delayed and Ducklo statement

Biden's meeting with governors is running long and Jen Psaki's press briefing will start late. WH did not provide any time or ballpark for when it will start.

Also, several reporters, myself included, did not receive the statement on White House staffer TJ Ducklo being suspended for a week, but it is being shared on twitter, eg: https://twitter.com/oliverdarcy/status/1182137760670523392

In town pool report #9 — corrected tweet

Apologies, here is the tweet I meant to send with the Ducklo statement. https://twitter.com/oliverdarcy/status/1360281749767524352

In town pool report #10 — briefing timing

The press briefing will start "no earlier than 1:30pm" because President Biden's meeting with the governors/mayors is running long and some want to be able to join the press conference.

In town pool report #11 — meeting has ended

We were notified at 1:11 that Biden's meeting with the governors/mayors has ended and the press briefing will begin at 1:30.

In town pool report #12 - Hitchinson

Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson talked at mics leaving meeting.

"There's an equal level of commitment" between Trump and Biden white houses on tackling Covid. Says the transition has gone well.

Says it was brought up how next bipartisan bill should be an infrastructure bill.

Said Biden did not waiver on his $350 billion ask for state and local govs in Covid bill.

Says $1.9 trillion for whole bill "is too high, we need to compromise on that"

"I agree with the urgency of it but the urgency can be accomplished just as quickly with compromise. I think it sets a bad precedent to ram that through on a partisan vote."

In town pool report #13 — 2 minute warning

Press briefing with Jen Psaki is about to start, they just gave us the two minute warning at 1:30. Briefing will be broadcast live.

In town pool report #14 — lunch lid

A lunch lid was just called until 3:15.

White House in town pool report #15: Preparing for Biden exit

At 5:20 pool was given 5 minute warning to gather and head outside to see Biden leave the White House, taking Marine One to Andrews air force base. From there he will take Air Force One to Hagerstown, and then a motorcade to Camp David. Original estimated departure time was 5:30, but we are tracking later than that.

White House in town pool report #16- Biden has left

POTUS walked out of the White House at 5:53.

He stopped just long enough to say "have a good president's day weekend and Valentine's day ahead of time."

Wheels up at 5:58

For those wondering, this unusual travel itinerary was due to concerns about a bad weather call.

Travel pool will take over from here. I'll send along any further notices I get. Take care, everyone.

White House in town pool report #17: Some supplemental info

The First Lady was not on Marine One. With POTUS on Marine One:

Bruce Reed, Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff
Annie Tomasini, Assistant to the President and Director of Oval Office Operations
Jake Sullivan, Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor

White House in town pool report #18: Missing word from Biden quote

Sorry, it was difficult to hear and I missed a word from Biden's goodbye. The full quote was: "Have a good President's weekend and happy Valentine's Day ahead of time."

(Earlier version missed the word "happy," also Biden just said "President's" not "President's Day.")