Pool Reports of December 14, 2021

In-town pool report #1: Briefing at 2pm

Morning!

I'm your pooler today. The press briefing has been moved to 2 p.m.

The rest of the day's schedule is just one event in the evening:

6:15 PM THE PRESIDENT, THE FIRST LADY, THE VICE PRESIDENT, and THE SECOND GENTLEMAN attend a holiday celebration for the Democratic National Committee; THE PRESIDENT and THE VICE PRESIDENT deliver remarks
Washington, DC
In-Town Travel Pool (Gather 5:50 PM – Palm Room Doors)

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

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

In-town pool report #3: Briefing over

The briefing with Jen Psaki ended at 2:52 p.m.

In-town pool report #4: Lunch/dinner lid

The White House has called a lunch/dinner lid until 5:30 p.m.

In-town pool report #5: POTUS local interviews

White House passes along the following:

Today, the President taped virtual interviews with local media from Dayton, Ohio and Columbia, South Carolina to address falling gas prices. He also highlighted the impacts of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Build Back Better agenda.

The President's interview with John Bedell will air on WHIO-TV at 6 PM and 10 PM EST.

The President's interview with Darci Strickland will air on WLTX-TV at 6 PM and 10 PM EST.

In-town pool report #6: Biden meets with newly elected mayors

A group of newly elected mayors spoke at the stakeout location after meeting with Cabinet officials and senior White House staff.

Although POTUS was not formally scheduled to sit down with them, the mayors said he made an impromptu stop by the Roosevelt Room where they had been meeting. POTUS then took them on a tour of the Oval Office. The conversation with POTUS was described as "casual" and focused on ways to work together on issues such as infrastructure, the Build Back Better agenda and Covid.

The mayors who came to the stakeout were:

· Mayor Jim Ross, Arlington, TX
· Mayor-elect Andre Dickens, Atlanta, GA
· Mayor Michelle Wu, Boston, MA
· Mayor Tim Kelly, Chattanooga, TN
· Mayor-elect Justin Bibb, Cleveland, OH
· Mayor-elect Aftab Pureval, Cincinnati, OH
· Mayor-elect Ken Welch, St. Petersburg, FL

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu was at the meeting but had to depart early for a flight, according to the White House.

Vice President Harris also met with the mayors while they were in the Roosevelt Room.

Among the issues they said they discussed with senior staff and Cabinet members were racial equity, affordable housing, emergency rental assistance and climate change.

Your pooler has asked the White House for a readout and will report back.

In-town travel pool report #7: Motorcade rolling

Pool loaded into vans at 6:02 p.m. for the DNC holiday celebration.

Your pooler did not catch a glimpse of POTUS departing the White House, but motorcade is rolling at 6:18 p.m.

In-town pool report #8: Arrival at DNC holiday celebration

After an extremely brief ride around the corner, the motorcade arrived at 6:22 p.m. at Hotel Washington, where POTUS is attending the DNC holiday celebration.

Your pool was ushered into a holding room for now and did not see POTUS.

Per the White House: The President is participating in a photo line with Democratic National Committee supporters and labor leaders.

More to come.

In-town pool report #9: DNC program underway

Pool was ushered into a reception room on the top floor of Hotel Washington, where the DNC holiday celebration is underway.

A podium was set up inside the room with a pair of teleprompters against the backdrop of American flags and blue curtains.

The speaking program is as follows:

Chris Korge, Finance Chair for the Democratic National Committee

Chair Jaime Harrison, Democratic National Committee

Speaker Nancy Pelosi

The Vice President, accompanied by the Second Gentleman

The President, accompanied by the First Lady

White House says there are approximately 400 guests in attendance at the event.

In-town pool report #10: Biden speaks at DNC holiday celebration

POTUS took the stage at the DNC holiday celebration at 7:17 p.m. after he was introduced by VPOTUS.

He wore a navy suit with a white shirt and light blue tie and was accompanied by FLOTUS, who wore a red dress and black face mask.

POTUS, who removed his mask for his remarks, spoke for just under 12 minutes.

No news -- he touted the passage of the American Rescue Plan, job creation and drop in unemployment, as well as the vaccination rate against Covid-19.

"I ran for one reason -- not to do anything other than do what I thought was the right thing to do, come hell or high water," he said.

POTUS also praised the passage of the infrastructure bill and pushed for the passage of the Build Back Better bill, citing priorities such as lowering the costs of child care and prescription drugs.

"I'm worried about that mom whose daughter has diabetes and don't have insurance," he said.

"This is why we all got engaged," he added. "Nothing will cut costs for American families more than the Build Back Better plan."

On voting rights, POTUS said Republicans were "following my predecessor deep into the abyss."

"The struggle is no longer just who gets to vote or make it easy for eligible people to vote. It's about who gets to count the vote -- whether your vote counts at all," POTUS said.

"It's a sinister combination of voter suppression and election subversion," he added. "It's unAmerican, it's undemocratic, it's unpatriotic and sadly, it is not unprecedented."

POTUS closed by thanking the DNC, which he said was "a critical part of all of our work as Democrats."

As always, please check quotes against the transcript.

POTUS departed the room at 7:29 p.m. and pool was quickly ushered into vans.

Motorcade is rolling at 7:36 p.m.

In-town travel pool report #11: Back at WH / lid

Motorcade returned to the White House at 7:39 p.m.

POTUS was not visible to the pool as he entered the residence.

White House called a travel / photo lid at 7:44 p.m.

Just a little more on DNC celebration:

VPOTUS took the podium ahead of POTUS and spoke for about 11 min. She wore a black suit with a champagne blouse and was accompanied by Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff.

She said the DNC is "one of the many important partners that we have" and used recent GOP laws on abortion and voting rights to make the case for why elections matter.

"The elections were about Texas ... the elections were about Georgia," VPOTUS said. "The elections were about attacks on workers' rights and women's rights and voting rights that are happening all across the country."

She grew particularly animated while talking about reproductive rights:

"We stand for women's rights and we believe that the right of a woman to make a decision about her own body is non-negotiable," she said.

Again, please check quotes against transcript.

Have a good night everyone!