President Joe Biden made his first press briefing after three-and-a-half years in office.
Plus, Biden chooses a day when VP Kamala Harris has a rally in Detroit, MI.
Oh, the press briefing started right when the networks planned to go live at the rally.
It’s not hard to read between the lines. It’s really not.
The best part of the Q&A? Biden admitted that Harris is actively involved in the administration.
Therefore, people can stop saying, “She’s only the vice president!” Yup:
REPORTER: There’s obviously been a number of crises that the country has been facing over the past several days with the hurricane, the port strike with the situation in the Middle East. Can you talk about how your vice president who is running for the presidency has worked on these crises and what role she has played over the past several days?BIDEN: Well, I’m in constant contact with her. She’s aware. We’re singing from the same song sheet. She helped pass all the laws that are being employed now. She was a major player in everything we’ve done, including passage of legislation, which we were told we could never pass.And so she’s been, and her staff is interlocked with mine in terms of all the things we’re doing.
A few reporters asked about Israel.
Apparently, the Biden administration and Israel are in constant contact, apparently 12 hours a day.
I, uh, what:
ABC’s Selina Wang: “But over the past few months they’ve consistently defied your administration’s own advice, so do you believe that the Israelis are going to listen to the advice you’re giving them?”President Biden: “What I know is the plan that I put together received the support of the UN Security Council – the vast majority of our allies around the world as a way to bring this to an end. One of the – look, the Israelis have every right to respond to the vicious attacks on them, not just from the Iranians, but from everyone from Hezbollah to the Houthis. Anyway – and – uh – but the fact is that – um – they have to be very much more careful about dealing with civilian casualties.”Wang: “So how should they respond? You expressed concerns about attacks on Iranian oil facilities. How should they respond?”Biden: “That’s between me and them.”
I have no idea what Biden said:
AP’s Josh Boak: “Florida Senator Marco described today’s jobs report as having fake numbers. What do you make of that and how worried are you that many Americans are hearing that the jobs numbers aren’t real?”Biden: “Look, I’ve got to be very careful here. If you notice anything the MAGA Republicans don’t like, they call fake. Anything. The job numbers are what the job numbers are. They’re real. They’re sincere – what we are and by the way, just look at how the EU talks about us, how they like to have an economy like ours. Let’s talk about the rest of the world looks at us and what we’re doing. So, I – well, I don’t want to get going.”
Here’s his full speech. I have it cued to start when he takes the podium.
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