Ed OKeefe : “And on the decision not to allow reporters to see the bilaterals that he’ll be having Friday afternoon and Saturday, does this have something to do with the foreign press pools from India, Japan, Australia? Are there security concern with having them on the grounds of his home?”
KJP: “What I can say is the President wants to have a personal moment with the leaders. This is a relationships that he has had with leaders of the Quad throughout, obviously his tenure here as President. He wanted to have a continue to foster those personal relationships. He wanted to have a private moment with them, continue to grow those relationships. That’s what this is about.”
Ed OKeefe: “But not the fact also that he’s not having press conference around this. Was that a request of any of the other governments?”
KJP: “I can’t speak to private conversations that our folks at NSC are having with the different countries. I don’t have anything to add to that. What I want to say is it is important to him inviting them to Wilmington, his home state, his home — his home city, his home state, obviously Delaware. It was important for him to have these personal touches. It was important to him to do something that he hadn’t done before, bring him to his home, bring him to his home city.”
O’Keefe: “But we won’t be able see him having those meetings.”
KJP: “But there’s going to be plenty of opportunities. It’s not like we’re — we’re — we’re not allowing all of you to see many other things that are going to develop with — throughout the day. I mean, I just went through them, a Quad family photo. He’s going to take them to the — to his high school. You all are going to be there. There’s going to be some really important — important announcement about Cancer Moonshot. You all are going to be there. Uh — there’s going to be an opportunity to see them when they leave on Saturday as well depart. You’ll see him saying goodbye to the leaders on Saturday.”
AP’s Zeke Miller: “The President’s hosting the Quad summit in Wilmington, Delaware. We also understand that he’s hosting bilateral meetings with those some of those with those world leaders at his private home and what we currently understand is that the press will not be allowed into that bilateral. I mean if you explain why that — this is the administration that held itself out as the most transparent in history, and that is not transparency?”
KJP: “Oi — okay. Let’s talk about the other things that are happening over the course of the Quad summit. Look, we have stated one of the reasons we talked about having — uh — having the Quad summit in Wilmington is because — uh — the President believes how powerful it is to have that personal relationships and he wants to — uh — certainly, he has developed personal relationships with — uh — members of the quad and he wants to — uh — do — do — he took it a step further, obviously by having them in his hometown — uh — and so, diplomacy, he sees, as personal politics as personal, foreign policies is personal . Uh, but we do believe there is going to be plenty of opportunities for press to have access, and I’ll just — just to walk through a couple of things that we are going to be — going to be providing and the availability that you all will have. The quad will have extensive press access and will be covered by all four countries’ pools. There will be 3 individual leader greets at Arch — Archmere Academy … Look, this is — this is a private dinner. This is continuing the personal relationships that he has fostering those personal relationships that he has with the leaders of the Quad, but there’s going to be many other opportunities for — for the press to see exactly what’s happening to see some handshakes.”
AP’s Zeke Miller: “We’re not going to see those private dinners. We’re not going to see those bilateral meetings at his house. I mean, when President Bush hosted foreign leaders in Crawford, the pool was invited. When President Trump hosted world leaders at Mar-a-Lago —”
KJP: “And, I just — with —”
Miller: “— the press po — you also didn’t mention a press conference.”
KJP: “— and there’s — and for this particular Quad summit, we’re not going to have a press conference. If — we don’t have a press conference for every — every — every — uh — leader — uh — of — leader summit or event that we have. In this particular scenario, when it comes to these private meetings, there won’t be — that’s going to be obviously at his home, we’re not going to have access there, but there are many plenty of other opportunities where we believe that we’ll be very fruitful for the press. They’re going to see — uh — some — uh — some opportunities to see the President engage with the Quad leaders, and I think that’s important too.”
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Q: why Biden private? When Trump hosted at Mar-a-Lago, Bush hosted in Crawford pool was invited