Pool Reports of August 26, 2021

In-town pool report #1: evacuations update

Good morning, I'm your print pooler today.

Passing along from a White House official:

From August 25 at 3:00 AM EDT to August 26 at 3:00 AM EDT, a total of approximately 13,400 people were evacuated from Afghanistan. 17 U.S. military flights (14 C-17s and 3 C-130s) evacuated approximately 5,100 people from Kabul. In addition, 74 coalition aircraft evacuated approximately 8,300 people. Since August 14, the U.S. has evacuated and facilitated the evacuation of approximately 95,700 people. Since the end of July, we have re-located approximately 101,300 people.

In-town pool report #2: Pentagon briefing

Pooler has been tested and call time is at 11 a.m.

Passing along from the White House:

Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby and Army Major General William D. "Hank" Taylor, Joint Staff deputy director for regional operations, will brief the media at the Pentagon at 10:30 AM EDT.

You can watch live here: https://www.defense.gov/Watch/Live-Events/#/?currentVideo=26975

White House briefing is still scheduled for noon.

In-town pool report #3: COVID briefing at 10:45

Passing along:

This morning's COVID briefing was postponed and will now start at 10:45 a.m.

--

The White House COVID-19 Response Team and public health officials briefing was originally scheduled for 10:30 a.m.

In-town pool report #4: COVID briefing postponed

Passing along:

This morning's COVID briefing has been postponed. We will share updates when details are available.

(was originally 10:30, moved to 10:45, now TBD)

In-town pool report #5: PM meeting delayed

The bilateral meeting with the H.E. Naftali Bennett, Prime Minister of the State of Israel, will be delayed.

Meeting was originally scheduled to start at 11:30am.

In-town pool report #6: press briefing delayed

Passing along:

The President met with his national security team this morning, including Secretary Blinken, Secretary Austin, Chairman Milley, and commanders on the ground. He will continue to be briefed on updates on the evolving situation throughout the day.

There will be updates to the President's schedule, which we will share as they become available.

The Press Briefing will be delayed.

No more info on timing yet, will pass along as soon as I get more...

In-town pool report #7: governors meeting cancelled

From WH: The President's virtual meeting with Governors has been pulled down.

POTUS was supposed to meet with governors on Afghanistan at 3pm, that's now cancelled.

In-town pool report #8: Israeli PM meeting moved to Friday

The President's bilateral meeting with H.E. Naftali Bennett, Prime Minister of the State of Israel, has been rescheduled for tomorrow.

Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby and Marine Corps General Kenneth F. McKenzie, Jr., Commander of U.S. Central Command, will hold a press briefing at 3:00 PM, available here: https://www.defense.gov/Watch/Live-Events/#/?currentVideo=26972

In-town pool report #9: Biden remarks 5, Psaki at 5:45

UPDATE from the White House:

This evening, the President will deliver remarks on the terror attack at Hamid Karzai International Airport, and the U.S. service members and Afghan victims killed and wounded. These remarks in the East Room will be covered by the in-house pool and pre-credentialed media. [RSVP here by 4:15 PM EDT]

EDT

5:00 PM THE PRESIDENT delivers remarks on the terror attack at Hamid Karzai International Airport, and the U.S. service members and Afghan victims killed and wounded
East Room
In-House Pool and Pre-Credentialed Media (Gather 4:45 PM – Palm Room Doors) [RSVP hereby 4:15 PM]

Briefing Schedule

5:45 PM Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jen Psaki

In-town pool report #10: gathering for Biden remarks

??In-house pool and pre-credentialed media are gathering for the president's remarks on the terror attack at Hamid Karzai International Airport and the U.S. service members and Afghan victims killed and wounded.

Remarks will take place in the East Room and we're scheduled for 5pm.

In-town pool report #11: 2 min warning

2 min warning ?

In-town pool report #12: remarks begin

Biden's remarks on the Kabul airport attacks began at 5:24pm.

In-town pool report #13: remarks

President Biden calls the service members who lost their lives "heroes" and called the military the "backbone of America," "they're the spine of America, the best the country has to offer"

He says he's outraged, as well as heartbroken by the deaths.

"The lives we lost today were lives given to the service of liberty, the service of security, the service of others"
"We will not forgive, we will not forget, we will hunt you down and make you pay"
?
Biden said we will not be deterred by terrorists and will continue the mission.
"These ISIS terrorists will not win... America will not be intimidated"

The President then held a moment of silence.

He is now taking questions.

In-town pool report #14: remarks ended

The President took 6 questions from reporters.

Remarks ended at 5:53pm.

Closed with: "I have never been of the view that we should be sacrificing American lives to try to establish a democratic government in Afghanistan, a country that has never once in its entire history been a united country...it was time to end a 20 year war"

In-town pool report #15: 2 minute warning to briefing

2 min warning

In-town pool report #16: lid

Travel/photo lid called at 7:13 p.m.

In-town pool report #17: evacuations update

From a White House official:

From August 26 at 3:00 AM EDT to August 26 at 3:00 PM EDT, a total of approximately 7,500 people were evacuated from Kabul. This is the result of 14 US military flights (13 C-17s and 1 C-130) which carried approximately 5,100 evacuees, and 39 coalition flights which carried 2,400 people.

Since August 14, the U.S. has evacuated and facilitated the evacuation of approximately 100,100 people. Since the end of July, we have re-located approximately 105,700 people.

Foreign pool report #1 - Background

Re sending this since apparently it didn't go through

Good Morning to all,

I'll be your foreign pooler for the bilateral meeting between President Joe Biden and the Prime Minister of Israel, Naftali Bennett.

The meeting is scheduled to start at 11:30am.

This will be their 1st in-person meeting but they've already spoken on the phone. Joe Biden called the Israeli PM just 2 hours after Bennett took office (for context, POTUS waited about a month after his own inauguration to speak to then Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu)

At the end of June, POTUS met with then Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, just days before he left office.

This is PM Bennett's 1st official foreign trip since taking office in June. However, he did travel to Jordan for a then secret meeting with King Abdullah, which was later confirmed by the King himself.

On Tuesday before flying off to Washington PM Bennett said: "Joe Biden is a true friend of Israel. There is a new administration in the US and a new government in Israel, and I am bringing with me from Jerusalem a new spirit of cooperation," a sign that he is looking to turn the page on the tense relationship between his predecessor and Joe Biden.

PM Bennett arrived in Washington on Tuesday night.

On Wednesday, he met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken as well as Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. There are no other official meetings on his agenda.

Naftali Bennett is 49 years old. He is the son of American immigrants to Israel.

Bennett served in the Israeli armed forces for several years in 90s.

He made his fortune in Israel's high-tech industry.

He started his political career as Netanyahu's chief of Staff in 2006. He later served in different ministerial positions from 2013 to 2020 under then PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

From 2012-2018, he led the Jewish Home party, then the New RIght party. In 2020, Bennett became the leader of the right-wing Yamina alliance.

PM Bennet took took office on June 13, ousting longtime PM Benjamin Netanyahu after the country's fourth parliamentary election in 2 years. He brought together a ruling coalition of 8 parties, ranging from the far left to far right and includes for the first time a small Islamist faction representing Israel's Arab minority.

Bennett will be in office for 2 years, having agreed to a rotating government with Yair Lapid, who is set to take over as PM in 2023.

Priorities for the meeting:

-Both sides have indicated that Iran would be top of the agenda.

The Israeli PM is opposed to the JCPOA and US attempts to re-enter the nuclear agreement.

Bennett told a cabinet meeting a few days ago that this would be his message to Joe Biden: "This is the time to stop the Iranians, not to give them a lifeline in the form of re-entering an expired nuclear deal."

The Israeli PM is expected to present a plan to contain the Iranian threat, both regarding the nuclear issue and Iran's influence in the region, though he hasn't given more details about that plan.

-WH Press Sec statement also mentions the Israeli/Palestinian issue.

PM Bennett opposes the creation of a Palestinian state and has said there will not be any peace talks with the Palestinians. (FYI his coalition is made up both of parties that are opposed to Palestinian statehood and some who support it)

He has also said that he would continue expanding settlements in the West Bank.

Another point of contention, the Biden administration's plan to reopen a consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem.

For context, the meeting comes as tensions have flared up again along the Israel/Gaza border in recent days about 3 months after the 11-day war between Israel and Hamas.

-Other topics that are set to be discussed: climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Foreign pool report #2

Per Israeli embassy

Meeting participants in the WH meeting with the PM:

Dr. Eyal Hulata
National Security Adviser
Head of National Security Council

Tal Gan-zvi
Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister

Shalom Shlomo
Cabinet Secretary Prime Minister's office

Lt. Gen. Avi Gil
Military Secretary to the Prime Minister

Gilad Erdan
Israel's Ambassador to the United States and the UN

Shimrit Meir
Foreign Policy Adviser
To the Prime Minister

Foreign pool report #3 - bilateral delayed

The White House has just announced that the bilateral had been delayed.

No word yet on a new timing.

Foreign Pool report #4 - bilateral rescheduled to friday

The WH just announced the bilateral was postponed till tomorrow friday.

The President's bilateral meeting with H.E. Naftali Bennett, Prime Minister of the State of Israel, has been rescheduled for tomorrow.

Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby and Marine Corps General Kenneth F. McKenzie, Jr., Commander of U.S. Central Command, will hold a press briefing at 3:00 PM, available here: https://www.defense.gov/Watch/Live-Events/#/?currentVideo=26972