Pool Reports of January 22, 2020

POTUS travel pool report 1/Davos Wednesday morning/hotel departure

Good morning from Davos. I'm your pooler today, with help from Chris Megarian of LAT.

POTUS motorcade moving from the Intercontinental at 9:29 am for very brief motorcade to the Davos Congress Centre.

Pool did not see the president board the motorcade.

He tweeted about impeachment and Davos before leaving the hotel, and conducted two television interviews.

First scheduled event your pool will see is breakfast with US CEOs and other business leaders, which was on the schedule for 9:15 am local/3:15 am EST.

Then, per schedule:

10:50 am local/4:50 am EST bilat with Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Nechirvan Barzani.

11:30 am local/ 5:20 am EST: bilat with Iraqi President Barham Salih.

POTUS travel pool report 2/arrival Congress Centre

Motorcade arrived 9:39 am and POTUS spoke briefly as he passed through the CC - pool out of earshot going thru security. Per NBC,

He answered q about his legal team.

"We are doing a very good job, we have a great case."

Pool holding for the breakfast.

POTUS travel pool 3/ update on CEO breakfast

Pool still holding - we have not seen the breakfast. Pool assembled outside the Jakobshorn room at 10 am, then was pulled back. No word on why, or whether this will now be closed.

National Security adviser Robert C. O'Brien passed by and said hello, did not stop.

Should have added disclaimer to report 2:

As always, check quotes against broadcast and transcript.

POTUS travel pool report 4/Breakfast participants

Breakfast is over with no word on why pool did not enter. Pool spotted Ivanka Trump, Marc Benioff , Tim Cook, and former deputy national security adviser Dina Powell as they left.

From the White House:

Today, President Donald J. Trump and Advisor to the President Ivanka Trump host a breakfast for American chief executive officers and business leaders. This breakfast is an opportunity to discuss successful economic policies as well as the evolving opportunities for the American worker. The Trump Administration continues to promote collective efforts to equip Americans of all ages and backgrounds with the skills necessary to secure and retain the jobs of today and tomorrow. During this breakfast, Advisor Trump, along with members of the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board, will discuss their work on a domestic advertising campaign focused on various education and career pathways that will be launching in the coming weeks.

The following individuals are expected to attend:

The White House
President Donald J. Trump
Larry Kudlow, Director of the United States National Economic Council
Ivanka Trump, Advisor to the President
Chris Liddell, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Coordination

Trump Administration
Ambassador McMullen, United States Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein
Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury
Secretary Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Commerce
Secretary Elaine Chao, Secretary of Transportation
Secretary Eugene Scalia, Secretary of Labor

External Participants
David Abney, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, UPS
Darius Adamczyk, Chief Executive Officer, Honeywell
Ajay Banga, President & Chief Executive Officer, Mastercard
Marc Benioff, Chairman & Co-Chief Executive Officer, Salesforce
Aneel Bhusri, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Workday Inc.
Tim Cook, Chief Executive Officer, Apple
Michael Corbat, Chief Executive Officer, Citigroup, Citi
Alfred F. Kelly, Chief Executive Officer & Chairman, Visa Inc.
James Gorman, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Morgan Stanley
Vicki Hollub, President & Chief Executive Officer, Occidental Petroleum Corporation
Rob Kapito, President & Director, BlackRock Inc.
Ramon Laguarta, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, PepsiCo Inc.
Rich Lesser, Global Chief Executive Officer, Boston Consulting Group
Patrice Louvet, Chief Executive Officer, Ralph Lauren Corporation
Robert Manfred, Commissioner, Baseball of Major League Baseball (MLB)
David McCormick, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Bridgewater Associates LP
Sanjay Mehrotra, President & Chief Executive Officer, Micron
Jennifer Morgan, Co-Chief Executive Officer, SAP
Brian Moynihan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America
Satya Nadella, Chief Executive Officer, Microsoft Corp.
Dina Powell McCormick, Partner, The Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Punit Renjen, Global Chief Executive Officer, Deloitte
Chuck Robbins, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Cisco Systems Inc.
Ginni Rometty, Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer, IBM Corporation
David Rubenstein, Co-Founder & Co-Executive Chairman, The Carlyle Group
Michael S. Dell, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Dell Technologies
Stephen Schwarzman, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder, Blackstone
David Solomon, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, The Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Arne Sorenson, President & Chief Executive Officer, Marriott International Inc.
Noel White, President & Chief Executive Officer, Tyson Foods Inc.
Linda Yaccarino, Chairman, Advertising and Partnerships, NBCUniversal Media, LLC

POTUS travel pool 5/Barzani bilat/ q on virus

About 10:50 pool entered bilat in progress, POTUS and Barzani in chairs with flags.

POTUS:

"We left Syria from the standpoint of the border and it's working out great with Turkey. That's worked out far better than anybody thought possible.

We have the so called safe zones and I thank you (To Barzani.)

Most importantly we have the oil ... We left soldiers for the oil. we have it very nicely secured. We also have thousands of ISIS prisoners."

Kurdistan prez:

"Thank you for your leadership, thank you for your support."

Question on whether plan to handle virus

"We do have a plan, and we think it's going to be handled very well."

"I think China's in very good shape also."

He did not respond to shouted questions about whether he will meet here with Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido.

Check quotes.

Ahead of the bilat pool spotted Jared Kushner go past.

Thanks to Chris Megarian for help transcribing

POTUS travel pool report 6/Iraq president bilat/news conference announced

News: POTUS says he will do a Pre-departure presser in about 45 mins

More from Salih bilat coming

POTUS travel pool 8/news conference underway

The president's news conference is open to credentialed media and televised. Pool will effort color.

O'Brien, Mnuchin, Kudlow and Lighthizer are standing with him in a small conference room at the WEF Congress Centre.

Correction: POTUS travel pool 8/news conference underway

Lighthizer is not with POTUS. Pool regrets the error

POTUS travel pool 9/presser over & departure/bad weather call

Motorcade leaving Congress Centre at 1:22 pm.

To the eternal regret of the pool we are now going to motorcade to Zurich.

Will send an update if we get clarity on new times for takeoff and arrival at JBA.

POTUS travel pool report 10/sign and a middle finger salute

Small groups of onlookers filmed the president's motorcade as it passed back through town. Near the edge of town a lone man stood on a hillside with a middle finger raised high.

Pool saw a message traced in large letters in the snow, apparently where POTUS could have seen it from the air: "There is no Planet B"

POTUS travel pool 11/a little color from the presser

It's not much, but for those interested, here are a few bits and pieces:

The presser was in the Jakobshorn room, the same place where Trump did the CEO breakfast.

It was tight - maybe 60 seats - arranged theater style with a center section and two side sections.

Layout was very basic - podium, flags, makeshift lights (lots of extension cords and tape) and some fabric backdrops.

Pool had no notice of the presser before POTUS announced it himself, but was seated a few minutes before staff seated others. There was a scramble to get everyone seated and for TV correspondents to establish connections on the fly, but nothing too dramatic.

There ended up being a few empty seats.

POTUS travel pool report 12/Kurdish president readout

Judd Deere passes this along:

Readout of President Donald J. Trump's Meeting with President Nechirvan Barzani of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government

Today, President Donald J. Trump met with President Nechirvan Barzani of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government. President Trump thanked President Barzani for the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government's continued close partnership with the United States, as well as its ongoing support for refugees and displaced persons. The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to working together to defeat ISIS.

POTUS pool report 13/Zurich airport arrival

Motorcade pulled up to AF1 at 4:08 pm following an uneventful drive. Weather is gray and cloudy but no visible snow yet.

We drove past the identical AF1 backup plane parked nearby.

Pool was still in vans when POTUS deplaned.

Rolling soon for 8 hour flight to JBA

POTUS Travel Pool report 14 - Salih readout

Readout of President Donald J. Trump's Meeting with President Barham Salih of Iraq

Today, President Donald J. Trump met with President Barham Salih of Iraq. The two leaders agreed on the importance of continuing the United States-Iraq economic and security partnership, including the fight against ISIS. President Trump reaffirmed the United States' unwavering commitment to a sovereign, stable, and prosperous Iraq.

Sent from my iPhone

POTUS travel pool report 15a

Note that report 15 contained this readout from the White House but did not carry the usual subject line or additional information as we were already airborne when it his my inbox and I was trying to ensure it made it out.

The meeting with Ghani was not on the president's public schedule but he mentioned it during his press conference in Davos.

Repeating the readout here:

From Judd Deere:

Readout of President Donald J. Trump's Meeting with President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan

Today, President Donald J. Trump met with President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan. President Trump reiterated the need for a significant and lasting reduction in violence by the Taliban that would facilitate meaningful negotiations on Afghanistan's future.

POTUS travel pool report 16/JBA arrival

AF1 landed at JBA at 5:57 pm after an uneventful flight. Fox News was airing on the plane television system for much of the flight, including the start of the second day of full impeachment trial proceedings.

We had no visitors to the press cabin.

POTUS travel pool report 17/Marine 1 liftoff

The president deplaned at 6:05. With a wave toward the pool, and walked directly to Marine 1, which lifted off at 6:12.

O'Brien was immediately begins him, then a crowd of staff.

That's it for me, with thanks to fellow pooler Chris Megarian of LAT.

Handing off to in-town pool.

POTUS travel pool report 7/Iraq bilat quotes

Trump opened by saying,

"We're working on a lot of things together.... We have a whole host of difficult things to discuss, and some very positive things also."

President Saleh said meeting Trump was an "important opportunity" and the goal is a "stable, sovereign Iraq."

What's the plan for pulling out troops?

Trump responded, "We're taking about a lot of different things."

"They like what we're doing, and we like them."

"We've had a very good relationship. We're down to a very low number, historically low" with about 5,000 troops.

Sanctions on Iraq?

"We'll see what happens," Trump says.

Trump then said he would hold a press conference soon.

"We've had tremendous success in Davos... we'll do a quick news conference."

In-town pool report #1

The White House passes along an FPPO updated call time of 5pm.

Please note the FPPO condition for that info. The White House gave the OK to send it in a pool report.

In-town pool report #2

The White House passes along an FPPO updated final gather time of 6:05pm.

Please note the FPPO condition for that info. The White House gave the OK to send it in a pool report.

In-town pool report #3

Marine One touched down on the South Lawn at 6:22. Moments later, POTUS emerged wearing a red tie and dark overcoat.

Ignoring questions on impeachment, POTUS gave reporters a wave-turned-fistbump, then entered the South Portico at 6:25.

In-town pool report #4

The White House called a travel-photo lid at 6:34.