It’s Wednesday.
For Wednesday, June 16th, 2021, President Biden, who is in Geneva, Switzerland, will have; received his daily brief and held a Summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. At some point he will hold a solo press conference.
President Biden has not tweeted for Wednesday so far.
When Tuesday’s Open Thread was posted President Biden had tweeted just 1 time and retweeted 0 times. He added 5 tweets and 0 retweets giving him a Tuesday Tweeting Total of 6 tweets and 0 retweets.
The White House published the following statement regarding the agreement with the EU and Boeing-Airbus.
Today, the United States and the European Union made a major breakthrough in the Boeing-Airbus trade dispute, which has lasted more than 16 years. Both the U.S. and EU agreed to suspend our tariffs for five years, and we committed to ensuring a level playing field for our companies and our workers. Significantly, we also agreed to work together to challenge and counter China’s non-market practices in this sector that give China’s companies an unfair advantage. The U.S. and EU will work together in specific ways that reflect our high standards, including collaborating on inward and outbound investment and technology transfer. It’s a model we can build on for other challenges posed by China’s economic model.
This week, at the G7, at NATO, in my meeting with the leaders of the European Union, and in all my bilateral meetings with world leaders, I’ve been making the case that the U.S. and Europe—and democracies everywhere—are stronger when we work together to advance our shared values like fair competition and transparency. Today’s announcement demonstrates exactly how that can work in practice.
White House.gov. 06/15/2021
Factbase Videos posted a video of remarks offered prior to the meeting with EU Council President, Charles Michel, and EU Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen.
The White House published a transcript of their remarks.
He next tweets remarks regarding the 9th anniversary of DACA.
His full statement published by the White House.
Dreamers are Americans. Many have spent most of their lives in the United States. They live, study, work, and worship in our communities. They have served on the frontlines during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2012, the Obama-Biden Administration created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy. Since that date, DACA has allowed more than 800,000 immigrant youth who came to the United States as children to temporarily remain in our country, work lawfully, pursue their education and long for the day they could become citizens.
Twenty years ago, Congress introduced the first version of the bipartisan Dream Act, led by Senator Durbin (D-IL) and former Republican Senator Hatch. And over the years, bipartisan coalitions of lawmakers championed this bill. The American public overwhelmingly supports this legislation. But time and time again, the Senate has failed to act.
Only Congress can provide a permanent legislative fix to provide lasting stability for these young people and their families. My immigration bill, the U.S. Citizenship Act, creates a pathway to citizenship for undocumented individuals in our country, including Dreamers. In March, the House took a critical first step and passed the American Dream and Promise Act. Congress must find a way to pass these legislative solutions and I will continue to work towards passage of legislation protecting Dreamers and creating a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. These young people represent the best of America and we can’t let them down.
White House.gov. 06/15/2021.
He shares a video of the 9/11 Memorial at NATO Headquarters.
It’s a 21 second video with just noise from the cameras shutters and possibly traffic.
People reported that the memorial was unveiled in 2017.
He shares with his next tweet a link to a fact-sheet regarding domestic terrorism.
From the linked fact-sheet:
To develop a government-wide strategy to counter domestic terrorists, the Biden Administration consulted extensively with a wide array of experts across the U.S. Government as well as with leaders in Congress, state and local governments, academia, civil society, religious communities, and foreign governments. Throughout the process, we embraced the protection of civil rights and civil liberties as a national security imperative. The strategy we are releasing today is carefully tailored to address violence and reduce the factors that lead to violence, threaten public safety, and infringe on the free expression of ideas. It is organized around four pillars – the core elements of how the Biden Administration will improve the U.S. Government’s response to this persistent, evolving, and lethal threat to our people, our democracy, and our national security:
White House.gov. 06/15/2021.
- PILLAR 1: UNDERSTAND AND SHARE DOMESTIC TERRORISM-RELATED INFORMATION: The U.S. Government will enhance domestic terrorism analysis and improve information sharing throughout law enforcement at the federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial levels, and, where appropriate, private sector partners. The Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have implemented a robust system to methodically track domestic terrorism cases nationwide. The Department of State as well as the intelligence and law enforcement communities are learning more from foreign partners about the international dimensions of this threat. The Department of State will continue to assess whether additional foreign entities linked to domestic terrorism can be designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations or Specially Designated Global Terrorists under relevant statutory criteria. The Department of the Treasury, in coordination with law enforcement, is exploring ways to enhance the identification and analysis of financial activity of domestic terrorists. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is enhancing its analysis of open-source information to identify threats earlier and will create a structured mechanism for receiving and sharing within government credible non-governmental analysis.
- PILLAR 2: PREVENT DOMESTIC TERRORISM RECRUITMENT AND MOBILIZATION TO VIOLENCE: Drawing on the expertise of a variety of departments and agencies, the U.S. Government has revamped support to community partners who can help to prevent individuals from ever reaching the point of committing terrorist violence. The U.S. Government will strengthen domestic terrorism prevention resourcesand services. For the first time, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has designated “Domestic Violent Extremism” as a National Priority Area within the Department’s Homeland Security Grant Program, which means that over $77 million will be allocated to state, local, tribal, and territorial partners to prevent, protect against, and respond to domestic violent extremism. DHS and FBI are working to strengthen local prevention, threat assessment, and threat management frameworks. The Department of Defense (DOD) is incorporating training for service members separating or retiring from the military on potential targeting of those with military training by violent extremist actors. The U.S. Government will improve public awareness of federal resources to address concerning or threatening behavior before violence occurs. The U.S. Government will augment its efforts to address online terrorist recruitment and mobilization to violence by domestic terrorists through increased information sharing with the technology sector and the creation of innovative ways to foster digital literacy and build resilience to recruitment and mobilization. The United States also recently joined the Christchurch Call to Action to Eliminate Terrorist and Violent Extremist Content Online, an international partnership between governments and technology companies that works to develop new multilateral solutions to eliminating terrorist content online while safeguarding the freedom of online expression.
- PILLAR 3: DISRUPT AND DETER DOMESTIC TERRORISM ACTIVITY: The work of Federal law enforcement as well as our state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement partners is critical to countering domestic terrorism. The U.S. Government will increase support to Federal, state, and local law enforcement in addressing domestic terrorism nationwide. U.S. Attorney’s Offices and FBI field offices across the country have formally made domestic terrorism a top priority and are tracking comprehensively domestic terrorism-related cases, reallocating or requesting appropriate funding and resources as needed to target the threat. That includes over $100 million in additional resources for DOJ, FBI, and DHS included in the President’s Fiscal Year 2022 Budget to ensure that the Federal Government has the analysts, investigators, prosecutors, and other personnel and resources it needs to thwart domestic terrorism and do justice when the law has been broken. State, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement will have access to increased intelligence sharing and training on domestic terrorism and associated threats. DOJ is closely examining whether new legislative authorities that balance safety and the protection of civil liberties are necessary and appropriate. The U.S. Government is improving employee screening to enhance methods for identifying domestic terrorists who might pose insider threats. The Office of Personnel Management will consider updates to the forms used to apply for sensitive roles in the Federal Government that could assist investigators in identifying potential domestic terrorism threats. DOD, DOJ, and DHS are similarly pursuing efforts to ensure domestic terrorists are not employed within our military or law enforcement ranks and improve screening and vetting processes. Training and resources will be developed for state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement partners as well as sensitive private sector partners to enable them to enhance their own employee screening programs and prevent individuals who pose domestic terrorism threats from being placed in positions of trust.
- PILLAR 4: CONFRONT LONG-TERM CONTRIBUTORS TO DOMESTIC TERRORISM: Every component of the government has a role to play in rooting out racism and bigotry and advancing equity for all Americans. The U.S. Government, in close partnership with civil society, will address the long-term contributors that are responsible for much of today’s domestic terrorism. This includes reducing and protecting Americans from racial, ethnic, and religious hatred, and stemming the flow of firearms to individuals intending to commit acts of domestic terrorism. We will work to ensure that law enforcement operates without bias in countering domestic terrorism and provides for the public safety of all Americans. In a true democracy, violence cannot be an acceptable mode of seeking political or social change. The U.S. Government is committed to strengthening trust in American democracy and its ability to deliver for the American people, including through relief and opportunity provided by the American Rescue Plan, the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan. The U.S. Government will also work to find ways to counter the polarization often fueled by disinformation, misinformation, and dangerous conspiracy theories online, supporting an information environment that fosters healthy democratic discourse.
He concludes his Tuesday tweeting by sharing thoughts regarding the grim milestone of 600,000 U.S., lives lost to the coronavirus.
May they rest in peace.
The Summit between President Biden and Russian President Putin has concluded.
#NodGateExplained:
June 14th, 2021, President Biden was asked if he trusted Putin he said in part: I’d verify first and then trust. In other words: Everything would have to be shown to be actually occurring. It’s not about, you know, trusting; it’s about agreeing. You know, when we — when you write treaties with your adversaries, you don’t say, “I trust you.” You say, “This is what I expect, and if you violate the agreement you made then, we — the, quote, ‘The treaty is off. The agreement is off.’” And I’m hoping that — that President Putin concludes that there is some interest, in terms of his own interests, in changing the perception that the world has of him, in terms of whether or not he will engage in behavior that’s more consistent with what is considered to be appropriate behavior for a head of state.
The Washington Post has a live update thread on the Biden/Putin Summit, according to their latest update:
President Biden has departed the site of his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin after a second session wrapped up earlier than anticipated.
The summit, held at a historic lakeside village in Geneva, came as relations between the United States and Russia are at their lowest point in 30 years. During an opening session, Putin said he hoped for a “productive” meeting, while Biden said it was important to be meeting face to face.
Both the White House and the Kremlin had attempted to temper expectations and said not to hope for any breakthroughs.
Washington Post. 06/16/2021.
Both President’s are holding separate news conferences.
President Biden’s Press Conference is scheduled for 1:30 D.C., time, according to the countdown clock provided by the White House’s YouTube feed.
This is an Open Thread.
