US president and Jill Biden to attend swearing-in of Trump, who did not attend Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will attend Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, a White House spokesperson said on Monday.
“The president promised that he would attend the inauguration of whomever won the election,” said Andrew Bates, senior deputy press secretary at the White House, Reuters reported.
Continue reading...First lady shares with Mesa Community College how her high school guidance counselor told her she wasn’t college material
Jill Biden on Saturday told Arizona community college graduates to tune out the people who like to tell them what they can’t do.
The first lady shared with graduates of Mesa Community College how her high school guidance counselor told her she wasn’t college material and shouldn’t waste her time going. She didn’t listen and got her college degree.
Continue reading...Fumio and Yuko Kishida honoured with state dinner to recognise ‘flourishing’ relationship between US and Japan, says Jill Biden
Dry-aged rib eye steak, cherry blossoms and Paul Simon playing a selection of his songs will be the centerpieces of a state dinner the White House is hosting for Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, and his wife, Yuko. More than 200 guests are expected to attend.
A lavish state dinner is a tool of US diplomacy, and a high honour that is used sparingly and only to America’s closest allies. In the case of Japan, Joe Biden has chosen to celebrate an ally that he sees as a cornerstone of his policy toward the Indo-Pacific region.
Continue reading...President ‘tamped down on his public bedroom declarations’ ahead of winning the presidency, Katie Rogers writes
President Joe Biden has joked to aides that the key to a long and lasting marriage is “good sex,” according to a new book about the nation’s first ladies, that casts a spotlight on his 47-year romance with Jill Biden.
“American Woman – The Transformation of the Modern First Lady, from Hillary Clinton to Jill Biden,” was authored by New York Times White House correspondent Katie Rogers and comes out this week.
Continue reading...College basketball star Angel Reese says she and her LSU teammates will not visit the White House in the aftermath of comments made by first lady Jill Biden.
LSU won their first-ever national title on Sunday with victory over Iowa. It is traditional for national champions in the US to meet the president, but on Monday Biden said she would be happy for Iowa to join LSU.
Continue reading...Jill Biden’s press secretary has walked back comments the first lady made about inviting Iowa’s women’s basketball team to the White House after their loss in the NCAA championship game on Sunday.
Biden watched LSU’s 102-85 victory over Iowa from the stands at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Sunday night. National champions often visit the White House after title victories, but Biden broke with tradition when she suggested Iowa could too.
Continue reading...The R&B superstar, who has lost numerous family members to the disease, appeared with first lady Jill Biden to announce program
The Biden administration’s initiative to spur the prevention and treatment of cancer got a dose of celebrity support on Monday when singer Mary J Blige joined Jill Biden and the American Cancer Society (ACA) to announce national meetings on breast and cervical cancer.
The ACA pledged to convene the events after US president Joe Biden and the first lady resurrected the “cancer moonshot” initiative this year. The program provides more money for research to, as Jill Biden said, “Help us end cancer as we know it. For good.”
Continue reading...State funeral will be attended by almost 100 presidents and heads of government
Joe Biden and his wife Jill arrived in the UK on Saturday to attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth, who the US president has described as “more than a monarch” and a woman who “defined an era”.
The Queen’s state funeral on Monday is to be attended by almost 100 presidents and heads of government, and the Bidens were traveling without any former US presidents.
Continue reading...Gary Volesky, three-star general who took on lucrative consulting role, suspended over Twitter post that appeared under his name
The US army has suspended a retired three-star general from a lucrative consultant’s role after a social media post appearing under his name taunted first lady Jill Biden’s support of abortion rights.
Former top army spokesperson Gary Volesky, who retired as a lieutenant general and earned a silver star for gallantry while serving in Iraq, was making $92 an hour advising military officers, staff and students who were taking part in war games and other similar activities.
Continue reading...President braked to speak with a crowd and tipped over, saying the ‘toe cages’ on his bike got caught
Joe Biden fell off a bicycle near his Delaware beach home Saturday morning, moments after greeting reporters with a wave and a cheery “Good morning!”
The president was near the end of a bike ride with the first lady, Dr Jill Biden, near Rehoboth Beach where the couple are celebrating their 45th wedding anniversary.
Continue reading...President and first lady seek to comfort community as DoJ launches investigation into police response to school shooting
Joe Biden on Sunday visited Uvalde, Texas, seeking to comfort a community devastated by the latest American mass shooting, which claimed the lives of 19 elementary school children and two teachers.
The visit marked the second presidential visit related to a massacre within two weeks following a racist attack in Buffalo, New York, as Democrats in Washington offered tentative hope of bipartisan gun reform legislation in Congress.
Continue reading...Surprise trip on Mother’s Day as Biden meets with Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenskiy
US first lady Jill Biden made an unannounced visit to western Ukraine on Sunday, holding a surprise Mother’s Day meeting with the nation’s first lady, Olena Zelenskiy, as Russia presses its punishing war in the eastern regions.
US president Joe Biden has not visited the country, though he expressed a desire to when he was in Poland this spring, following Russia’s invasion in February, but at that time Russian tanks were advancing on the capital, Kyiv, and he hinted that his security advisers held him back.
Continue reading...The theme for the 2021 White House holiday season is Gifts from the Heart. According to Jill Biden’s office, about 6,000ft of ribbon, more than 300 candles and more than 10,000 ornaments were used this year to decorate. There are also 41 Christmas trees throughout the White House
Continue reading...The Guardian’s Martin Pengelly and David Smith report:
In his Saturday remarks, Joe Biden praised the infrastructure bill as a “once-in-a-generation investment that’s going to create millions of jobs, modernise our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our broadband, a range of things turning the climate crisis into an opportunity, and a put us on a path to win the economic competition of the 21st century that we face with China and other large countries in the rest of the world”.
Continue reading...President defends shots as millions worldwide are unvaccinated: US has ‘provided more to the rest of the world than all the rest of the world combined’
Joe Biden has said that he and first lady Jill Biden plan on getting a booster shot and is comfortable doing so while millions around the world remain unvaccinated because America has “provided more to the rest of the world than all the rest of the world combined”.
He added that the US will also provide an additional half a billion shots around the world within the first half of next year. Critics argue this remains a drop in the ocean in the context of what is needed.
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Attorneys for Allen Weisselberg said the Trump Organization executive planned to plead “not guilty” to the charges he faces, per CNN.
Weisselberg’s lawyers also said he “will fight these charges in court.” The charges are likely linked to allegations that he failed to properly report company perks.
Weisselberg’s attorneys, Mary Mulligan and Bryan Skarlatos, said he plans to plead not guilty and “will fight these charges in court.”
The Guardian’s Dominic Rushe and agency report:
The Trump Organization’s chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, surrendered to the Manhattan district attorney’s office early on Thursday as he and the Trump family business prepare to face criminal charges in a tax-related investigation.
Related: Trump Organization executive surrenders to face charges in tax investigation
Continue reading...Some summit spouses must have trust issues – why else would they turn up?
It could be said that anyone who voluntarily attends their partner’s office party is either a masochist or has trust issues. So, why, then, do the spouses of world leaders feel obliged to turn up to global summits?
Ordinarily, it appears that their only duty is to make small talk with their fellow spare parts while their other halves chew over the big issues of the day. At the G7 meeting in Cornwall this weekend, the Wags and Habs were also required to admire Boris Johnson’s latest child when he was rolled out before their beachfront BBQ.
Continue reading...The Democratic ex-president was candid in remarks to donors and advisers, according to Battle for the Soul by Edward-Isaac Dovere
For much of Donald Trump’s presidency, Barack Obama largely abided by the convention that former presidents do not publicly criticize or attack their successors.
Related: Trump family members got ‘inappropriately close’ to Secret Service agents, book claims
Continue reading...Venmo accounts for Joe Biden and Dr Jill Biden were removed on Friday after BuzzFeed News said it easily found the US president on the payment app – a discovery it said raised national security questions.
Related: Venmo: how the payment app exposes our private lives
Continue reading...A petition, signed by more than 54,000 people, calls on Biden to return the garden to its ‘former glory’ as Jacqueline Kennedy designed
Efforts to erase the Trump family legacy have reached the White House potting sheds and nurseries with Jill Biden being urged to restore the mansion’s garden to a state that predates ex-First Lady Melania Trump’s 2019 makeover.
An online petition calling on the first lady to return the Rose Garden to its “former glory” has been signed by more than 54,000 people. The petition says Biden’s predecessor “had the cherry trees, a gift from Japan, removed as well as the rest of the foliage and replaced with a boring tribute to herself”.
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