White House national security spokesman John Kirby defended President Joe Biden, who is beginning a second week away from Washington amid global negotiations, arguing the president is “very engaged” in these discussions.
The president spent last week in California after delivering a speech at the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 19, and is currently at the Biden family home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Kirby insisted Biden is seriously involved in the discussions of a ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group while at the beach and that the president has all the communications he needs wherever he goes.
“He was being updated on the attacks over the weekend in real time by his national security team, he was on the phone with Prime Minister Modi today, talking about Ukraine, and last week, he made several calls to try to make sure that we could get the ceasefire talks off to a good start,” Kirby said on Fox News’s Your World with Neil Cavuto. “He’s watching things very, very closely.”
Kirby added that “there’s no question” Vice President Kamala Harris is with Biden in observing these negotiations. Harris spent last week in Chicago at the convention and has campaign stops planned this week in Georgia.
Monday marked the third anniversary of a suicide bomber killing 13 service members at an airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. Kirby was asked about a comment Biden made when he claimed he was the only president this century not to have service members killed, prompting the national security spokesman to explain that Biden was making “a larger point” about ending the war in Afghanistan.
Fox News host Neil Cavuto pressed Kirby to see if he had ever been compelled to tell Biden he should clarify his comment. Kirby stated he would not talk about “my private conversations” with the president and insisted Biden was making a bigger point about not getting the United States into other wars.
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Former President Donald Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery on Monday to honor the 13 service members killed in the airport attack. Trump was invited by families of the fallen service members, with footage of him laying wreaths at the site shared online.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) also announced that all 13 service members will posthumously receive the Congressional Gold Medal on Sept. 10 in a ceremony held at the Capitol.
