Joe Biden

News, Analysis and Opinion from POLITICO

  1. Israel-Hamas War

    The limits of Biden’s one-on-one diplomacy with Netanyahu

    Biden prefers a personal touch to diplomacy, but changing circumstances in Gaza and Israel might lead to a shifting course.

    In multiple calls and meetings since Oct. 7, the Netanyahu government told their American counterparts they would open humanitarian aid routes into Gaza — but that they would do so solely because Washington asked.

    “We’re going to say the Americans requested it,” one senior Israeli official said this year, as relayed by a senior Biden administration official.

    President Joe Biden has been leveraging his decades-long familiarity with Benjamin Netanyahu to move the Israeli leader, who faced his own domestic pressure to appear hawkish, in directions he didn’t necessarily want. In this case, to pry crossings open and boost the amount of food, water and medicine available to Palestinians in Gaza.

    “Their talks are very candid,” said the senior official, like others granted anonymity to detail a sensitive relationship. “They skip past the diplomatic formalities and go right into the substance and work things out on the calls all the time.”

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  2. Transportation

    Buttigieg: Force of cargo ship that destroyed Baltimore bridge was ‘unimaginable’

    “What we saw yesterday was just unimaginable in terms of the proportion of that ship,” Buttigieg said.

    Updated

    Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Wednesday morning that the force of the cargo ship that rammed into and destroyed Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge was “unimaginable.”

    “It is difficult to overstate the level of physical force that hit this bridge all at once,” Buttigieg said during an interview on ABC News. He also added, “This is a vessel that was about 100,000 tons carrying its load, so 200 million pounds went into this bridge all at once, which is why you had that almost instant catastrophic result.”

    The bridge collapsed in the early hours of Tuesday morning after an approximately 985-foot-long container ship lost power and slammed into one of the bridge's supports. Six members of a construction crew who were working on the bridge at the time are missing and presumed dead, according to a senior executive of the company that employed the construction workers, and one worker was hospitalized.

    “What we saw yesterday was just unimaginable in terms of the proportion of that ship, the size of a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, going directly into the key support beam of that bridge,” Buttigieg said.

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  3. Energy

    The ‘all of the above’ energy success that’s causing Biden headaches

    The U.S. is producing record amounts of oil, natural gas and renewables, but it turns out not many people really want an "all of the above" energy economy.

    President Joe Biden is presiding over a historic boom in U.S. energy production, with oil, natural gas and renewable power all setting records that would have seemed unfathomable two decades ago.

    And almost no one is happy about it.

    Republicans are angry about the hundreds of billions of dollars Biden is pouring into incentives for green energy, and his decision to place a temporary cap on the explosive growth of U.S. natural gas exports.

    Climate-minded Democrats and environmental advocates, meanwhile, say Biden's approvals of pipelines and other fossil fuel projects violate his pledges to take on climate change — with some warning he’s demoralizing the young voters he needs to win reelection.

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  4. 2024 Elections

    Biden opens the door to revisiting the early days of the pandemic

    The campaign has searched for ways to puncture the sense of nostalgia for the Trump era.

    Ever since President Joe Biden declared his reelection run nearly a year ago, he has largely avoided talking about the coronavirus pandemic.

    That’s changing now.

    Biden has repeatedly invoked the darkest days of the pandemic in a series of recent speeches, recalling the panic that took hold in early 2020 as schools shuttered, stocks cratered and hospitals became overwhelmed.

    "First responders were literally risking their lives. Nurses were in garbage bags as garments because they couldn't get any other help," he said during a fundraiser Tuesday in North Carolina, repeating a sentiment he's expressed at three other events in the last week. "Loved ones were dying all alone and we couldn't even say goodbye to them."

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  5. Defense

    Israel has agreed to provide ‘security bubble’ for Gaza pier project

    Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have raised concerns about protecting U.S. personnel helping in the humanitarian aid effort.

    Israel has agreed to provide security for the temporary pier the U.S. military is planning to build in Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid to civilians on the brink of famine, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the plans.

    Under the plans being discussed, which have not yet been finalized, the Israel Defense Forces would establish a “security bubble” to protect the U.S. personnel building the pier as well as the individuals involved in offloading and distributing the aid, said one of the officials, both of whom were granted anonymity to speak about sensitive discussions.

    The IDF would also be responsible for physically securing the pier to the beach, the officials said.

    The U.S. is still in the planning stages and nothing has been finalized, the officials stressed. Another partner country may also be involved in providing some security, depending on where in Gaza the pier is ultimately built, they said.

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  6. Exclusive

    TikTok's troubles just got worse: The FTC could sue them, too

    A privacy case against TikTok would add fuel to the bipartisan chorus of criticism directed at the company over its ties to China.

    Updated

    The Federal Trade Commission has been investigating TikTok over allegedly faulty privacy and data security practices, and could decide in the coming weeks to bring a lawsuit or settlement, according to three people with direct knowledge of the matter.

    The commission is weighing allegations that TikTok, and its Beijing-based parent company ByteDance, deceived its users by denying that individuals in China had access to their data, and also violated a children’s privacy law, according to the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss a confidential matter.

    The agency, in partnership with the Justice Department, could either file a lawsuit or settle with the company, though a settlement has yet to be reached, the people said.

    TikTok has been under fire for years from national-security hawks in Washington, who worry that the popular app is giving Chinese authorities access to Americans’ personal data. A settlement would allow the embattled social media company to resolve a long pending legal matter, but it would only add fuel to critics who argue that TikTok’s ties to ByteDance are a critical threat to national security.

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  7. Transportation

    Biden: We will do all it takes to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge

    He said he plans to visit the disaster site and stressed that there was no indication that there was intentionality behind the devastating collapse.

    Updated

    President Joe Biden on Tuesday vowed that the federal government would provide all the resources Baltimore needed to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge after it collapsed in the early hours of the morning. He said he plans to visit the disaster site and stressed that there was no indication that there was intentionality behind the devastating collapse.

    “We’re going to send all the federal resources they need as we respond to this emergency. I mean all the federal resources — we’re going to rebuild that port together,” Biden said in the Roosevelt Room, before departing the White House for a trip to North Carolina.

    “Everything so far indicates that this was a terrible accident,” he added. “At this time, we have no other indication, no other reason to believe there's any intentional act here.”

    A container ship crashed into the bridge early Tuesday morning, causing the structure to crumble in a matter of seconds. The collision sent several vehicles traveling on Interstate 695 into the water, spurring a search for survivors in the Patapsco River and the closure of the Port of Baltimore.

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  8. 2024 Elections

    MAGA candidates tanked the midterms. Biden thinks they could again.

    Democrats are hoping to re-run a strategy that got them through the midterms.

    When President Joe Biden takes the stage in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Tuesday, Attorney General Josh Stein will dutifully serve as a warm-up act. Come November, Stein will be playing a more central role.

    That’s because the 57-year-old Democratic gubernatorial nominee, unlike the president, is ahead in polls in the state. He’s also running against a highly controversial GOP nominee, Mark Robinson. Among political operatives in North Carolina, the expectation is that if Stein performs well, it could help Biden flip a state that’s been painfully elusive for Democrats.

    Should that happen, it would amount to an inversion of the traditional dynamic, where down-ballot candidates historically draft off the popularity of candidates for the White House.

    Even some Republicans sense the chances.

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  9. Foreign Affairs

    The data is clear: Israel-Hamas war hurt Ukraine in DC

    Biden dialed back his Ukraine rhetoric after the Israel-Hamas war started, according to a POLITICO analysis.

    President Joe Biden shifted his public remarks away from the war in Ukraine and toward the Israel-Hamas war in the final months of 2023 — giving less airtime to Kyiv at a critical moment in the war, according to a POLITICO analysis of speeches and statements.

    Mentions of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing conflict there picked up again at the start of 2024 amid an intensifying debate about American military assistance.

    While it makes sense that Biden paid different attention to each conflict as they unfolded, the findings offer new insight into how his administration has chosen to balance its approach to multiple conflicts abroad that continue to animate voters in a major election year and test the White House’s foreign policy abilities.

    The analysis looked at mentions of each war by both Biden and congressional leaders over the two years since the Ukraine war broke out. The data interpreted the number of mentions rather than the content of the public statements.

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  10. White House

    Harris finds herself, often, a half step further than Biden on Israel

    The administration says there’s no daylight between her and the president’s Israel stances.

    When Vice President Kamala Harris sat down for a television interview over the weekend, she took a step no other administration official had done so far: She did not rule out “consequences” for Israel if it launched a full-scale invasion of Rafah in its war against Hamas.

    It was the latest in a series of blunt remarks from Harris criticizing Israel's military campaign. And she has consistently gone further than President Joe Biden by at least half a step.

    At the end of last year, she said Israel had a right to defend itself but criticized its methods in the aftermath of Oct. 7. In Selma this month, she called the humanitarian situation in the region a “catastrophe.” And in the interview this weekend, she didn’t dismiss a possible backlash as the administration continues to warn Israel against a major invasion of Rafah.

    The West Wing has supported Harris’ willingness to nudge out slightly ahead of Biden, who spent decades as one of the Senate’s foremost supporters of Israel and has been loath to appear like he is turning his back on the country even amid his growing disdain for its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Indeed, two administration officials not authorized to speak publicly about internal discussions said Harris’ remarks have created more space for Biden to slowly — and privately — offer his own rebukes of Netanyahu and his conduct of the war.

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  11. Exclusive

    DOJ looked at transactions linked to Jim Biden as part of criminal investigation

    His lawyer said the president’s brother is not under investigation in Florida or Pennsylvania cases.

    Federal investigators in South Florida recently probed transactions linked to Jim Biden as part of a criminal investigation, according to two people familiar with the matter. The investigation remains open, according to one of them.

    Meanwhile, Justice Department officials prosecuting an ongoing Medicare fraud case in Pennsylvania were seeking information about the activities of President Joe Biden’s brother as recently as last year, according to a third person familiar with that case. All three were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

    The revelations add to the potential legal minefield surrounding the first family at a time when House Republicans are pursuing an impeachment inquiry aimed at the Biden family’s business dealings and Hunter Biden faces federal tax charges in California and gun charges in Delaware.

    Both investigations have scrutinized a troubled hospital chain, Americore, that Jim Biden worked with in the years after President Joe Biden left the Obama administration.

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  12. 2024 Elections

    Trump warns Israel that it's 'losing a lot of support'

    The former president did not touch on Israel's proposed invasion of Rafah or a postwar peace plan for Gaza.

    Former President Donald Trump said Israel has to “finish up” the war in Gaza in a Monday interview with an Israeli news outlet, adding that the country “has to be very careful” because it is “losing a lot of support.”

    The presumptive Republican nominee’s comments come as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pulled an Israel delegation that was set to visit Washington after the U.S. allowed a resolution calling for a cease-fire to pass the U.N. Security Council. Trump’s remarks also come as President Joe Biden’s administration has grown increasingly critical of Israel’s planned military offensive in Rafah, the southern Gaza city where more than 1 million Palestinians have sought refuge from the conflict.

    In an interview with Israel Hayom, a publication owned by the family of the late conservative real estate magnate Sheldon Adelson, Trump suggested he would have acted very similarly to Israel’s government in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants. But he also said Israel made “a very big mistake” with photos and imagery of bombs dropped on Gaza helping push public opinion against the war.

    “I wanted to call [Israel] and say don't do it,” Trump told the outlet. “These photos and shots. I mean, moving shots of bombs being dropped into buildings in Gaza. And I said, Oh, that's a terrible portrait. It's a very bad picture for the world.”

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  13. Defense

    Congress approved $300M for Ukraine last week. The Pentagon spent it 4 months ago.

    The cash was included in a $1.2 trillion government funding package signed by President Joe Biden on Saturday.

    When Congress approved $300 million to arm Ukraine late last week, it marked the first time lawmakers have approved new funding for Kyiv’s war effort in more than a year.

    There’s just one problem: The money is already gone.

    The cash, allocated to the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, was included in a $1.2 trillion government funding package signed by President Joe Biden on Saturday. But the money was actually obligated in November while the Pentagon was operating under a temporary continuing resolution, an administration official said.

    So while its passage might’ve marked a brief bipartisan win, it was essentially a symbolic move. That $300 million “is not available for us to use now,” said the official, who was granted anonymity to discuss the dynamics of the budget.

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  14. Foreign Affairs

    US allows passage of UN resolution calling for cease-fire in Gaza, prompting retaliation from Israel

    The U.S. abstention prompted the Israeli government to cancel a visit by Israeli officials to Washington this week

    The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution on Monday explicitly calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war after the U.S. declined to exercise its veto power.

    Israel responded by canceling a visit this week by Israeli officials and top advisers to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington, adding to the tensions between the two longtime allies amid Israel’s military operations in the Gaza strip.

    The passage of the resolution, led and presented by the non-permanent members of the United Nations’ most powerful body, comes after a series of resolutions addressing the Israel-Hamas war failed because of vetoes from the United States, China and Russia because of disagreements over the phrasing of calls for a cease-fire.

    The decision of the U.S. to abstain, rather than veto the resolution, is also Washington’s sharpest action to date at the United Nations against its ally. It also came ahead of an expected trip from top advisers to Netanyahu and Israeli government officials to Washington, as Israel and the U.S. find themselves at odds over a looming invasion of the southern Gazan city of Rafah.

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  15. Energy

    Oil and gas execs are unhappy with Biden — but not eager for Trump’s return

    The oil industry leans to the GOP, but many recall the trade tensions and uncertainly that characterized the former president's term in office.

    HOUSTON — Oil and gas executives are chafing under President Joe Biden's attempts to rein in their industry — but sweating at the thought that Donald Trump might replace him.

    Industry executives assembled here for CERAWeek, one of the world’s premier annual energy conferences, disparaged Biden administration regulations on their greenhouse gas emissions and its pause on new gas export permits. But though they're confident Trump would reverse those policies, many fear a return to the volatile international relations and idiosyncratic management style he brought to his previous four years in office.

    “Trump is going to be Trump,” said Dan Eberhart, chief executive officer of privately owned oilfield services company Canary and a supporter of the ex-president, crediting his first-term policies for making the United State an energy superpower. “I expect he’ll pick up where he left off if he’s reelected.”

    “The flip side of that is that he tends to favor a protectionist trade policy and is likely to impose tariffs if he thinks the U.S. is getting a raw deal,” he added. “That’s going to be a positive selling point for some, but there is always the risk that tariffs could turn into a trade war.”

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  16. 2024 Elections

    It’s ‘brass tacks’ time for cash-strapped Trump campaign

    The former president has blocked off two days next week to make fundraising calls.

    Donald Trump doesn’t have the money to match what Democrats are expected to spend against him in the presidential campaign. He’s holding fewer of his expensive, signature rallies. He’s ramping up his fundraising — but trying to pay down his legal bills. And he’s about to get swamped on the airwaves.

    Inside his constellation of donors, there is an acknowledgment that the campaign needs to begin building up its war chest — and quickly bring more backers on board.

    “Make no mistake, it's not going to be easy,” said former Sen. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, a major donor. “There's donor fatigue. And what we have to focus on is not just fundraising, but making sure that people understand the contrast between the two candidates.”

    Like other donors who spoke with POLITICO this week, Loeffler projected optimism that Trump will have the resources necessary — and that he likely won’t need to raise as much money as President Joe Biden to keep his polling lead.

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  17. 2024 Elections

    Biden campaign puts Florida — sort of — in play

    The perennial swing state has leaned Republican in recent years, making it harder for Democrats to make headway.

    MIAMI — President Joe Biden’s campaign is giving Florida Democrats a few encouraging signs that the conservative-leaning state — once a key battleground that both parties intensely fought over — still matters.

    But only a few.

    Vice President Kamala Harris will visit Parkland, Florida, on Saturday to address gun safety. Biden's reelect will launch digital ads on the Affordable Care Act targeting several demographics and will go on the air to reach Latino voters. And the campaign also intends to hire three senior-level staff for the state.

    Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried told reporters earlier this week that the state party had “complete confirmation that the Biden campaign, as well as national surrogates and national partners, will be investing dollars here.”

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