.@JoeBiden says he spoke to Justice Ginsburg’s daughter and granddaughter last night to express his entire family’s condolences. Also said he prayed for her at mass this morning
Biden: it was my great honor as chair of Senate Judiciary to preside over her confirmation. She did as much to advance constitutional rights of women as Justice Marshall did for African Americans.
Biden: @senatemajldr created a new rule, “the McConnell Rule” in 2016, and Republicans signed on. Singled out Graham’s “use my words against me” remark about an election year vacancy
Biden: “you cannot unring the bell.” After setting new standard, Republicans can’t reverse course when it serves their interest
Biden: To jam this nomination through now would be nothing but exercising raw power, and I don’t think the American people will stand for it.
Biden: We need to deescalate, not escalate. Speaks directly to the few Republicans who will decide whether a nomination can move forward or not.
Biden now laying out why it’s wrong to put forward a list of potential choices, as Trump did. In June, when asked if he would put forward a list, Biden joked that he generally doesn’t like to follow Trump’s example. Now, he says he’d consult with senators before he makes a choice
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.@POTUS now en route to Auburn, Maine for event on domestic manufacturing. @RepGolden is joining Biden on Air Force One to his district.
Trump won this CD’s electoral vote in 2020 and 2016
In remarks, Golden says he doesn’t always vote for Biden’s agenda. But over two years says @POTUS has challenged “the dismantling of our national economy” which had allowed jobs to move overseas
@POTUS Golden: Biden is “a president who believes in the good character of normal American people. And they are more normal people than the weirdos out there would have us believe.”
NEW: @POTUS is in Ukraine, arriving overnight in surprise visit ahead of planned visit to Poland to mark one year anniversary of Russia’s invasion
Details from press pool: Air Force One departed from Andrews Air Force Base at 4:15 a.m. EST Sunday. @POTUS arrived in Kyiv at 8 a.m. local time, greeted at Mariinsky Palace just after 8:30 a.m. by President Zelensky and his wife
“I’m here to show our unwavering support for the nation’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Biden said, per pool
.@POTUS arrives for “United We Stand” event joined by Susan Bro, whose daughter was killed in the violence in Charlottesville in 2017
Bro says white supremacists slogans and recruitment materials continue to be placed at the site where her daughter was killed and Charlottesville in general
Biden: too much of the hate manifesting online is about “power and profit.” “All forms of hate fueled violence have no place in America,” he says. Says we must “silence it, rather than remain silent.”
.@FLOTUS has touched down Kosice in eastern Slovakia. She’s wearing a Mother’s Day corsage from @POTUS
Now @FLOTUS touring a refugee center at Kosice bus station. Various NGOs and government entities work here to assist Ukrainians traveling west into Slovakia
At refugee center @FLOTUS had emotional exchange with Victoria, a Ukrainian mother who said she struggles to explain Russian invasion to her children. “It is cruel,” Biden told her
At first stop today @POTUS talked about having only 48 votes to pass the major remaining planks of his agenda. Now at second event, Biden says the permanent expansion of child tax credit has stalled because of “one Democrat and 50 Republicans.”
Biden and certainly his WH have shied away from discussing the stalled parts of agenda mostly of late. Notably his candor today about political reality come through day after he had extended private Q&A time with donors in Portland and Seattle
Now Biden returning to what was the core message of his 2018 message in those midterms, contrasting Dem plan to expand ACA with GOP efforts to undo the law. “Let’s do something that will bring down prices,” he says