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President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. met today with President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to discuss the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor and the broader economic partnershipand the bilateral relationship between the United States and the DRC and the Congolese people. The two leaders affirmed the need to ensure conditions are in place to attract private sector investments in the DRC, including good governance, transparency, and a sovereign DRC that is able to harness its immense wealth for the benefit of all its people. President Biden encouraged continued commitment to the Luanda Process to ensure a peaceful resolution to the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

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Catania, Italy

Thank you, Captain Shoemaker. I’m grateful to you and Lisa for the warm welcome to Sigonella and for your leadership of this base.

And what a beautiful performance from the band!

Ambassador Markell—Jack, Joe could not have asked for a better partner from Delaware to the White House in Italy. It’s so wonderful to be able to spend this special day with you and Carla.

And today is possible because of the work of Consul General Roberts-Pounds.

I’m also grateful to all the Italian officials with us for taking the time to be here.

Thank you all for spending part of your morning with me.

The Bidens are a military family.

As the Captain said, my father was a Navy Signalman in World War II. And our son, Major Beau Biden, served for a year in Iraq as part of the Delaware Army National Guard.

So, 15 years ago, when I took my first overseas trip as Second Lady, I wanted to visit the people who make our freedom possible.

I traveled to meet military families stationed at Bamberg and Schweinfurt over 4th of July weekend.

In the years since, through Joining Forces—my White House initiative to support military and veteran families, caregivers, and survivors—I’ve sat with hundreds more servicemembers and their families—to keep listening.

Today, I’m humbled to be with military families here at Sigonella.

We just began the holiday season at the White House. And, I hope to bring some of that warmth across the ocean to all of you—though you seem to have created a pretty incredible display here too.

This year—Sigonella’s 65th anniversary—you’ve shown the world why you’re the “Hub of the Med.”

The 3rd highest Final Evaluation Problem score in history!

Holding 200 community relations events—more than any other base.

The Jaguars winning the European football championship to end a perfect season!

And every day you successfully weave through the Sicilian traffic.

But I know this life isn’t always easy: deployments that seem too long and phone calls that end too soon, PCSing every few years—leaving behind careers, schools, and communities.

That’s why Joe’s Administration is making sure we do everything we can to support military families

Lowering the cost of child care and bringing universal pre-k to bases—including this one!

Making sure military kids with disabilities can transfer their individualized education programs to their new school.

Signing an historic Executive Order to help military spouses keep their careers, and collaborating with the Italian government to let spouses work remotely here—because we have to do everything we can to make sure spouses have employment opportunities no matter where they’re stationed.

You are the brave and the bold.

You’re the spouses who hug twice as hard and cheer twice as loud at football games to fill that empty space beside you, so that other families can celebrate their milestones together.

The military kids who don’t have a hometown, so that other kids can stay in theirs.

You’re the 1% who serves, so the 99% can know freedom.

You stand on the front lines, protecting Americans around the world and ensuring those at home can feel the peace and light of the holidays year after year.

And we have a duty to make sure you can build good lives.

This is my last overseas trip as First Lady.

Just like all those years ago, I knew I wanted to visit military families—to let you know how much all of you mean to me and to your Commander-in-Chief.

It’s been the honor of this military mom and grandmom’s life to serve as your First Lady—and work to fulfill our sacred obligation to you.

With all my heart, thank you for your service.

May God bless you and your families.

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Luanda, Angola

MODERATOR: Thank you all for joining for this gaggle. Everything will be attributed to a senior administration official, embargoed until 10:00 p.m. local time.

For your awareness, but not for your reporting, our SAO is [senior administration official]. [Senior administration official], we’ll turn it over to you for a few words at the top, after which we’ll take some questions.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: All right, thank you.

So, as you know, the President is going to travel to Lobito, Angola, tomorrow. I’ll go through kind of a little bit of the schedule and then go into more of the details.

He’ll arrive in Lobito. He’ll be joined by — at the Port of Lobito and be joined by President Lourenço of Angola, as well as the presidents of Zambia and DRC, as well as the vice president of Tanzania.

They will tour the port. From there, they will travel by car to a grain facility — production facility of a company called Carrinho — I’ll explain a little bit later who they are and what they are — where he will tour the facility. It’s an agribusiness company. He’ll tour the facility by the founder and CEO, Nelson Carrinho.

He will then, at that facility, will also meet and get briefed by a number of other company leaders of companies that the United States has financed here in Angola and along the Lobito Corridor, such as Africell, who, if you’ve been traveling around Angola, you’ve seen a lot of their signs. They’re a mobile telecommunications company, a U.S. company that just a couple of — a few years ago, there was only a monopoly here of the state-owned company. They entered with U.S. financing support. Today, they have a significant market share already. They are also expanding beyond Rwanda to make sure that people in rural Angola can go from 2G to 3G. 2G is no data; 3G is with data.

And actually, we’re going to — we will be announcing shortly some financing for them — package financing for them to support their growth into both neighboring countries along the Lobito Corridor and to expanding to 5G here in Angola.

There, he’ll also be greeted by the CEO of Sun Africa, which is a company that has received financing from the Export-Import Bank of the United States. They are building something along approximately 700 megawatts of solar power, in addition to some storage and mini grids. This is the largest U.S. investment in solar power in Africa, here in Angola. It will mean that Angola will have not only a significant portion of its energy from clean sources, but also give the ability to export clean energy to its neighboring countries.

He’ll also be meeting with a leader from a company called KoBold — it’s with a K; K-O-B-O-L-D, as in David — which is a mining company in Zambia. Initially, it’s an American company backed by a number of U.S. well-known financial institutions, including Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Ventures. And they made a discovery, a copper discovery in Zambia. It was one of the largest copper discoveries. As you all know, copper is extremely important for both the chips development, as well as for electric vehicles and expanding the grid, which we will need because of the expansion of data centers.

He will also meet a leader from a company called Acrow Bridge. That’s A-C-R-O-W. They are based in Milton, Pennsylvania. They make pre-fabricated steel bridges, so it’s American steel, American jobs. It’s a unionized company. And they then deliver those bridges here in Angola. I believe the contract is for 186 steel bridges to be delivered here in Angola, and hopefully will expand their operations elsewhere. It’s a great story of creating jobs in America to deliver good commercial benefits here in Angola and in Africa writ large, again, receiving some commercial financing from U.S. government institutions.

After he visits with all these companies, he will then join a roundtable hosted by President Lourenço and President Biden, together with the presidents of Zambia, the DRC, and the vice president of Tanzania, and with, in addition, the CEO of the AFC, which is the Africa Finance Corporation, who is a partner in both leading the project, the Lobito Corridor project, a rail project, and is a — well, my understanding is will likely make a financial announcement — financial commitment announcement to the phase two of the project.

So why are we going to Lobito? Why is the President going to Lobito? So, the Lobito Corridor really is anchored in the Lobito port itself, which is the gateway in and out of Africa for the critical minerals industry and now for agriculture.

The premise behind the corridor is to be able to take American support and financial capabilities that are admittedly limited and to focus them more deeply in one area versus spreading that financial support and effort across many countries. So, instead of a little bit of human and financial resource across the whole continent, choosing corridors where we can have the largest impact.

The Lobito Corridor was the test case for this approach, not just for Africa but globally, and has been a very successful proof point in that theory.

The rail is a refurbishment of a rail that goes from the Lobito port all the way to the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo and nearby the border of Zambia, and extends all the way to eastern Congo. This means that a cargo of cobalt or copper that takes about 45 days to get from eastern Congo or Zambia to the market by going through Durban, South Africa — by truck, it takes about 45 days. This will take somewhere in the 40 to 50 hours to go the same distance. That is a remarkable not only cut in time, but cut in cost and the ability to get to market, which will then serve to cut the cost, eventually, of batteries and EVS or chips, et cetera.

So that is the first piece of what the Lobito Corridor does.

The reason the mining industry is so important in this is because by booking capacity in this rail, it makes it more financeable, more commercial. Nothing in what is happening in the Lobito Corridor is aid. It is all about making things commercial, financeable, and for-profit so that they’re actually sustainable for a long period of time and has the ability to have maintenance on it and so on.

So, getting the critical minerals out is not only an objective to help the United States diversify the supply chain, but it also means that now higher-standard companies from around the world are coming back into the industry in Africa for the first time. So, for many years, the higher-value companies were leaving, and instead, the mining was being done by companies who perhaps have lower standards across — whether it’s labor, environment, transparency, corruption — and now you’re starting to see higher-end companies with a better set of standards. KoBold is a good example of that. There are others now that are in final negotiations to come back into countries that they left only recently.

But once we wanted to work on the corridor, the President wanted to make sure we weren’t doing this on one issue alone of critical minerals, but rather how do we use this to raise GDP and support for countries along the corridor. What you’ll see is, beyond the investment that I just discussed, like Africell and the others, laying fiber-optic cable in Angola and along the rail to expand Internet connectivity, faster connectivity across a larger swath of land.

Countries that are land-locked, like Zambia and DRC, to a large degree, have a hard time raising their ability to feed themselves and to bring products to not only international markets, but even to their neighbors.

So, the rail suddenly opens up the ability to deliver commodities and food stuffs and equipment into — all the way to eastern Congo and Zambia. Both countries, Zambia and DRC, have fresh water, have arable land, and yet are importers of food.

What you’ll see in this facility that the President is going to go to, where the roundtable is going to be Carrinho, is the company that has built silos for storage so that you can get food crops into cold storage so they can last longer, which means that he is able to go to farmers across Angola and say, “Anything that you can farm, I will purchase,” and then be able to deliver. That has reduced the dependency of Angola already on certain products from a 100 percent dependency on imports to near zero and expanding.

So we’re working with — the U.S. government with Carrinho. How do you expand that into the broader region, into Zambia, into DRC, so that along the rail, now, if you’re in Zambia and you have the Zambezi River that has an enormous amount of fresh water, and yet they are importing food — if the agriculture there can be developed from small farms to large farms, and be able to sell into this corridor, we’re not only expanding it for critical minerals, but suddenly this corridor is now solving food security concerns across the corridor.

So this is the overview of why the President has gone not only all the way to Angola, but all the way to Lobito. And it’s a major investment for the U.S. The PGI initiative that we’ve talked to you about before is an initiative that is the leader in this.

Under this presidency, we’ve already spent, in this corridor alone, nearly $4 billion, but that’s just U.S. There’s a lot of other participants in this. The EU is coming in. The Italian government has provided, I think, $320 million of investment. The Africa Finance Corporation, as well as the Africa Development Bank, are all part of this and growing.

So, this is going to be a multibillion-dollar investment in lasting infrastructure that will not only not only build up these businesses, but bring about a change in attitude that the President mentioned in his public remarks today of increasing the transparency, increasing the standards of labor, increasing the environmental protection standards, all that have been — really, this continent has suffered enormously from investments that have not cared about any of those things and has taken the resources out and left behind no better economies, no advanced communities.

And so, the idea behind this corridor is that it will ensure that it doesn’t only come to take resources, but rather build up GDP, build up communities, build up towns, and increase the level of economic development for the towns and the communities around these businesses, as well as the country as a whole, while not adding crushing debt terms the way they have with other investors.

I will stop there.

MODERATOR: Great. With that, we’ll take a few questions, and we’re hoping to keep it focused on the visit tomorrow.

Q So, as far as just the rail project in particular, the big kind of new financial commitment is the AFC announcement, right?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: So, DFC, we haven’t formally announced it; we’ve talked about the (inaudible). But DFC, the Development Finance Corporation in the United States, has approved a $553 million package. And I won’t speak to what the AFC will announce tomorrow. That’s up to them.

Q Gotcha. And is that specifically for phase two?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: That’s for phase two.

So what we did was the United States came in with phase one at $553 million, and that was good enough for the two European companies that are building the rail and operating it, in addition to us helping them get secured usage commitments of the rail. That’s at phase one. Once the world saw that we were serious about this, it sort of paved the way for everyone to be like, “Oh, this thing is actually for real.” And then they came in and supported, specifically after the President made a big push at the G7 last year that unlocked a lot of financing from others.

Q Can I just look forward to AGOA? What is the future of this rail corridor and AGOA? I know that’s up to Congress. But do you see that some of these countries that are eligible for AGOA — Zambia, Congo, and Angola — could expand their AGOA exports? And do you have a roadmap for that?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I think there’s no doubt that should Congress expand AGOA, that this would be a benefit. I think the point here is that it would support these countries’ ability to increase their exports, and will allow them to be not only connected to global markets for exports, but actually to other African markets. So, there is a critical need for Africa to be connected not only to the world and to itself. And so, the President spoke about it today. We talk a lot about it in aviation, where sometimes you have to fly very far away to go to your neighboring country, but having the critical infrastructure.

So, hopefully AGOA can strengthen it. But this is not reliant on AGOA. AGOA will just be a increase in support for it.

Q Right. But AGOA is, like, value-added products, and this rail line is going to bring in, like, raw materials. Is this is going to give an opportunity for these countries to export value-added products?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: So I disagree with the premise that it’s for raw products. There is — right now, only raw product is coming out. But I think what this rail does — an increased — in order to get to higher-value products, you need a few things. One of them is affordable and reliable and abundant energy. So, the build-out of the energy system allows you to then build the value added.

And I fully expect — we are already discussing with companies that are looking — I can’t announce it for them, but I would assume in the next weeks and months you’ll see some of the companies, the mining companies and other service companies, building out infrastructure to create value added. So instead of just the raw material, you’ll be ultimately exporting something. Now, I can’t tell you how far up the chain it will be refined, but I think there’s a lot of refinement to be done here in Africa.

Q And on just the fi- — so the investment from the DFC, it’s $553 million?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yes.

Q That’s what’s coming tomorrow?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: That is part of the — when we talk about the over $3 billion of support in Angola, and then I think nearly or over $4 billion in total for the Lobito Corridor, the President is going to announce tomorrow an additional $600 million in financing for projects for the broader Lobito Corridor, and that takes you above the
number that we had talked about today.

Q Got it. So, additional $600 million is what (inaudible).

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yeah. But that’s not
just for rail. That’s for the broader — and not just in Angola; that’s for the broader corridor.

Q So that’s separate from the 553 (inaudible).

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Correct.

Q Yeah, I just want to make sure that they’re separate.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: The $553 million is for the rail itself, a phase one rail in Angola. And then there are all kinds of things that we’re doing to support the broader corridor. Some of that’s what I talked about — Africell, Sun Africa, the feasibility study that we have to do for the phase two. Phase two is essentially building the entire rail system inside Zambia, which we are pretty far along on the planning of that. We expect shovels on the ground by the end of 2025 or early 2026. And there’s a lot of work that goes into identifying routes. Do a brand-new greenfield rail.

So the part from Angola all the way to east Congo is already being used. And then phase two is much more expansive, more ambitious. I should say there’s a phase three, which is then connecting it onwards all the way to Tanzania. That’s why the vice president of Tanzania is going to be here.

Q Okay, got it. And then, just wanted to — can you just talk about what this financing looks like going forward, with President-elect Trump coming in? And the dollars that have already been allocated to the project, can you kind of detail how it’s being spent, how much has been spent already? Like, I don’t know if you can kind of break that down.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: So, I think the most important way to tie the two ends of your question is to say that the money that I’m referring to, most of it has gone through the process already. It’s been approved. The ones that require congressional notification have already been congressionally notified. They have finished their notification periods. They have not had any holds. There is broad bipartisan support for these projects.

And, look, at the end of the day, if you want to talk about living in an era of global competition, specifically with China, this Lobito Corridor is the heart of that. You can’t stand up and say I want to compete with China — not adversary, but compete with China — and not support what’s happening here, which is why I have every confi- — which is why it’s had bipartisan support already across Congress, and why I have every expectation that when the new administration comes in, they will — I don’t know how many things they will continue around the world, but I believe they will continue this project because it is good for American national security, it’s good for American economic security, and it builds on what a Republican-controlled Congress during the Trump administration, which is to build that, that created the DFC for this kind of purpose.

And we’ve had Republican staff, Republican members of Congress, senators who’ve been to Angola, DRC recently. These are members who’ve never traveled to Angola before, but this is why they’re coming here. So, I think there is quite a bit of support for this.

Q Sorry, just a clarifying question. The $553 million, that’s for phase one, not two?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Correct.

Q How long will this take? You said that the Tanzania point — I mean, shovels in the ground for part of it, starting in 2025.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Zambia. Zambia.

Q Right. And then, the Tanzania is like the long goal. And right now, there’s a portion that’s already being used to east Congo.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Right. This is all going to be in pieces. So, nothing is going to — this is not a “we wait until a big reveal and something all works.”

So we had a test cargo a couple months ago that went from east DRC all the way to Lobito. It doesn’t mean the rail is fully operational yet, but we wanted to see how it works. So that’s how I can tell you how many hours it takes, because we had that test cargo. That will, probably in the next year or so, will be — the work inside Angola will be complete, next year-ish. Right around that time is when the shovel is going to go in the ground in Zambia. Again, the feasibility study is now done, and now we have to do all the other project preparation, which, again, is expensive and takes time.

There’s already pieces of rail that exist if you go further east. So now it’s about, Patrick, how do you make sure that all the rails connect to each other. So you don’t have to build the whole way to Tanzania; you just have to build the spurs that interlink the rail that already exists all the way to the port in Tanzania. So, that will give you that — what the President said in his comments at the Slavery Museum — of connecting for the very first time a truly transcontinental (inaudible).

Q What’s the prediction for that, for it being (inaudible)?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I don’t know. I think it’s hard for me to make that prediction. I think if all goes well, which construction projects sometimes do and sometimes don’t, I would say Zambia would then take probably two, three years to complete, and then — but some of the rest of the work could happen simultaneous, concurrently with the Zambia work. The Chinese are involved in a TAZARA section, which is they’re partnered with Zambia and Tanzania on part of that. And so that will connect into this. So we’ll have a lot of different pieces to this rail.

So my guess is, by the end of the decade, you can have a really fully functioning rail that goes coast to coast.

Q And do you hear frequently from these countries that you’ve been working with on the Lobito Corridor that they don’t have secure investments from their other investment partners? That’s been a big theme of what we’ve been hearing about. Without explicitly saying the names of the other partners, (inaudible) more reliable?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I’m sorry, who are the other partners?

Q China and Russia. That the U.S. would be a more reliable investor. That’s what the U.S. is offering. Do you hear from these leaders that some of these other investments are falling short; that they need somebody to come in and be reliable?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I think that the investment from the United States versus from others, it’s not about more or less, it’s about different. We hear a lot about others coming in with very large checks, build a lot of stuff, but that is with high interest rates on the debt, the terms are really difficult, and it doesn’t come with any of the commitments to their society.

And so, what you see happen — and again, the President mentioned in the speech today — 10 years, 5 years later, 10 years later, you go to a country, whether it’s here in Sub-Saharan Africa or in Southeast Asia or South Asia, or even Latin America — I mean, look what’s happened. The resource is gone, right? They’ve taken it out. But there’s — the debt in the early years is low interest rates, and then it expands with time. In some cases, it’s over 11 percent, which is crushing. And there’s no support for the local communities where these investments are.

Now, politicians today are wise enough to know that “my predecessor left me this debt and a community that is anti-investment,” because they’ve seen that their kids are working in these facilities, or they’re getting paid a dollar a day. They know their drinking water is worse because nobody is providing security into making sure that they’re not polluting all the waterways or moving rivers.

So what they’re looking for is a different kind of investment that guarantees the opposite of all those things. And what I hear from heads of state, you know, consistently, is, “I don’t want the other investments, but if I have to choose between a Chinese investment and no investment, I will choose a Chinese investment every day of the week, or the Russian.”

So if you give us a choice, we’ll be there. And what the President committed at the African Leaders Summit was to create a different offer, and that’s what he charged me with trying to implement, and that’s what he’s done. And that’s why President Lourenço said today in his opening comments to the President, “You lived up to your word. You gave us your word at the leaders conference, and you’ve actually lived up to it with what you’ve done.”

Q Can I follow up on something you just said, that the hope is that this will attract, like, higher-quality investments. But how — is there a mechanism in place to verify that the companies that will take part in this project, like actually have higher standards regarding, like, labor rights, environment, transparency, et cetera?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yes, there is. I mean, the whole point of the U.S. participating in this is that part of the DFC or Ex-Im Bank or MCC or USAID, any of these organizations in the U.S. government, they vet the companies for that kind of action, and not just before they give the loan facilities or debt facilities, but rather during the project itself.

Second, with the fact that the U.S. government is saying we are effectively putting the American flag on these projects, we have a responsibility. And so, there’s a continued U.S. — you know, shining a light on these projects to make sure that it is done in the proper manner.

MODERATOR: We have time for just a couple more.

Q You know, I know this was supposed to come earlier, and the hurricane sort of derailed everything, but is there a fear that this is coming so late in the administration that even though this is, you know, good work that’s going to certainly have a lasting impact, that it’s going to be overshadowed by the President leaving office?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I don’t think so at all. Look, the President was supposed to be here earlier, but I don’t think it makes any difference.

What’s being highlighted here, guys, is the — you know, we’re so used to the cynical of “government comes and we tout.” This is, like, literally, a transformative initiative for the United States that I think it’s not about whether the Trump administration is going to continue it, which I have very little doubt, but rather, I think this is the playbook for administrations to come.

There are a lot of things that we’ve done around the world. I mean, PEPFAR is, I think, George W. Bush, and we’re still talking about what a great initiative that was. Everybody thinks the DFC was a very good thing globally.

So, yes, from administration to administration, some things get carried on. So, I truly believe that this is something transformative.

But look at the politics of this. And I don’t want people to miss this: Nobody — when I came this morning to the palace, before the arrival ceremony, the ministers that I was talking to, the one thing that every single one of them separately said to me, “What we’ve been talking about is that no one in this country, at our age, would have believed that the United States would be here, the president of the United States would be here,” based on the relationship that we once had. We weren’t just on the other side of the Cold War. We were very much on the other side of the Cold War. During a civil war here then, we were sort of a player.

Q It was like a hot war with Cuba, a proxy war.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yes. This was basically a proxy hot war with the Soviet Union.

So to go from that — and, by the way, that — yes, we recognize, you know, reestablished relations in 1993. But when I came here, you know, and started talking to the Angolan government just three, four years ago, the relationship was not this. Today, this is one of our strongest relationships in all of Sub-Saharan Africa. It’s one of our best friends. President Lourenço has been one of our truest allies. That is unimaginable (inaudible). It didn’t happen because we decided to go the usual route of aid. It happened — or political promises. It happened because they could see that we were making promises and we were keeping them at every step of the way.

The fact that we made over $3 billion of investments here that are meaningful investments to people in this country is what drove it.

And so, the blueprint here is: If you get more — with aid, you get a certain amount; you’ve done the right thing. You should continue to do it. But the investment strategy that many presidents have talked about trying to — how do you go from aid to trade, we’ve heard that from many presidents. But the ability to actually do it is so different. And that’s why I don’t take the cynical view of, “Oh, it’s the end of the administration, didn’t have to come, it’s not going to matter.” On the contrary. The one thing that I hear from Republicans consistently since the election is, “Can you talk to us more about this? How do we continue this?” People asking for what kind of jobs they need to create for this and so on.

So it’s not just my hard-to-hide enthusiasm for this project, but it is that I truly believe that this is a blueprint for the future.

And, by the way, we’ve copied this in other parts of the world. When was the last time we took something we did in Africa and then copied it elsewhere? We created a corridor in the Philippines that is entirely — together with Japan — just with — you know, the Luzon Corridor — just based on this.

And I think if we had more time — I think we’re trying to do the same thing in East Africa, in Liberia and in Ghana, building out data centers. I mean, that’s the competition with China. It’s not getting China — by the way, it’s not about getting China out of Africa. On the contrary. I would love China to invest more. But hopefully, when countries say, “Wait a minute, I can go to the United States and there’ll be no child labor, they’ll get higher wages, more investment in my country, and I won’t have crushing debt,” and tell the Chinese, “If you want to compete, give me a better offer.”

And so China, then, is investing in Africa at higher standards. Great. We’re not going to close the infrastructure gap in Africa with the United States and the G7 alone. I can promise you that. So having China here would be great, but not the way they’ve been doing business (inaudible).

Q Just one quick one. Has there been any progress in finding a buyer for that Congolese mine that was being sold to a Chinese buyer?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Chemaf?

Q Yes.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: So, one, they announced that — there was some announcement that it was sold, and then there was an announcement, “No, we didn’t sell it.” I think that the Congolese — you’d have to ask them, but they would like to make sure that their industry and their economy is diversified. They are having discussions with other companies. So it’s really not my place to speak for them.

MODERATOR: Thank you all. Thank you very much.

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Today, the United States and Angola are co-hosting a Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI) Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor Summit, bringing together leaders from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Tanzania, and Zambia, as well as the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC).  The leaders will affirm their commitment to continue developing the Corridor and invest in infrastructure to connect the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.  They will further pledge to accelerate the next phase of the Corridor with the new Zambia-Lobito rail project.  The Summit will underscore the importance of enabling sustainable private sector investments that unlock inclusive economic growth and sustainable development for local and regional communities.
 
Through PGI—a bipartisan initiative in partnership with G7+, for strategic, values-driven, and high-standard infrastructure and investment in low- and middle-income countries—the United States and our partners aim to positively impact people’s lives, strengthen and diversify our supply chains, protect workers, and advance shared national security interests.  The flagship Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor, anchored in core rail investments, is a transformative economic corridor that connects the region and accelerates trade and the growth of key sectors supporting the economic diversification and development priorities of African leaders.  The United States is working with partners around the world to replicate the success of the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor and help bridge the global infrastructure gap.
 
In September 2024, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the completion of an initial feasibility study and launch of the environmental and social impact assessment for the Zambia-Lobito rail project, a greenfield 800-kilometer rail line being built from scratch linking Angola and Zambia for the first time.  Together, these studies ensure the project is economically and financially viable and will be delivered following international best practices on labor, community participation, and environmental protection.  AFC, Angola, and Zambia also celebrated the signing of the concession agreement, which allows the next phase of development to continue.  The target date to break ground is early 2026.
 
Today, President Biden is announcing $600 million in new funding for infrastructure projects along the Corridor, bringing the total for U.S. investments to more than $4 billion. With these announcements and together with G7 partners and regional development banks, international investment in the Lobito Corridor has exceeded $6 billion. These investments will be  mobilized towards new and continuing projects that support the economic potential and development impacts of the Corridor across multiple interconnected sectors, including transportation and logistics, agriculture, clean energy and associated supply chains, health, and digital access.
 
Transportation and Logistics
 
Rail and other transportation and logistics-related infrastructure forms the backbone of the Corridor and will enable expanded trade and business growth.  While these investments are traditionally public-sector investments, the United States through PGI is supporting commercially driven projects that lock-in efficiency and sustainable maintenance over the long-term.
 

• Following the due diligence announced by President Biden in May 2023, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) is announcing the commitment of a $553 million direct loan to the Lobito Atlantic Railway to upgrade and operate a 1,300-kilometer rail line from the Lobito port to the Angolan town of Luau on the DRC border.  This investment supports the anchor rail investment of the first phase of the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor and is the backbone on which additional high-quality investments in agriculture, healthcare, energy, and financial services will be built.  The Lobito Atlantic Railway’s operational improvements have already scaled up the number of freight shipments from once per month to two times per week.

• The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Angolan Ministry of Transportation are signing a MOU to support new personnel and IT equipment, with the aim of helping the Ministry leverage private investment in Angola’s infrastructure and development.  This followed the approximately $1 million grant announced earlier in 2024 by the USAID to assist the Ministry.

• The anchor rail line of the second phase of the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor, the new Zambia-Lobito rail project, was launched in October 2023, with the AFC as the lead project developer.  Building on AFC’s initial $5 million for feasibility studies and project development, AFC is announcing its commitment to anchor and mobilize up to $500 million through various financial instruments to ensure the project reaches financial close, in line with its prior track record.  The announcement complements a technical assistance grant the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) awarded to AFC in September 2024 for an environmental and social impact assessment to facilitate this effort and to move the project towards financial close.

• In October 2024, KoBold Metals, a U.S. company applying artificial intelligence to develop a critical minerals site in Zambia, signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with AFC committing to anchor the commercial viability of the Zambia-Lobito rail project with more than 300,000 tons of copper per year from its Mingoma mine.  AFC will collaborate with KoBold to support the Mingomba project, through a combination of project development funding, equity, or debt financing as required.

• AFC signed MOUs this month totaling an additional 170,000 tons of minimum freight commitments from Zambian mining projects including from Kobaloni Energy, which is planning to construct the first cobalt sulphate refinery on the African continent, and First Quantum Minerals, one of the world’s top ten copper producers.  These commitments will help the new Zambia-Lobito rail project raise capital at a lower cost.  The MOUs also represent start of creating a diversified supply chain route for the critical minerals that support the global energy transition.

• Since 1995, the United States has provided over $164 million for humanitarian demining in Angola.  This lifesaving assistance plays a critical role in bolstering human security, providing safe access to land for economic development, and facilitating environmental conservation in the Okavango River Basin. The U.S. Department of State announced a total of $9 million in de-mining assistance over the next two years that will facilitate rail construction along the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor, as well as other economic development goals across Angola, as part of a multi-year campaign for Angola to achieve mine-free status.  With a $10 million match from the Government of Angola, implementing partners will be able to clear the mines left from Angola’s decades-long civil war, enabling the land to be recultivated for farming and other uses.

• In December 2023, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Board of Directors selected Tanzania to develop a threshold program.  MCC and the Government of Tanzania are now developing a trade and investment program to facilitate trade between Tanzania and its neighbors and address trade barriers.  The program is scheduled to launch in late 2025 and builds on MCC’s more than $700 million in prior investments in governance, transportation, energy, and water in Tanzania.

 
Agriculture

In support of U.S. efforts to accelerate agricultural-led economic growth in Angola and our partners across the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor, the United States is investing in value-added food processing and connecting farmers to global markets.  These investments also deliver on President Biden’s commitment under the U.S.-Africa Partnership to Promote Food Security and Resilient Food Systems, to step up our investments to build more resilient food systems in Africa and to unlock Africa’s enormous agriculture production potential.
 

• Today, President Biden will meet with businesses that are investing in the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor enabled by U.S. support.  He will visit the Lobito production facilities of the Carrinho Group, Angola’s largest food producer, which is rapidly expanding the network of family farmers from whom it sources raw produce for products sold across the country.  President Biden will celebrate the first shipment of Carrinho food products along the Lobito Atlantic Railway line to be sold in the DRC, supporting regional food security.  To enhance agriculture expansion, USAID has partnered with Carrinho through an existing $5.5 million program and public-private partnership focused on women’s empowerment, to facilitate the offtake of grain and crops grown by communities along the Corridor.  In November 2024, DFC signed a non-binding Letter of Interest to explore a loan that would support Carrinho to purchase and install grain storage equipment to reach more farmers along the rail Corridor and key hubs.  Complementing these investments is the previously announced Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) financing to build 186 rural bridges.  This financing will further support thousands of smallholder farmers to participate in this sustainable agriculture value-chain as Carrinho grows its farmer network to two million farmers by 2030.

• The African Development Bank is announcing its intention to finance $370 million across three agriculture projects facilitating regional trade and food security and promoting sustainable commercial agriculture value chains.  These projects are expected to mobilize an additional $100 million in private sector capital and will enhance food security, promote the economic inclusion of local communities, including small- and medium-sized enterprises, and create jobs in agriculture and other sectors along the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor.  To accelerate implementation, the U.S. Department of the Treasury will make a $3 million commitment to the Bank to support project preparation and feasibility work.  This complements the Bank’s November 2023 $500 million commitment to invest in the Zambia-Lobito rail project, and adds to the $289 million agricultural value chain and transport infrastructure project in the DRC it financed in July 2024.  This brings the Bank’s total investment in the Corridor to more than $1 billion over the past 12 months.

• In October 2024, a U.S. consortium led by Amer-Con Corporation signed an MOU with ARCCLA, the Angolan public entity within the Ministry of Transportation responsible for the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor, to build and operate silo terminals and collection points on planned logistics platforms along the Corridor and nationwide.  The project will focus on staple crops such as corn, rice, soybean, and wheat.  This project will boost local production, enhance food security and stimulate economic growth as part of the National Network of Grain Silos strategy, which aims to achieve a 2.2-million-ton storage capacity and reduce post-harvest losses.

• In fiscal year 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) committed nearly $300 million that will use U.S. commodities to help strengthen food security across Africa.  These programs provide critical school meals and literacy programming and are facilitating agricultural economic development in nine African countries, including Angola, and Tanzania.  In Angola, USDA will work with World Vision through a $27.5 million McGovern-Dole agreement to provide school meals for more than 80,000 beneficiaries in three provinces.  The project will provide more than 5,000 metric tons in nutritious U.S. commodities and more than 4,000 metric tons of locally procured fruits and vegetables to support the school meals and literacy programming in eight municipalities across the Benguela, Cunene, and Huila provinces.  In Tanzania, USDA will work with Lutheran World Relief through a more than $35 million Food for Progress agreement to support food security for 30,000 beneficiaries through the implementation of climate smart agricultural practices in the poultry sector for smallholder farmers.

• In October 2024, the MCC signed a $458 million compact program with Zambia focused on catalyzing inclusive economic growth in the agriculture and agro-processing sectors.  The program, which includes an additional $33 million contribution from the Government of Zambia, aims to lower the cost of transporting farm products and processed goods to markets, increase the availability of equipment for small and medium farmers and processors, increase financing for infrastructure projects that support agriculture, and catalyze reforms in the agriculture sector to attract greater private investment.  The compact will build on MCC’s $378 million in prior investments in Zambia to remove barriers to trade and improve water infrastructure, distribution, and reforms.

• In September 2024, DFC committed a $5 million loan to Community Markets for Conservation Limited in Zambia to expand its food processing business to support the adoption of sustainable, conservation-based practices in rural Zambia.  This builds on DFC’s $10 million loan to Seba Foods Zambia Ltd., which was announced at the PGI Lusaka Investment Forum in February 2024.  DFC also reached a commitment on a $6 million USAID-sponsored loan portfolio guarantee for Angolan company Kixicrédito S.A. that will support lending to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises targeting the agriculture sector, including firms along the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor.

 
Clean Energy 
 
Africa has approximately 39 percent of the world’s renewable energy potential.  The United States is committed to supporting the growing energy needs of people and businesses across the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor with renewable sources that power communities and industry.
 

• The United States supports Angola’s objective to generate 73 percent of its energy from clean sources by 2027 as well as current and anticipated energy needs across the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor as new companies and sectors develop.  Through PGI, the Department of State is providing technical assistance to strengthen the Angolan government’s capacity to meet national energy goals, reduce greenhouse gases, and expand access to electricity.

• In Angola, U.S. company Sun Africa, is part of a historic EXIM financing commitment of over $2.4 billion connecting a million Angolans to clean electricity.  This second phase of the project includes an additional 320 megawatts from distributed minigrid systems across four southern provinces alongside clean drinking water projects.  Sun Africa is receiving support from Power Africa, and has received support from a number of Power Africa interagency partners, including USAID, the Department of Commerce, the State Department, and EXIM.

• Through USAID’s Empower Southern Africa program under Power Africa, the United States plans to enter a formal partnership with the Angolan National Transmission Company to realize important cross-border and domestic transmission lines that will help integrate Angola into the Southern and Central Africa Power Pools and supply electricity to the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor. USAID is launching a new $1.5 million grant from the Power Africa Opportunity Fund to provide solar powered irrigation and refrigeration equipment to support farming communities along the Corridor.

• In September 2024, DFC committed a $40 million liquidity facility to Africa GreenCo, a company operating in Zambia that is expanding renewable energy access.  Africa GreenCo procures renewable electricity through power purchase agreements from independent power producers to sell on the Southern African Power Pool, to both public utilities and private sector buyers.  DFC’s support will help provide a credit enhancement to Africa GreenCo, enabling it to establish a track record as an energy aggregator and trader.

• To accelerate private investment in African infrastructure projects, and in the Lobito Corridor in particular, the U.S. Department of the Treasury will make a $4.2 million contribution to the Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa (AGIA) via the African Development Bank, one of the partners collaborating on the development of the Lobito Corridor.  AGIA aims to mobilize private capital at a rate of 20 times donor contributions, meaning that our contribution should catalyze approximately $100 million to build quality, sustainable infrastructure projects.

 
Critical Minerals Supply Chains 
 
Africa will play a central role in the global energy transition and the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor is rich in the critical minerals that will power the 21stcentury.  The United States is committed to ensuring reliable supply chains by supporting the development of this sector with environmentally respectful processing so more of the value is captured on the continent.
 

• Through the Kabanga Nickel project, LifeZone Metals Ltd., a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, is investing in bringing critical mineral value addition to Tanzania.  Their support of the development of the Kahama special economic zone, which will include a first of its kind nickel processing facility in the region, can serve as a hub and training center for Tanzanians working across the clean the energy supply chain.  In August 2024, DFC signed a retainer letter with Kabanga Nickel Limited, a subsidiary of Lifezone Metals Ltd., to begin due diligence on political risk insurance to support the Kabanga Nickel underground nickel-copper-cobalt mine site and the Kahama Hydromet refinery site.  In September 2024, DFC also signed a non-binding letter of interest with Kabanga Nickel Limited expressing DFC’s interest in considering a potential direct loan to support the project.

• The United States and Angola are collaborating on principled investments to advance critical minerals projects along the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor through technical assistance to prepare new operations to secure future debt or equity financing.  During the June 2024 U.S.-Angola Energy Security Dialogue, the Department of State and Angola agreed to elevate our critical mineral partnership.  In September 2024, Pensana PLC received a $3.4 million grant from DFC to fund a feasibility study to double the capacity of its Longonio rare earths mine, design in-country refining capacity, and conduct test work on new ore bodies.  It also includes a $3.2 million DFC technical assistance grant to Chillerton to support the development of a green copper mining project in Zambia.

• USAID, the State Department, and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is announcing $2 million in technical assistance for responsible development and management of Angola’s mining sector.  In November 2023, USGS and the Angolan Geological Institute (IGEO) signed an MOU to enhance scientific collaboration.  This partnership will foster transparency and attract principled investment in Angola’s mineral sector through a three-year program to analyze and interpret newly acquired geoscience data to document Angola’s critical mineral potential while building capacity within the IGEO.

 
Health 
 
The United States is committed to expanding access to health care and strengthening health security, including through PGI investments in health-related infrastructure in the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor.
 

• The United States and Angola are working together to help accelerate development progress in Angola, including by mobilizing critical investments in Angola’s health infrastructure under PGI.  To support the Angolan government’s priorities in a fiscally responsible manner, DFC has committed to providing up to $150 million in political risk insurance for new water treatment plants to expand access to potable water to underserved communities in southern Angola.  This will further expand DFC’s portfolio of investments in Angola – more than $700 million in commitments – all of which have been committed during the Biden-Harris Administration.

 
Digital Access
 
Access to high-speed internet and associated digital resources helps fuel technological and economic innovation in Africa.  The United States is committed to connecting citizens and businesses across the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor with highly reliable and trusted vendor technology.
 

• In alignment with the Digital Transformation with Africa initiative, the United States is investing in Angola’s digital architecture, supporting reliable telecommunication networks—using trusted vendors—that will benefit the Angolan people and improve Angola’s digital connectivity to the global economy.  EXIM announced a non-binding, preliminary board commitment to provide $100 million financing for U.S.-owned telecommunications company Africell to expand its high quality, reliable, and affordable wireless cell service to all corners of Angola and upgrade equipment in the DRC with trusted vendor technology.  This builds on USAID’s 2023 launch of a nearly $5 million “Dinheiro Digital é Melhor” or “Mobile Money is Better” project with Africell to spur the development of a vibrant and secure mobile money and digital finance ecosystem in Angola.  USAID and partners are connecting approximately 12,000 new mobile phone users to the Afrimoney platform per month, with 240,000 new users joining in 2024.  In combination with financial literacy training and policy engagement with Angola’s government, USAID and partners are breaking down barriers and reaching those previously excluded from the formal financial system.

• To date, USTDA has provided $13.2 million in funding to prepare digital, transportation, and clean energy projects that will help develop the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor.  These activities are designed to help unlock several billion dollars in financing and deploy innovative U.S. technologies for the Trans-Africa Corridor’s implementation.

• In November 2024, USTDA awarded a feasibility study grant to Javilian Civils (Proprietary) Limited to support the deployment of terrestrial fiber and access infrastructure connecting inland locations in Central and Southern Africa with subsea cables along the Atlantic Coast.  The project will ultimately increase internet connectivity in Angola, the DRC, and Namibia.

• In April 2024, the U.S. Department of Commerce led a large whole-of-government delegation to the NewSpace Africa Conference held in Angola, representing a growing US interest in space-related cooperation and trade, and in engaging African nations in development of norms for satellite operations.  Part of the Commerce Department, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration offers a wide range of free, open source data, information, and tools that are available to help businesses, communities, and nations address climate adaptation and mitigation, sea-level rise, flooding, coral reef monitoring, and space weather, including a range of early-warning systems for weather, climate, and hydrological disasters.

 
Investment 
 
PGI leverages public funds to unlock private capital investment.  In the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor, the United States is supporting sustainable economic growth by helping secure investment for firms across many sectors and sizes.

• In September 2024, DFC committed a $13 million equity investment in the African Rivers Fund IV, which will support small and medium-sized businesses in frontier markets in Central and Southern Africa, including Angola, the DRC, and Zambia.

• To promote U.S. investment in Angola, the DRC, and Zambia, Prosper Africa is providing roughly $600,000 of transaction advisory services to firms along the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor.  These services aim to connect local firms, accelerate economic progress, and increase local and regional involvement in the growing economy around the Corridor.

• Through the United States’ Economic Resilience Initiative, USAID will help advance the economic opportunities presented by the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor for inclusive growth.  Working with Congress, $4.5 million will support workforce development that matches private sector needs and the industrialization of agricultural inputs and outputs for regional export markets along the Corridor.

 
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Presidential Palace
Luanda, Angola

1:00 P.M. WAT

PRESIDENT LOURENÇO:  (As interpreted.)  (In progress) diplomatic relations since 19th of May, 1993, which have been growing year after year, mainly since in Angola we started the process of fight against corruption and impunity, and we establishing the best business environment.

The Angola president José Eduardo dos Santos was received in the White House in September 1991 and December 1995 by then-Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton respectively.

I thank the fact that President Joe Biden has received me in a very friendly and warm manner in White House on the 30th November, 2023. 

The two countries have been exchanging ministerial and business delegation visits where we have to highlight the visits by the minister of national defense of Angola and the chief of staff of the Angolan Armed Forces to Washington, D.C., and the visits by various U.S. secretary of state to Rwanda and, more recently, for the first time, the U.S. Defense secretary and the director general of CIA to Luanda.

On holding these state visits to Angola on the eves of Angola celebrating 50 years of its national independence, this will be marked in the history of the two countries as the first visit by a U.S. president touching the Angolan soil.

This does not only put an end to the past of our relations whereby within the Cold War we had never been aligned, but also it marks an important turning point in our relations, which undoubtedly will know a new dynamics as from today.

We want to work together attracting U.S. direct full investment to Angola, opening business and (inaudible) opportunity for Angolan businessmen to the U.S. market.

We also would like to increase our cooperation in defense and security sectors, in access to military schools and academies, the military training in Angola, and hold more joint military exercises to cooperate more in programs of maritime security in order to protect the Gulf of Guinea and South Atlantic, as well as in the program of equipment and modernization of the Angola Armed Forces.

Important projects of public investment are ongoing with U.S. EXIM bank funding, City Capital, and the International Development Financial Cooperation — DFC — with U.S. companies such as Sun Afrique, Africell, Mayfair Energy, (inaudible), GatesAir, amongst others, without talking about the oil companies, Chevron and Esso, who are based in Angola for various decades, as well as numerous U.S. service companies in the oil sector.

With company (inaudible), we are working in building cereal silos and the logistic platforms and parks along the Lobito Corridor and other points that considered as main grain production places in the framework of food security.

In the health sector, with USAID, Gavi, and Global Fund, we’ve been benefitting a lot in the programs of fight against malaria, tuberculosis, HIV and AIDS, COVID-19, as well as in the program of robotic surgery that is starting to become a reality in Angola, in partnership with the well-known hospital from Orlando, Florida, in the U.S.

We would like to see U.S. investors engaged in construction of power transmission lines, in high-voltage under public-private partnerships for southern African countries, namely for the region of Copperbelt in Zambia and DRC, as well as for Namibia, connecting to the southern countries’ power grid.

Our AngoSat 2 project is working with NASA and Maxar in acquisition of high-resolution satellite images for monitoring natural disasters, namely in the implementation of our national program of fight against the effects of droughts in the southern part of Angola, PCESSA.

The country is in the process of purchasing six aircraft, Boeing 787 Dreamliners, whose delivery will take place early next year, 2025.

We’re also working with U.S. company Wicks Groups Consulting for Angola accession to Category 1 of Aviation Federal Administration, which could be facilitated by the full functioning of the international airport Antonio Agostinho Neto.

We highlight the fact that in June 2025, Luanda will host the U.S.-Africa Business Summit that will bring closer politicians, entrepreneurs, scholars, and civil society from the U.S. and Africa to talk about businesses, history, culture, and various cross-interests.

Mr. President, your vision and engagement for the success of the Lobito Corridor, as well as your great contribution to our energy transition program in the construction of solar products in the southern part of Angola will always be remembered as a great contribution to food and energy security, as well as towards economic and social development of Angola and the whole southern African region.

Once again, thank you very much, you’re (inaudible) welcome to Angola, and the Angolan people feel themselves very happy and proud of having you here in the city of Luanda. 

Thank you very much, Mr. President.

PRESIDENT BIDEN:  Mr. President, thank you very much.  It’s good to see you again and thank you for having me here today.  I mean that sincerely.

I joked with you earlier when I said, “We Bidens are like poor relatives.  We show up when we’re invited, stay longer than we should, eat all your food, and don’t know when to go home.”  But you’ve been very, very generous and hospitable.  Thank you.

I’m proud — (clears throat) — excuse me — very proud to be the first American president to visit Angola.  And I’m deeply proud of everything we have done together to transform our partnership thus far.  And there’s so much ahead of us, so much we can do.

The results so far speak for themselves: building an ocean access railway — ocean-to-ocean access railway that’s going to connect the continent from west to east for the first time in history.

Investing in solar energy projects.  It’s going to help Angolans generate 75 percent of its clean energy by next year — by next year.

Upgrading Internet and communications infrastructure to connect all of Angola to high-speed Internet networks.  As we’re doing that at home ourselves, I compare it to when Franklin Roosevelt took electricity to rural America.  It didn’t exist in rural America.  The government provided it.

Well, it’s hard to get by these days in business or in ranching or anything else without access to the Internet — knowing what’s going on, when to sell your product and the like. It’s critical.

And — (clears throat) — excuse me — and increasing our agriculture production so Angolans can feed themselves and, quite frankly, the rest of the world and making a profit doing it — providing work, providing opportunities, providing muscle to your economy.

And increased agriculture production so Angolans, as I said, can not only feed themselves but — it’s hard for people in a country that only has the borders of the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean to understand that it’s hard to get a product from one country to another that are badly in need of agricultural products but you can’t get there.  To get there, you not only help those people but you help yourself and you grow your economy.

And you’ve heard me say it before, Mr. President.  The United States is all in on Africa.  All in on Africa.  And I think a testament to that assertion I’ve made to you when I saw you and I’ve made publicly before — you’ve heard me say it before, but the United States is all in — all in on Angola.  We’ve already, in — my administration alone has invested over $3 billion in Angola thus far.  The future of the world is here in Africa and Angola.

So, during this visit, I look forward to discussing how we keep ensuring democracy delivers for people — because if they don’t think it’s a democracy and they don’t think they’re in on a deal, they don’t think they’re part of it.  And you’ve been working very hard to establish good democracy.

And — and secondly, how can we help build the strong ties between our nations and our businesses and our people?  There’s a lot to say on all of this, I know.  We’re prepared to — I think we’re well on our way to answering a lot of the questions, but I think you should understand the extent to which we’re prepared to be engaged.

And as I said to — to the president, ours is not — we don’t think because we’re bigger and we’re more powerful that we’re smarter.  We don’t think we have all the answers.  But we’re prepared to hear your answers to the needs you have, particularly answers to international debt financing and a whole range of other things we’re prepared to discuss.

So, I want to thank you very much for your personal welcome.  I want to thank all of your colleagues for treating us so well since we’ve been here.  And I mean it from the bottom of my heart. 

The future of the world is in Africa.  That’s not hyperbole.  It’s going to be a billion people very shortly in this continent — a very diverse continent.  And by — in another 20 years, you’re going to be the largest country in the world — continent in the world.  And so, you’re — we need you to succeed.  This isn’t all selfless.  The more you succeed, the more we succeed, the more the world succeeds.

So, thank you for being willing to have me, be willing to talk to me, and I look forward to a long relationship.

Thank you very much.

(Cross-talk.)

PRESIDENT BIDEN:  Welcome to America.

1:13 P.M. WAT

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National Museum of Slavery
Belas, Angola

5:54 P.M. WAT

THE PRESIDENT:  You are a brave crowd to come out in the rain.  I brought my hat just in case.  I don’t have much hair to help me.  (Laughter.)

Leaders of Angola, government and civil society, students, young leaders, staff of the National Slavery Museum, distinguished guests, I sincerely mean this when I say thank you for being here in the rain with us today.  Thank you for allowing me to be here.  It’s an honor — a genuine honor to be with you today in Angola. 

I just got off the phone with the vice president, telling her I’m sorry she’s not with me to be here today, you know, with you in Angola, the — a vibrant city.  And — and I — look, not the city.  The city, I know, is not Angola, but in Angola in a vibrant city.

And I’m joined by members of the United States Congress, senior officials of my administration, and American business and civic leaders.  We think that it’s important that we get together.  We thank all people of Angola for your warm hospitality, and I mean that s- — please sit down if you have a seat.  Don’t — I’m sorry.  (Laughter.)  I wasn’t sure you all had seats. 

We are gathered at a someln — a solemn location.  Because to fully consider how far our two countries have come in our friendship, we have to remember how we began. 

We hear them in the wind and the waves.  Young women, young men born free in the highlands of Angola, only to be captured, bound, and forced on a “death march” along this very coast to this spot by slave traders in the year 1619. 

In the building next to us, they were baptized into a foreign faith against their will, their names changed against their will to Anthony and Isabella.  Then they were condemned to a slave ship bound for the Middle Passage, packed together in hundreds by hundreds.  A third of those souls did not survive the journey.  One third died on the way.

But Anthony and Isabella made it to the British colony in Virginia, where they were sold into servitude and became two of the first enslaved Americans in a place that, 150 years later, would become the United States of America.  They had a son, considered the first child of African descent born in America: William Tucker.

It was the beginning of slavery in the United States.  Cruel.  Brutal.  Dehumanizing.  Our nation’s original sin — original sin — one that haunted America and casts a long shadow ever since. 

From the bloody Civil War that nearly tore my nation apart to the long battle with Jim Crow in the ni- — to — into the 1960s for the civil rights and voting rights movement — which got me involved in public life — during which American cities were burned, to the still unfinished reckoning with racial injustice in my country today. 

Historians believe people of Angola accounted for a significant number of all enslaved people shipped to America.  Today, millions of African Americans have roots in Angola. 

As I said at the U.S.-African Leaders Summit that held in Washington two years — I held in Washington two years ago, “Our people lie at the heart of the deep and profound connection that forever binds Africa and the United States together.  We remember the stolen men and women and children who were brought to our shores in chains, subjected to unimaginable cruelty.” 

Here with us today are three Americans who are direct descendants of Anthony and Isabella, those first enslaved Americans — Afri- — Africans in America.  Wanda Tucker of Hamilton [Hampton], Virginia. Wanda, are you there?  There you are, Wanda.  God love you.  (Applause.)  Her brother Vincent and Carolita as well.  Thank you for being here.  We’re going to write history, not erase history.

The Tuckers learned their family history around the dinner table.  That history led Wanda here in Angola a few years ago.  She did not know how to speak the language, but that didn’t matter.  When she arrived, Wanda said she felt something profound, like she’d come home.  That was her comment to me.  She called it the “connection without words.”

Ladies and gentlemen, I am here today to honor that connection between our people and to pay tribute to the generations of Angolans and American families, like the Tuckers, who have served in government for over — I’ve served in government for over 50 years.  I know I only look like I’m 40 years old, but I’ve been around hanging in the government for — (laughter) — I hate to admit it — for 50 years.

But in that 50 years, I’ve learned a lot.  Perhaps most importantly, I have learned that while history can be hidden, it cannot and should not be erased.  It should be faced.  It’s our duty to face our history: the good, the bad, and the ugly — the whole truth.  That’s what great nations do. 

That’s why I chose to speak here at the National Slavery Museum today, just as I toured.  And that’s why your president visited the National Museum of African American Culture in the — in Washington, D.C. — the second most-visited museum in the States — and he did it a few years ago.

He saw what I see: the stark contradiction between my country’s founding principles of liberty, justice, and equality and the way we long treated people from Angola and from throughout Africa.

I’ve often said America is the only nation in the world founded on an idea.  Most countries are founded based on race, ethnicity, religion, geography, or some other attribute.  But in the United States, founded on idea, one embedded in our Declaration of Independence, and that is that all men and women are created equal and deserve to be treated equally throughout their lives. 

It’s abundantly clear today we have not lived up to that idea, but we’ve never fully walked away from it either.  And that’s due in no small part to the determination and dreams of African Americans, including Angolan Americans. 

The proud descendants of the diaspora who helped build my nation as they rebuilt their own families and their own sense of self.  They were the forebearers as well — resilient, faithful, even hopeful — hopeful that joy would cometh in the morning, as it says in the Bible; hopeful that our past would not be the story of our future; and hopeful, in time, the United States would write a different story in partnership with the people brought here in chains to my nation from Africa.  It’s a story of mutual respect and mutual progress. 

That’s the history that brings me here, the first American president ever to visit Angola.  Over time — (applause) — and I’m proud to be.  Over time, the relationship beca- — between our countries has been transformed from distance to genuine warmth.  Today, our relationship is the strongest it’s ever been. 

Throughout my presidency, it’s been my goal — goal of the United States to build a strong partnership with peoples and nations across the continent of Africa — true partnerships aimed at achieving shared goals, bringing to bear the dynamism of America’s private sector and the expertise of our government to support aspirations of African entrepreneurs, experts, leaders both inside and outside of government.

Because we know the challenge that define our age demand African leadership.  One out of every four human beings on Earth will live in Africa by the year 2050.  And the ingenuity and determination of young Africans in particular, like the young society leaders I just met with here today, will be undeniable forces in that human progress. 

That’s why I’m so optimistic, because of that generation.  In no small part, it will be in their hands and the hands of people across Africa to expand access to clean energy, to tackle threats of global health, to grow global — a global middle class. 

In many ways, Africa’s — Africa’s success is and will be the world’s success.  As I said at the United States — U.S.-Africa Summit: The United States is all in on Africa’s future. 

Two years ago, I pledged to deliver $55 million [billion] in new investments in Africa and to mobilize American businesses to close new deals with African partners. Two years ago, we are out way ahead of schedule.  More than 20 heads of U.S. government agencies and members of my Cabinet have traveled to Africa, delivering over $40 billion in investments thus far. 

And we have announced nearly 1,200 new business deals between African and American companies — and American companies — total will be worth $52 billion, including investments in solar energy, telecom, mobile finance, infrastructure, and partnerships with American airlines to expand opportunities for tourism so you don’t have to fly to Paris to get here — although Paris is pretty nice.  (Laughter.)

Here in Angola alone, the United States has invested $3 billion during my short presidency.  We see the bonds between our countries across sectors, from clean energy to health care to sports.  The American Basketball Associat- — National Basketball Association launched Basketball Africa League and Angola is the reigning champion.  (Applause.)

And we see the impact of American culture across — African culture across the American culture, from music to entertainment to fashion to arts and so much more. 

Student exchanges between our countries are essential and must increase.  Students in both countries can be — better understand one another if they know the country, if they visit the country, if they’re educated in the other country.  An increased connection between us makes a big difference.

Being all in on Africa means making sure African voices are heard at the tables that matter most.  Under my leadership, the United States brought — we brought in the African Union as a permanent member of the G20 economies, and we insisted on more African representation among the leaders of the International Monetary Fund and other world financial institutions. 

We’ve also pushed to ensure that developing nations do not — do not choose — have to choose between paying down unsustainable debt and being able to invest in their own people.  And we’re using our voi- — our own voice to increase Africa’s presence on the U.N. Security Council at the United Nations.  That should happen.  You can clap for that, folks.  You should be in there.  (Applause.)  

The United States continues to be the world’s largest provider of humanitarian aid and development assistance.  And that’s going to increase.  You know, that’s the right thing for the wealthiest nation in the world to do. 

And today, I’m announcing over $1 billion in new humanitarian support for Africans displaced from homes by historic droughts and food insecurity.  (Applause.)

But we know African leaders and citizens are seeking more than just aid.  You seek investment.  And so, the United States is expanding our relationship all across Africa — from assistance to aid to investment to trade — moving from patrons to partners to help bridge the infrastructure gap. 

I was told, by the way, when I got elected I could never get an infrastructure bill passed because the last guy spent eight years saying, “Next month” — four years saying, “Next month.”

Well, guess what, folks?  We’ve done it.  (Applause.)  A trillion — a trillion three hundred billion dollars for infrastructure to narrow the digital divide, drive inclusive, sustainable economic growth.

We’re looking for partners who understand that the right question in the year 2024 is not “What can the United States do for the people of Africa?”  It’s “What can we do together for the people of Africa?”  (Applause.)  That’s what we’re going to do.

Nowhere in Africa is the answer more exciting than here in Angola.  It starts with our governments, whose partnership is stronger, deeper, and more effective and active than any point in history.  It’s testament to your president, who had the vision to carry out this relationship — carry this relationship forward.  And it’s a testament to Angolan citizens across the private sector and civil society who have forged strong bonds with your American counterparts. 

And together, we’re engaged in a major joint project to close the infrastructure gap for the benefit of Angolans, Africans across the continent, Americans, and the world.  We’ll all benefit, as you benefit.  You’re — you can produce much more agriculture, for example, than states that can’t.  You’re going to increase their longevity, and you’re going to increase your impact and profit. 

It’s called the Lobito Corridor.  We’re building railroad lines from Angola to the Port of Lobito, in Zambia and the DRC, and, ultimately, all the way to the Atlantic — from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean.  It’ll be the first trans-continental railroad in Africa and the biggest American rail investment outside of America.

And I must tell you up front, with American press here, I’m probably the most pro-rail guy in America.  (Laughter.)  I’ve ri- — I’ve ridden over 1,300,000 miles on a daily basis to my work, 210 — -20 miles a day for the last 50 years. 

Well, I didn’t do it as president.  I stayed in the White House a lot. 

But all kidding aside, folks, we can do this.  We can do this.  It’s in our power. 

It will not only generate significant employment, it will also allow individual countries to maximize their own domestic resources for the benefit of their people and sell critical minerals that power the world’s energy transformation and our fight against climate change and to transport them in a fraction of the time and lower cost.  A shipment that used to take over 45 days will now take 45 hours.  That’s a game changer.  That increases profit.  That increases opportunity.

The Lobito Corridor represents the right way to invest in full partnership with a country and its people. 

As part of this project, we will install enough clean energy power to power hundreds of thousands of homes, expand high-speed Internet across — for millions of Angolans, which is a cos- — as consequential today as electricity was two generations ago. 

And we’re investing in agriculture and food security, fulfilling the needs of countries without agricultural capacity and expanding opportunities for countries growing the crops; connecting farmers across the Lobito — along the Lobito Corridor to new markets, expanding opportunity and prosperity — you doing that, having the means to do it. 

The United States understands how we invest in Africa is as important as how much we invest.  In too many places, 10 years after the so-called investment was made, workers are still coming home on a dirt road and without electricity, a village without a school, a city without a hospital, or a country under crushing debt. 

We seek a better way: transparent, high-standard, open-access investments that protect workers and the rule of law and the environment.  It can be done and will be done.  (Applause.)

And, folks, the partnership between Angola and the United States also extends to supporting peace and security in this region and beyond. 

Pl- — Pr- — President Lourenço, I want to thank him for his leadership and mediation in regional conflicts.  I also want to thank him for Angola speaking out against Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine.  It matters.  It matters when leaders speak out.  (Applause.)

Ladies and gentlemen, as you know, I am in the final weeks of my presidency.  You don’t have to clap for that.  (Laughter.)  You can if you want. 

But I wanted to come to Angola.  Although I’ve been chairman of the Africa America subcommittee for a long time, I had never made it to Angola.  Because although I don’t know exactly what the future will hold, I know the future runs through Angola, through Africa.  I mean it sincerely.  (Applause.)  I’m not kidding.

I know that any nation that wants to thrive in the next century must work as partners with workers, entrepreneurs, and businesses here in Africa.  I know that the connection between our communities, our universities, our sports, our civil societies, our families, our people will only grow deeper.  We have to stay focused.

The story of Angola and the United States holds a lesson for the world: two nations with a shared history in evil of human bondage; two nations on opposite sides of the Cold War, defining struggle in the late part of the 20th century; and now, two nations standing shoulder to shoulder, working together every day for the mutual benefit of our people. 

It’s a reminder that no nation need be permanently a — the adversary of another, a testament to the human capacity for reconciliation, and proof that from every — from the horrors of slavery and war, there is a way forward. 

So, I stand here today — I mean this sincerely — deeply optimistic.

When I — by the way, 20 years ago, when I was a senator, I had a cranial aneurysm.  They s- — got me to the hospital in time.  I remember asking the doctor, “What are my ch-” — he said, “Oh, your chances are good.  They’re about 30 percent.”  (Laughter.)  (Inaudible.)  When it was all over, he was deciding whether or not it was congenital or environmental.  And I said, “I don’t give a damn.  I’m here.”  He said, “You know what your problem is, Senator?  You’re a congenital optimist.”  (Laughter and applause.)  I am.

About the possibilities and progress that lie just beyond the horizon.  Together, we can and will chart a futuche worther [future worthy] of great nations, worthy of the highest aspirations of our people. We just have to remember who we are: We’re Angolans; we’re Americans.   

As I often say in Ameri- — to the American people: There’s nothing — nothing beyond our capacity if we work together.  And today, I say to the people of Angola and all the people of Africa, there is nothing beyond our capacity if we do it together. 

Thank you.  And God bless you and keep you all safe.  (Applause.)  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  And thank you for waiting. 

And I got my hat.  Thanks, everybody.  I really mean it.  You’re very patient.

Q    Mr. President, anything on South Korea and martial law?

THE PRESIDENT:  I’m just getting briefed on it.  I’m just getting briefed.  I haven’t heard the details.

6:13 P.M. WAT

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     The over one billion disabled people around the world have made incredible contributions — propelling us all forward in the pursuit of progress.  This International Day of Persons with Disabilities, we recommit to ensuring that people with disabilities are treated with dignity and respect and have every opportunity to reach their full potential.
     I remain proud that one of my earliest acts as a United States Senator was co-sponsoring the Rehabilitation Act, banning discrimination on the basis of disability by any entity funded by the Federal Government.  And later, I co-sponsored the Americans with Disabilities Act, which banned discrimination against disabled people in workplaces, schools, public transit, and more — finally making a commitment to build an America for all Americans.  Together, these laws declared what we have always known to be true:  that Americans with disabilities deserve dignity, respect, and an equal chance at the American Dream. 
     Over 180 nations have passed similar laws in the years since, codifying their commitment to equal justice and opportunities for people with disabilities.  Still, these laws have not brought an end to the work we need to do.  Around the world, people with disabilities are subject to shameful discrimination, harassment, exploitation, abuse, and violence.  And too often, they struggle to get by — whether it is finding an accommodating job, enjoying public spaces, receiving quality education, or getting to and from school or work.
     That is why my Administration has worked to uplift people with disabilities in everything we do.  My American Rescue Plan provided $37 billion to strengthen home-based services so that more people with disabilities have the option to live independently at home.  My Bipartisan Infrastructure Law makes historic investments in making transit, rail, and airports more accessible, so that people with disabilities can commute and travel with dignity.  The Department of Justice issued a rule that ensures State and local governments make their web content and mobile apps more accessible to Americans with disabilities so they can more easily access local government services, emergency services, voting information, and publicly funded education.  And today, the Department of Labor announced a proposed rule that would gradually phase out certificates that permit employers to pay workers with disabilities less than the full minimum wage.
     My Administration has also worked with partners around the world to secure the rights of people with disabilities.  I released the first-ever Memorandum on Advancing Worker Empowerment, Rights, and High Labor Standards Globally, which is working to ensure that people with disabilities are represented in our work to promote labor rights.  And I re-established the role of Special Advisor on International Disability Rights at the Department of State to ensure our foreign policy reflects our commitment to this community.  In October, my Administration participated in the first-ever G7 Ministerial on Inclusion and Disability, joining leaders around the world to advance disability rights.  Together with leaders from Central Asia, I launched a joint disability rights initiative to help make education and infrastructure more accessible. And as a co-chair of the Global Action on Disability Network, the United States is continuing to advocate for disability rights on the world stage.
     Today, I am thinking of a quote from disability rights activist Judy Heumann, who once wrote:  “Change never happens at the pace we think it should.  It happens over years of people joining together, strategizing, sharing, and pulling all the levers they possibly can.”  On International Day of Persons with Disabilities, we show our gratitude for all the leaders and activists who have advocated and worked to make real our Nation’s founding promise — that every American has a right to be recognized and respected for who they are.  And we recommit to building a world where we support disability pride and give everyone an equitable chance at achieving their highest aspirations.
     NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim December 3, 2024, as International Day of Persons with Disabilities.  I call on all Americans to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs.
     IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
third day of December, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-ninth.
 
 
                               JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

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Luanda, Angola

MODERATOR:  All right, well, thanks, everyone.  So, we’re going to do this gaggle on background, attributable to a senior administration official.

For your awareness, but not for your reporting, this is [senior administration official].  And by all means, feel free to share this audio with the pool. 

[Senior administration official] will share a few words at the top on how the bilat went and answer questions. 

Q    Any embargo?

MODERATOR:  No embargo.

All right, over to you. 

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Okay, great, yeah.  So it was a really warm and substantive conversation that President Lourenço and President Biden had, along with their teams.  On both sides, it was a really substantive delegation and substantive set of points. 

So, I’ll just say on the U.S. side, as you all may know, in addition to President Biden and the national security team, we also had the head of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency; the Millennium Challenge Corporation; the DFC, Development Finance Corporation — which kind of shows you how deep this partnership with Angola has become. 

And the partnership with Angola was basically the theme.  President Biden started off talking about how this is a really transformed partnership over the last certainly centuries, but particularly the last three years.  So when you think about — this is a relationship that began in slavery, which President Biden has called the original sin of the United States; then went through the Cold War, when we were mostly on opposing sides.  But then, since President Lourenço took office, and since President Biden took office four years ago, it has really become a deep partnership and a really warm one.  So, President Biden and President Lourenço both reflected a lot on how far we’ve come on that.

Then, I would say the core of the conversation was on how that partnership is being manifested in the Lobito Corridor.  The Lobito Corridor, as you probably know by now, is a massive and really ambitious investment that the United States is partnering with other both external stakeholders as well as regional countries on.  We’ve invested upwards of $3 billion in it thus far.  More to come. 

But the important thing — and this is something that President Biden talked about — is it is not just about infrastructure, it is about people, were his exact words.  And it’s about people, it’s about the communities that it will touch.  It’s about investing in a responsible and sustainable way, ensuring there’s inclusive economic growth, including that there is contracting that is transparent and not corrupt. 

So, President Biden talked a lot about what he sees.  He loves trains, and he did say, “I’m a train guy, and I love trains,” but he did talk about how that works in the favor of people and communities as well.

As you likely know by now, President Biden and President Lourenço will have a chance to go see the Lobito Corridor in person tomorrow, probably along with many of you.  They will also be co-hosting regional leaders, so the leaders of Zambia, DRC, and Tanzania.  It’ll be the vice president of Tanzania and the president of the other two.  So it was sort of a preview of the conversation tomorrow where the presidents will be able to sort of see what’s been in action, lift up what the G7 has done in support of Lobito, and how it reflects the AU’s vision as well.  So that was huge area of focus. 

Other issues they discussed included global issues such as democracy — how democracy takes constant work; democracy is always fragile is something President Biden said. 

They talked a lot about regional issues.  President Lourenço has taken a really helpful leadership role in mediating the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  President Biden thanked him for that work.  They talked about the way forward on that, but President Lourenço shared his perspective. 

We talked about President Lourenço’s forthcoming chairmanship of the AU, which will start next year, and his helpful role in that regard.

Touched upon other regional and global issues, and then sort of finished off with just a reflection again of how far the partnership has come. 

So, happy to take any questions. 

Q    All right, first of all, can you share with us any details of this meeting that the President had with the descendant of one of the original slaves?  Or however you word that.

And then, Angola’s UNITA Party said today that the President missed a, quote, “great opportunity” to learn more about civil society, to interface with civil society and talk about human rights issues.  What’s your response to that?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Yeah, so on the descendant of slavery you mentioned, so this is the Tucker family.  So Wanda Tucker and then two of her other family members are here as well.  And these are descendants of the original shipment of slaves who came over, I think around 1619.  They will be at the President’s remarks later this afternoon as well. 

The President met with Wanda, at least last night — I’m not sure if the other two or not — and he obviously takes this story very personally in terms of the personal manifestation of it. 

But, yeah, the William Tucker Society has been a really important voice on sort of telling that story of the relationship.

On civil society: So, the President’s delegation has already met with civil society and youth leaders.  We also know civil society is not monolithic, so getting lots of voices.  The President will meet with other representatives from civil society.  So this is — you know, democracy and governance issues came up and are certainly something that I’d say our President did not miss an opportunity to talk about.

MODERATOR:  Trevor?

Q    Two, kind of, related ones.  I thought it was kind of interesting that Lourenço, in his opening remarks, brought up security and cooperation.  Directionally, where is that headed?  Is that headed towards a deeper, you know, alliance, partnership?  Where is that headed?

And then, you mentioned other regional issues and global issues.  Did China come up at all?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  China didn’t come up.

On security cooperation: Yeah, this is a really exciting, I’d say burgeoning area of cooperation that’s particularly picked up steam over the last couple of years.  Secretary Austin was here about a year ago, I believe sometime in 2023.  There have been other visits on this.  And just in the last few weeks, we have initiated the State Partnership Program, which we’re looking forward to deepening with the Angolans.

So, I do think this is an area of burgeoning cooperation, I would say.  It’s obviously a relatively new area.

Q    And then, did — sorry — did Russia come up at all?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  No.

Q    Thanks so much for doing this.  During —

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Oh, I’m so sorry, let me correct myself.  Russia came up briefly in the sense that there’s a concern of, with the war in Ukraine, there may be arms that will end up in the African continent, and that represents, you know, a risk security wise.

The President also did thank President Lourenço for his principled stand on Ukraine. 

Q    Thanks for doing this.  Did Biden bring up any new investments that could be going to the Lobito Corridor in terms of just new funding?  Or did that come up?  I know there’s been talk that there would be some deliverables, but was that mentioned at all during the meeting?  Or —

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  The President’s remarks on Lobito were much more, sort of, the principle behind it, what we’re trying to demonstrate by Lobito.  But there are some investments and announcements that are coming out.  I’m not sure if they’re out yet, so I’ll defer you to [senior administration official], who I think is speaking with you all later on Lobito.

Q    Okay.  And then, just one more.  President Lourenço brought up — during his remarks, he touched on, you know, how he would like to see more engagement from U.S. investors.  Was there any more conversation around, you know, like U.S. companies coming to Angola and Africa more broadly?  What, kind of, was touched on there, if anything?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Yeah.  Absolutely.  This is part of, I think, what the President has pushed forward on Lobito.  And more broadly, under President Biden in general, there’s been a record number of Cabinet officials who have come to Africa, who often bring with them, sort of, the commercial diplomacy aspect as well. 

Tomorrow, at the Lobito Corridor Summit, there will be companies there who will be speaking about their investment.  So this is definitely, I would say, front and center of how they’re thinking about it. 

Q    Just one more.  Sorry.  Did President-elect Trump come up during the meeting?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  No.  President Lourenço didn’t raise it.  Obviously, all these conversations we have are in the context of there is a transition coming.  Fortunately, Africa policy has long been bipartisan.  So, while we obviously can’t predict what the new team will do, we’ve seen a lot of support for investment projects from the other side.  And we’ve heard good support from both sides of the aisle in terms of supporting Angola’s leadership on eastern DRC. 

So that would — I would say it was the only way it was even tangentially talked about.

Q    The media was asking questions about the pardon, and then Biden didn’t answer them, but he made a joke about “and welcome to America.”  Just wondering, (inaudible) —

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  It didn’t come up.  Actually, it didn’t.

Q    They didn’t —

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  There was mention, no.

Q    I figured that was the case.

Q    I was wondering whether you could elaborate a bit on this, on what you just said about Russia and how it could lead to more, like, arms coming into Africa.  And where exactly — have you seen proof of it already?  You know, that kind of thing. 

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  It was actually a pretty brief comment in the context of overall the security environment.  So it wasn’t — I actually can’t elaborate because that was as far as it went.

Q    And on the DRC, like, anything more you can share?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Yeah.  Yeah, yeah. 

So, on the DRC — so you’re likely tracking President Lourenço has led the Luanda Process, which we really commend him for.  That’s been a partnership with Avril Haines, our Director of National Intelligence.  President Lourenço, you know, continues to play a pretty strong role.  The op tempo of those meetings has increased.  We had two ministerials in the last 10 days on that.  There’s been a head of state level meeting announced now for mid-December, so there’s some discussion of that. 

Overall, you know, what President Biden conveyed on that was, first, like, “Thank you, President Lourenço,” and then, second, that he has — President Biden has heard bipartisan support for the mediation efforts.  And, you know, the conflict in eastern DRC benefits no one.  Potential investors, the human cost.  So, President Biden basically expressed that he hopes that the partnership on mediating that will continue.

Q    Is the investment, like, in the Lobito Corridor or any of the other public health or energy investments, are any of those contingent on the next administration continuing to disburse the money, or is the money already there?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  I defer you to the Lobito Corridor gurus because I don’t want to give you bad —

MODERATOR:  Yeah, I think we’re trying to work a briefing for [senior administration official] later today, maybe after the speech, just to preview Lobito and everything.

Q    Okay.  But just in terms of how Trump only adjacently came up, like not directly came up, because of the context of the transition — was that because there was any concern about whether this work would continue or (inaudible)?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  I mean, I think it’s just we don’t want to speak for the next administration.  We don’t know what choices they’ll make.  But I’ll say, you know, there’s a lot of private sector energy already.  There’s a lot of other stakeholders.  This isn’t a U.S.-exclusively endeavor.  It’s a G7 endeavor, Africa Finance Corporation, AFDB — development bank.  So there’s a lot of other players as well, but I think we’ll hear more tomorrow on that.

MODERATOR:  Thank you all.  Hope this was helpful.

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President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. met today with President João Lourenço, highlighting the transformation of the U.S.-Angolan relationship and reaffirming our joint commitment to continue working together to address global challenges. The two leaders discussed significant trade and investment opportunities that keep our companies competitive and defend the interests of workers, addressed the shared responsibility to protect and strengthen democracy in Angola and around the world, and celebrated the continued growth of the U.S.-Angola defense relationship. President Biden underscored the significance of the more than $3 billion in U.S. commitments to infrastructure projects in Angola in support of the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor, a multinational initiative to help accelerate inclusive economic growth and connect markets along the Corridor to the world, all while creating quality jobs and improving lives and livelihoods both along the Corridor and in the United States. He also expressed appreciation for Angola’s role in promoting peace and security in sub-Saharan Africa, including its efforts to mediate the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).  

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MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE

SUBJECT:       Delegation of Authority Under Section 614(a)(1)

of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 621 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (FAA), I hereby delegate to the Secretary of State the authority under section 614(a)(1) of the FAA to determine whether it is important to the security interests of the United States to furnish up to $63 million in assistance to Ukraine without regard to any provision of law within the purview of section 614(a)(1) of the FAA.

You are authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.

                              JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

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The United States is disappointed in the lack of a legally binding international agreement fit to meet the moment on addressing plastic pollution at the INC-5 and we are resolved to make more progress in the next stages of this negotiation. While the global movement to reign in the urgent threats of plastic waste in the environment has gained tremendous momentum, a small group of countries and producers stood in the way of progress to protect their profits and perpetuate an inadequate status quo. The United States spearheaded an ambitious approach in Busan, reflected in our own domestic efforts, and we continue to back a global framework that supports private investment, good jobs, and our environment.

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On the occasion of President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s visit to Angola, we celebrate the transformation and deepening of the U.S.-Angola relationship.  This trip marks the first visit ever by a sitting U.S. president to the Republic of Angola, and the first visit of a U.S. president to sub-Saharan Africa since 2015.
 
This visit comes on the heels of a meeting in November 2023, when President Biden hosted President João Lourenço in the Oval Office in Washington, D.C.  In the time before and since, U.S. and Angolan counterparts have worked closely to advance both Presidents’ visions to expand impactful high-standard economic opportunities and improve global and regional security.  Together, the United States and Angola acknowledge the past horrors of slavery and its legacy, while looking forward to a bright future of continually deepening collaboration between our nations.  Today, President Biden and President Lourenço will meet in Luanda at the Presidential Palace to discuss trade, investment, and infrastructure; security and stability; and deepening U.S.-Angolan cooperation.  Tomorrow, President Biden will travel to Lobito, Angola for a Summit on infrastructure investment in the region with leaders from Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Tanzania, and Zambia. Information on continuing and new U.S.-Angolan partnership initiatives is provided below.
 
TRADE, INVESTMENT, INFRASTRUCTURE, AND DEVELOPMENT
 
At the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in 2022, the United States committed to focus on partnership with Africa through investment.  Advancing two-way trade and investment bolsters participation in the global economy, accelerates sustainable development, and scales innovation and entrepreneurship, resulting in increased economic opportunity for citizens on both sides of the Atlantic.  The United States and Angola are also working with other partners through the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI) to enhance trans-continental connectivity from the Atlantic to the Indian Oceans that enables additional commercial investment.  Tomorrow, President Biden and President Lourenço will co-host a multilateral Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor Summit to further accelerate the development of this critical economic corridor.

• The Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is an important U.S. initiative to enhance trade with African countries, under which Angola has benefited from trade preferences since 2004 and leveraged the annual AGOA Forum to advance trade and economic ties with the United States.  In 2023, two-way U.S.-Angola trade totaled approximately $1.77 billion, making Angola the United States’ fourth largest trade partner in sub-Saharan Africa. 
  
• In November 2024, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Angola’s Ministry of Industry and Commerce establishing the U.S.-Angola Commercial and Investment Partnership.  This Partnership will formalize regular collaboration between the two governments and with U.S. and Angolan industry stakeholders to enhance commercial ties and increase the ease of doing business.  Separately, the U.S. Department of Commerce is developing a Sub-Saharan Africa Rail and Port Trade Mission to Angola and South Africa in 2025 to connect U.S. companies with opportunities to meet demand for U.S. rail and port solutions in African markets.  Members of the President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa (PAC-DBIA)—which advises the President, through the Secretary of Commerce, on ways to strengthen commercial engagement between the United States and African countries—also traveled to Angola to join President Biden for a portion of the trip.
  
• In February 2024, to support trade between the U.S. and Angolan agricultural sectors, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) led an Agribusiness Trade Mission to Angola.  The mission supported 140 business-to-business meetings among sector leaders, with U.S. participants reporting $13.3 million in projected 12-month sales stemming from the trip.
  
• In October 2024, the United States and Angola signed an Open Skies Agreement to facilitate increased air connectivity and provide significant new opportunities for trade, tourism, and investment.  This follows a deal announced by Boeing and Angolan flag carrier TAAG in 2023 to purchase four new 787s, increasing TAAG’s capacity for long-haul flights.  
  
• To facilitate U.S.-Angola bilateral commercial relations in sectors such as energy, manufacturing, equipment and machinery, and aerospace and defense, the United States is connecting U.S. and African businesses with new buyers, suppliers, and investment opportunities through the Prosper Africa initiative.  Since January 2021, U.S. departments and agencies in the Prosper Africa initiative have closed 12 business deals and investments in Angola with a combined value of $6.9 billion.
  
• Since 2022, the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) has provided $2.9 billion in financing toward projects in Angola across the renewable energy, infrastructure, and telecom sectors.  For example, in May 2024, EXIM signed a final $363 million loan agreement for Acrow Bridge Corporation to install bridge infrastructure connecting rural communities across Angola in support of PGI. The projects financed in Angola support an estimated 6,200 U.S.-based jobs.  In 2024 alone, EXIM has issued an additional $2.7 billion in non-binding Letters of Interest across the agricultural, power, rail, health, education, and hospital sectors in Angola.
  
• For the past four years, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has closely supported Angola’s efforts to reduce its debt vulnerabilities through technical assistance.  The program has successfully enabled the Angolan government to reprofile its domestic debt and lower interest costs.  In December 2024, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will provide an additional $650,000 in technical assistance to support the Angola Ministry of Finance with debt and financial risk management.

LEADING GLOBALLY AND REGIONALLY TO KEEP PEOPLE SAFE AND PROMOTE THRIVING SOCIETIES

Together the United States and Angola are enhancing the security, safety, and well-being of their people by tackling shared challenges.  In addition to traditional security challenges, increasingly, we face also threats such as climate change, food insecurity, and disease that do not recognize or respect national borders.  Together, we are enabling more professional and accountable government actors that protect civilians, safeguard natural resources, and build more resilient health systems, and ensure no one is left behind.

• In September 2023, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin became the first U.S. Secretary of Defense to visit Angola.  In June 2024, the U.S. Department of Defense hosted the inaugural Joint Angolan-American Defense Cooperation Committee (DEFCOM) at the Pentagon.  During DEFCOM, representatives signed an agreement to allow the exchange of logistics goods and services between our respective militaries, which facilitates cooperation as we continue to build our growing defense partnership.  Angola and the U.S. Department of Defense, with the Department of State as appropriate, are continuing to plan for cooperative work in the areas of engineering, medicine, cyber, peacekeeping, maritime security, and the development of a coast guard.  The next DEFCOM meeting is planned to be held in Angola in 2025.  
  
• In September 2024, Angola agreed to join Department of Defense’s State Partnership Program (SPP) executed by the National Guard Bureau.  Through the SPP, Guard units work with partner militaries to bolster capabilities, improve interoperability, and enhance principles of responsible governance.  The SPP fosters long-term relationships across all levels of society and encourages the development of economic, political, and military ties between U.S. states and partner nations.  The National Guard Bureau is currently in the process of pairing Angola with a State National Guard that is well-aligned with Angola’s requirements.
  
• Since 2020, the United States has dedicated nearly $17 million toward training and professionalization for the Angolan military, including English language training, expanding women’s access to military education courses in the United States, and maritime security-focused training.  In just the past year, the U.S. increased annual International Military Education and Training assistance to Angola from $500,000 to $600,000.  The United States is also providing the Angolan Marines with eight rigid-hull inflatable boats and other critical equipment, with the final four boats scheduled to be delivered to Angola by the end of 2025.  
  
• The United States has been proud to partner with Angola to address regional and global issues, and it remains a steadfast partner in navigating challenging and complex situations.  The United States is providing more than $1 billion in additional humanitarian funding which will assist countries across Sub-Saharan Africa, including Angola, to respond to humanitarian crises including displacement and El Nino-induced drought.
  
• The United States is supporting Angola’s development of a cyber security strategy through almost $1.4 million in projects providing training and mentorship to the future cybersecurity workforce and assisting the Angolan Ministry of Defense’s creation of a cyber defense capability.
  
• The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has initiated discussions with the Angolan Ministries of Interior, Finance, and Trade on a three-year, $5 million program to bolster the two countries’ management, oversight, and accountability of their trade and travel sectors.  The program would focus on modernizing information sharing, allowing the governments to interdict threats and hazards at the earliest possible point, and mitigate and monitor threats from transnational criminal organizations and other malign non-state actors.
  
• Between 2019 and 2023, the Treasury Department provided technical assistance to help strengthen Angolan institutions’ ability to identify, detect, and prosecute money laundering, terrorist financing, and other crimes in support of Angola’s political and economic reforms.  USAID and the State Department are working with various Angolan institutions—including Parliament, the National Court of Accounts, and the Ministries of Health, Education and Finance—to build their public financial management, debt management, and anti-corruption capacity.  Capacity is also being built to support Angola’s implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative standard.
  
• The United States and Angola are working together to combat timber trafficking through the creation of a National Forest Inventory, a critical tool for any country that seeks to conserve and manage its forest resources sustainably.  The State Department, through the Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), announced $750,000 in new programs in Angola to improve the identification, interdiction, and confiscation of illicit commodities.  USAID will add $1.3 million from fiscal year 2023 Southern Africa regional Sustainable Landscapes resources to an existing partnership of $1.3 million to expand the partnership between the U.S. Forest Service and the Government of Angola’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forests to continue work on the forest inventory, establish a partnership for carbon market utilization, and develop a Forest Monitoring System.
  
• The State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration provides funding to support refugee assistance, as well as regional funding to UNHCR to support the nearly 56,000 refugees and asylum seekers in Angola.  
  
• Angola is a founding member of the Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation, an initiative committed to the interconnected goals of advancing a peaceful, stable, prosperous, open, safe, and cooperative Atlantic as well as to conserving the Atlantic Ocean as a healthy, sustainable, and resilient resource for generations to come.  To develop Angola’s capacity for ocean science research and support for ocean-based food security, the United States is collaborating with the Atlantic community to leverage support for Angola’s ocean research vessel Baia Farta.  The United States and Angola have concluded a Letter of Intent to formalize collaboration, including, for example, on bringing U.S. experts to Angola to support ocean science capacity building and training through the Fulbright Specialist program.  In addition, the U.S. public-private partnership with OceanX will identify opportunities for Angolan early career scientists and youth to access ocean science research, foster a new generation of ocean advocates, and collaborate on initiatives with NGOs and philanthropies, including with OceanX aboard the research vessel OceanXplorer in early 2025.
  
• Through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), more than 25,000 people living with HIV in Angola are receiving life-saving treatment, building efforts to reduce mother-to-child HIV transmission.  Over the past two decades, the United States has invested nearly $251 million to provide HIV testing, prevention, care, and treatment services, and to strengthen public health systems through optimized laboratory services, quality data management, and supply chain security in Angola.
  
• Since 2006, USAID has provided nearly $415 million to address malaria through the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) in Angola.  In the past year, PMI distributed almost 5 million fast-acting malaria medicines and more than 9 million rapid diagnostic tests to clinics and communities to protect and treat Angolans.  More than 12,000 Angolan health workers have been trained since 2023 to diagnose and treat malaria.  Angola experienced a 29 percent decrease in malaria deaths in PMI-focused provinces in 2023 compared with 2020 levels.
  
• USAID is in the process of re-establishing a bilateral Mission in Angola to continue expanding the presence of the United States in Angola and further strengthen our emerging strategic partnership.  
  
• The United States, in partnership with COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) and the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT), donated more than 11 million safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine doses to the people of Angola.
  
• The United States is proud to work with Angola on bolstering African-led solutions to current and future health emergencies.  In September 2024, the United States announced $500 million and one million mpox vaccine doses to support African countries to prevent and respond to the current mpox outbreak.  We are delivering on that commitment, with two thirds of the more than $500 million of support to mpox preparedness and response already available and at work supporting countries in the region.  All one million vaccine doses are currently available for allocation by WHO and Africa CDC based on needs and demand in the region.  Angola has joined the United States as a Global Health Security partner, which will foster greater collaboration as both countries strive to protect the health, lives, and economic well-being of our citizens and people throughout the world.  

CELEBRATING THE U.S.-ANGOLA RELATIONSHIP

The United States and Angola are bound by enduring historical ties and invigorated by our dynamic future.  We share a commitment to reckon with the horrific history of the trans-Atlantic trade of enslaved people by striving to reconnect cultures and celebrating collaboration between our nations.  People are at the heart of this connection.  Today, there are nearly 12 million Americans of Angolan descent.  These relationships—rooted in family, friendship, and community—improve and enrich our lives.  They drive our cooperation, underpin our shared values, and elevate our aspirations.

• In 1619, a vessel carrying enslaved Africans who had been captured in Angola and forcibly marched over one hundred miles along a route known as the Kwanza Corridor landed in present-day Hampton, Virginia.  As many as 6 million enslaved people were kidnapped from their homes and forced from Angolan shores.  We are committed to learning from the horrors endured by enslaved people and honor their descendants, who continue to fight for civil rights, justice, and freedom.  The United States supports Angola’s nomination of the Kwanza Corridor to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites as a way to look forward, to reconnect cultural ties, and to celebrate Angola’s richness and beauty.  
  
• The United States is pleased to announce a grant of $229,000 to support restoration and conservation of the 1786 Álvaro de Carvalho Matoso Residence, Angola’s National Slavery Museum Building.  Founded in 1977, the Museum offers programming promoting a message of harmony, humanism, and respect for human rights.  The funds will go toward the restoration of the building’s exterior and interior galleries.
  
• The United States and Angola look forward to a future strengthened by people-to-people ties that reconnect cultures, promote dialogue, and encourage creative collaboration between our nations.  In August 2024, the City of Hampton, Virginia, the Fort Monroe Authority, the U.S. National Park Service, and Project 1619, Inc. hosted the annual African Landing Day Commemoration at the future site planned to honor the lives of the enslaved Africans stolen from Angola and taken to modern-day Hampton.  In September 2024, Hampton and the City of Malanje in Angola signed a Sister City agreement, which will further enshrine the deep connections between our citizens.  
  
• The United States and Angola share a commitment to enhancing dialogue with the African Diaspora.  President Biden established the President’s Advisory Council on African Diaspora Engagement (PAC-ADE) in December 2022.  PAC-ADE members discussed this historic visit to Angola with Assistant to the President, Senior Advisor to the President, and Director of the Office of Public Engagement Stephen Benjamin in October 2024.  PAC-ADE members also traveled to Angola to join President Biden for a portion of the trip.
  
• The United States supports Angola’s efforts to combat corruption, enhance accountability, and institutionalize the rule of law.  In October 2024, the United States and Angola agreed to schedule the next iteration of our bilateral human rights dialogue. We are collaborating on multiple human rights-focused initiatives.  These efforts require advancing democratic governance and respecting human rights, including the fundamental rights to freedoms of expression, press, association, peaceful assembly, and religion or belief.  The United States continues to support Angola’s commitment to reforms, including by amplifying civil society and faith-based organizations’ roles in improving the quality of elections and local decision-making.  The State Department has provided $10.5 million since 2021 in support of these goals, and plans to continue providing such funding, subject to the availability of funds.  
  
• The United States is moving forward with Angola to protect and improve democracy as the work of our time.  The State Department is building on its existing governance investments with an additional $700,000 for capacity building and specialized training to lawyers engaged in human rights defense and similar fields, to strengthen the efficiency and independence of the judicial system, and for the Angolan Ombudsperson’s office to increase engagement with citizens, supporting transparency and good governance.  In October 2024, the United States and Angola agreed to schedule the next iteration of our bilateral human rights dialogue.
  
• People-to-people ties are essential to the U.S.-Angola relationship.  Since 1968, more than 1,200 Angolans have participated in U.S. Government-sponsored educational and professional exchange programs, including the Fulbright Program, the International Visitor Leadership Program, the Mandela Washington Fellowship, and the Pan-Africa Youth Leadership Program, among others.  Through these programs, we are reconnecting cultures, promoting dialogue, and nurturing collaboration between our nations.
  
• In 2024, the United States is contributing almost $140,000 to expand English-language training through the English Access Scholarship Program (Access) and the Learning is Never Too Late program.  Access provides vocational English and 21st-century skills to 100 participants ages 17 to 25 in Angola.  The Learning is Never Too Late program offers English and digital journalism instruction to 40 girls in Luanda.  The U.S. Embassy in Luanda is also providing curriculum development training valued at $100,000 for English department faculty and conducting capacity building for English educators and university administrators.
  
• EducationUSA offers advising services at the U.S. Embassy in Luanda to Angolan students interested in pursuing higher education opportunities in the United States.  University partnerships have strengthened capacity in higher education administration, fostered joint research efforts, created faculty exchanges, and developed new academic programs in STEM-related fields.  Notably, a collaboration between the University of California, Berkeley, and Agostinho Neto University has led to significant advancements in agricultural research, benefiting both institutions and their communities.  
  
• In November 2023, Angola become the third African nation to sign the Artemis Accords, signaling its commitment to promoting the responsible use of space.  The United States and Angola will continue to work together to advance a common vision of space exploration for the benefit of all humankind.
  
• Since 2020, the U.S. Embassy in Angola has issued more than $490,000 in grants to support initiatives that are important to the Angolan people.  These grants have funded programs in entrepreneurship, English language, journalism, music, and intellectual property rights.  By addressing these critical areas, the Embassy aims to empower individuals and strengthen communities throughout Angola.

 
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East Room

12:54 P.M. EST

THE FIRST LADY:  Hello.  How are you?  (Applause.)  (Laughs.)  Hi.  Well, gosh.

In the swirl of the end of each year, we hope to begin to turn toward our hope for tomorrow.

So, as we celebrate our finally — final holiday season here in the White House, we are guided by the values that we hold sacred: faith, family, and service to our country, kindness toward all of our neighbors, and the power of community. 

So, that’s what inspired this holiday theme, what I think of this time of year: “A Season of Peace and Light.”

We begin with light from the stunning, rotating star above the East entrance, as when you all came in.  And walking in, we’re embraced by the sparkling spirit of the season, as light-filled greenery led us to the first Christmas tree display, dedicated to our Gold Star Families.  (Applause.)

And this year’s Gold Star Tree exhibit is constructed of six large stars — I think you all saw them by now, right? — representing each branch of our military.  I thought it was just beautiful walking in and seeing the gold and leading to that tree.  You know, the names of fallen service members are written on the gold star ornaments on the accompanying Christmas trees. 

And the display honors the heroic men and women of our country, of our nation’s military who have laid down their lives for our country, those who are missing in action, and the families who carry on their legacies. 

So, may God bless our troops and their families.  (Applause.)

Then chiming bells call us to the East Colonnade, where bells of all sizes float above us and line every archway, filling the air with the sounds of the season. 

In the East Garden Room, a horse-drawn sleigh pulls us into the historic mansion.  It was really cute, wasn’t it?  (Laughter.)  And there, we enter another hall of light as lush garlands of green envelope us in the tranquility of nature.

In the Library, a twirling forest of vintage ceramic trees shines with the color of the holidays.  And walking in, I was taken back to my childhood, because when the — (laughs) — when that tree first came out — so you know it’s an antique — (laughter) — we knew Christmas had become — had begun. 

So, across the hall, in the Vermeil Room, we enjoy trees of stacked bows and vibrant silk flowers.

And artisanal breads spill out of the China Room, and we can almost smell their warm aroma filling the air with memories.

Earlier this year, I opened the Diplomatic [Reception] Room — it was the first time o- — to be on the tour, so — the expanded White House tour.  So, I hope you saw — those of you who were here other years, I hope you saw the difference.  You know, I tried to make the tour come alive.  It was important to me, as an educator.

So, this holiday season, for the first time, guests will be able to enjoy that space, and it features the White House Historical Association ornament honoring President Carter.  God bless him.  (Applause.)

Now, look above us.  Here in the East Room, a reflective canopy wraps us in a peaceful snowfall.

In the Green Room, a rainbow of glass ornaments fills the room with a burst of color and light.

And just outside the Green Room, we find the Official White House Menorah, made during Joe’s first year in the White House fo- — the carpentry shop made that themselves.  Make sure that you see it.  It’s truly beautiful.  And, you know, it came from wood on the — from the White House grounds in the renovation of this house 70 years ago.  That’s pretty incredible.

So, in the Blue Room — (laughs) — you know, you can’t help but smile when you see that tree.  (Laughter.)  And as the animals move up and down and — you know, and we see the holiday candy treats lining the tree, don’t you feel like you’re a kid again?  And sitting on a carousel, you know, is that world of light just spinning around us.

So, the White House Chris- — official Christmas tree also features the name of every state and territory and the District of Columbia as you look around the top of it.  And each year, I love watching all the visitors — and you’ll probably see it yourselves when you walk in there — looking for your home state and, you know, seeing your faces light up as you find, like, “Hey, there’s Delaware” or Pennsylvania, New Jersey.

In the Red Room, glowing gifts from under the Christmas tree lift — light the messages of peace above.

And for the State Dining Room, we invited military families from the USS Delaware and the Gab- — USS Gabrielle Giffords, the two Navy vessels that I have the honor of sponsoring, to create some paper garlands hanging throughout the room.  I thought they looked so beautiful.

And adorning the sparkling Christmas trees beside them are self-portraits by students from across the country.  (Applause.)  And I know that some of the teachers — some of their teachers are here and they helped decorate the tree.  So, how many of you are teachers?  (Applause.)  How many of you are teachers?  Lots of teachers.  I love that.  Because teachers always get stuff done.  (Applause.)  (Laughs.)

So, the trees are amazing.

Of course, the room also features this year’s incredible gingerbread house.  I love that.  (Applause.)  Didn’t you see it light up?  I mean, it was just so beautiful.  And did you see the ice-skating rink right in front of it?

And Susie and Carlo did — you know, you did such an amazing job.  So, thank you for creating that.  (Applause.)

And this year’s display captures the light of our theme, from the glowing windows to the bright star on top of the house — of the gingerbread house.

And in the Cross Hall behind me, spectacular flocks of hand-cut peace doves fly across the sky.  (Applause.)  I mean, it th- — really, how — how beautiful is that?

And finally, don’t miss that teddy bear driving the vintage red truck.  (Laughter.)

Now, to you, the people who brought this vision to life, our volunteers: This — (applause) — yes, all of you — this would not be possible without your work.  It’s been incredible to watch all of you transform this space year after year.

And you traded time with families for hours gluing, you know, with hot — hot glue guns and — you know, and Thanksgiving wris- — leftovers for tired wrists from wiring ornaments to the trees, because, you know, you can’t just hang it; it has to be, you know, hung perfectly.  (Laughter.)  I know, some of you are perfectionists.  That’s okay.  (Laughter.)

And some of — and you have to wrap them around and around the branch so the ornaments stay on, because you know thousands of kids are coming through here and they’re going to try to pull them off, so you have to make sure that they’re secure.  They always try too.  I mean, you know — 

But it’s during those long afternoons when your hands are sore from cutting the ribbons just so, from hanging the greenery, that’s when these lifelong friendships are made.  And that’s when the magic happens.

So, I’m already hearing about the text chains you’re creating to keep in touch.  (Laughs.)  I wish you could add my name to those.  (Laughter.)  

So, thank you for everything that you’ve done.

To Bryan Rafanelli, who’s back there in the corner — Bryan — (applause) — love you — and his team, I’m so grateful for your vision and leadership.  And to all the incredible decorators who were here, like Glitterville, BMF, Silver Lining, Cheree Berry Paper & Design, Frost Chicago, thank you for dedicating your time and talents to this design.

I’m also grateful to the National Confectioners Association for their partnership and unyielding support.  (Applause.)  Thank — so, let’s thank all of them.  (Applause.)

And there’s another person who helped bring the magic of our theme to life: the incredible illustrator of our 2024 White House Holiday G- — Holiday Guide, Zoe Ranucci.  Zoe, where are you?  Oh, there she is.  (Applause.) 

You’ll have to say hello to everybody, Zoe, because they so appreciate everything you’ve done.  Thank you for creating the beautiful artistry in your design. 

So, these last four years, you know, there’s a group of people who have helped us stay in touch with the American people, and they’re our correspondence volunteers.  (Applause.)  So, you can imagine how much I appreciate them, as an English teacher, and their writing skills, because I teach writing.  So, all of you are an essential part of our democracy, and I’m so grateful for your work.

Thank you all for your heart and for everything you’ve done to make this possible — the people’s house.

So, for Joe and for me, these are the final holidays at the White House.  So, standing with all of you, I remember the first time we walked across this threshold right over here on Inauguration Day, and the gravitational pull of history guided us forward, wrapping us in the centuries of stories that live here in this house.

Then we were finally able to welcome all the visitors.  And on public tours and on receptions and as volunteers decorated during the holidays during the four years, your laughter and ideas harmonized with the echoes of the past.  And in those moments, this became more than a historic house.  You made it a home, alive with purpose and possibility.

And that’s why, each year, we’ve opened the doors of the people’s house wider and wider so we can bring the light of more Americans into these halls. 

It’s been the honor of our lives to serve as your first family.  May our nation be blessed with peace and light this holiday season.

Merry Christmas.  Happy Holidays.  We love you all.

Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Love you.  (Applause.)

1:07 P.M. EST

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In September, the President announced a surge in security assistance for Ukraine to put Ukrainian forces in the strongest possible position before he leaves office. As part of that effort, he directed his team to fully utilize all funding available for Ukraine’s defense. Today, we are announcing a $725 million security assistance package for Ukraine, which includes substantial quantities of artillery, rockets, and air defense capabilities. The President has directed the Department of Defense to deliver the materiel to Ukraine rapidly — to ensure that Ukraine has the equipment it needs to defend itself. Between now and mid-January, we will deliver hundreds of thousands of additional artillery rounds, thousands of additional rockets, and other critical capabilities to help Ukraine defend its freedom and independence. 

In addition to this surge in assistance, the President has authorized a series of additional steps to strengthen Ukraine’s position in this war. Earlier this year, the President decided to prioritize U.S. air defense exports for Ukraine, and as a result of this decision, Ukraine has received hundreds of additional air defense missiles, with more deliveries on the way. To help Ukraine stabilize its lines in the east, the President has authorized the provision of non-persistent anti-personnel land mines to Ukraine as a limited exception to the Administration’s continuing landmine policy.  In response to the entry of North Korean soldiers into this war, the President has decided to adjust permissions on Ukraine’s use of U.S.-provided long-range missiles. And to disrupt Russia’s war machine, the United States has implemented major sanctions against Russia’s financial sector, with more sanctions to follow. 

The President is seeking to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position, and we will continue to execute upon this strategy in support of Ukraine and its fight for freedom. 

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On Sunday, December 1, 2024, the President signed into law:

H.R. 1505, the “No Stolen Trademarks Honored in America Act of 2023,” which modifies the prohibition on recognition by United States courts of certain rights relating to certain marks, trade names, or commercial names.

Thank you to all the Representatives and Senators who helped advance this legislation for their leadership.

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Aboard Air Force One
En Route Luanda, Angola

2:45 P.M. CVT

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, just one note at the top before I hand it over. I know you’ve all seen the president’s statement on the pardon he signed for his son, Hunter. The president’s statement was quite comprehensive, but I’ll take your questions on this after my NSC colleague, Admiral John Kirby, previews the president’s trip to Angola and takes your question on foreign policy news of the day. And after — after that, we’ll — we’ll continue.

Go ahead, Admiral.

MR. KIRBY: Thanks, Karine.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Sure.

MR. KIRBY: Just two things.

One, I think you may have seen the statement issued by the first lady and the president following reports of the death of Omer Neutra. This is a young, 21-year-old Israeli soldier who was apparently killed on — or during the 7th of October attacks, and only now have the Israelis been able to confirm his death. So, it’s a terrible, devastating loss for the family. Our thoughts and prayers go out to them. Our condolences go out to them.

As you may remember, the — they were two of the parents that the president had a chance to — to see personally in the Oval Office just about a month ago.

So, terrible news and wanted to pass that along. You’ll see that condolence letter.

Now, if I could just jump real quick to what we’re doing here on the trip. We’re obviously en — en route to Luanda right now, where President Biden will have a couple of days of several important meetings and discussions.

It’s a historic visit, not just because he’s — it’s the first time a U.S. president has visited Angola, but because it’s really emblematic of President Biden’s priority to strengthen global alliances and partnerships and, really, of our strategic approach to — when it comes to U.S.-Africa policy.

We have absolutely transformed this relationship, working on a range of critical issues together. Angola has been a strategic partner in working to improve security in Eastern DRC, and it’s also helped to advance the Lobito trans-Africa corridor, which, when complete, will connect Africa from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean, making global supply chains more resilient, creating more economic opportunities for communities across the continent and the United States and, quite frankly, around the world too.

The Lobito Corridor epitomizes the model of U.S. international investment and engagement that the president has championed through his signature initiative: the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment — or “PGI,” as you know it.

Since President Biden and G7 leaders launched PGI back in ‘22, the United States has mobilized more than $80 billion in investments through federal financing, grants, and leveraged private-sector investments.

In the Lobito Corridor alone, the United States has committed some $3 billion, and we’re just one member. The EU, the Africa Finance Corporation have all chipped in to many, many mil- — many millions mo- — of dollars more.

You can expect that the president will discuss all of these and other important issues when he meets with President Lourenço in Luanda later tomorrow.

And then, also tomorrow, he’s going to get a chance to deliver some remarks that both acknowledges the horrific history of slavery that has connected our two nations but also looks forward to a future predicated on a shared vision that benefits both our peoples.

He’ll also have the chance to meet separately with members of congress, members of the Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa, and members of the Advisory Council on Africa Diaspora Engagement, which he established during the Africa Leaders’ Summit December of ‘22.

And then, as we’re looking forward, we see this trans-Africa — Lobito trans-Africa corridor — that project as a real game changer for U.S. engagement in Africa. And that’s why, on Wednesday, he’s going to have a chance to go see for himself, talk to leaders of the countries situated along that corridor — Angola, the DRC, Zambia, Tanzania. And during those conversations, he’ll underscore his vision for stronger U.S.-Africa relationships and greater opportunities.

And I think, with that, I can stop.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Go ahead, Will.

Q Okay. I’ve got two on the pardon.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: No, no, no, no. Can you stick to foreign policy? If not, we’ll —

Q All right. I’ll do one — one there.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: If not, we’ll go to somebody else.

Q But I don’t want to run out of time.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yep.

Q On Syria, Jake suggested on Sunday that this suggests that — that the — the rebel offensive meant that maybe Syrian allies were distracted, which, you know, might not be such a terrible thing for U.S. foreign policy. But it also seems like there might be a chance that things are really destabilized, and there might be a big- — a bigger chance for, like, a global conflict.

MR. KIRBY: Yeah. We’re watching this really closely. And it’s too soon to know how this is all going to shake out.

As Jake said, it clearly is — it demonstrates to us that — that Assad’s biggest backers — Hezbollah, Iran, Russia — they’re all distracted and, quite frankly, we believe they’re weakened.

Now, whether that is the connective tissue here that means there’s going to be a big change in Syria, we just don’t know.

As — as Jake also pointed out, the group that’s moving in on Aleppo is a designated terrorist group by the United States. So, these are not — these are not good folks.

So, we’re — we’re going to watch this closely, but it’s — it’s really too soon to know what kind of impact it’s going to have across the country —

Q John, do you have any reaction —

MR. KIRBY: — or in the region.

Q John, do you have any reaction to some of the comments by Ukraine’s Zelenskyy over the past couple of days, kind of hinting at a phase post this hot stage of the war, talking about the idea of NATO membership in exchange for giving up the territory that they’ve already lost to — to Russia, diplomatic solutions inst- — to retaking some territory? Does any of that make sense? And — and are we getting closer to the end of this conflict?

MR. KIRBY: You know, Trevor, since the very beginning, we’ve made — we’ve made very, very clear that how — if and however this war ends, it’s got to end in a way that is commensurate with the — the aspirations of the Ukrainian people and, quite frankly, with President Zelenskyy and the policies that — and — and pursuits that he is — that he’s after. He gets to decide if and when he’s ready to negotiate, and he gets to decide what, if anything, he’s willing to negotiate.

Our job has been and will continue to be throughout the rest of this administration making sure that we’re putting him and his army in the best position of strength we possibly can so that when negotiations begin, he — he has leverage, he has some — some power at the table. And that’s what we’re focused on.

Q And one more. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, the president was seen exiting a bookshop with a copy of a book by a Columbia historian, Rashid Khalidi, who has referred to the Palestinian conflict essentially as being an ethnic cleansing operation. Why did the president choose to read that book at this point in his presidency?

MR. KIRBY: Look, when you say something like that, it reminds me of what Mark Twain said, that the — the — a man who refuses to read good books has no advantage over a man who cannot or won’t read those books.

I can’t speak to why the president made that particular purchase. Wasn’t with him. Haven’t had a chance to ask him. But he reads broadly, and he’s fascinated by history and the lessons of history and where that can take us going forward.

So, it doesn’t surprise me that he would go into a bookstore and get a book of history, particularly about the Middle East, to try to imbibe and to try to keep learning.

I mean, he really does believe in speaking, learning, thinking broadly, and that’s what that tells me.

Q And he was — he was actually reading it? He’s actually reading it?

MR. KIRBY: I don’t — I don’t know.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Go ahead, Anita.

Q Can we talk about Angola and the security cooperation aspect of this trip? What are some of the priorities for this administration? What are the areas that Angola has identified?

MR. KIRBY: I mean, I me- — I mentioned a big one, which is getting this Lobito Corridor and this — this rail corridor, economic corridor completed. nd it’s going to take years, but there’s already been a lot of work went into it.

And it’s going to l- — reduce, literally by days, the amount of time that it takes to move crops and goods from one side of the continent to the — to the other. It’s going to create incredible economic opportunities here on the continent, and it will help also continue to drive towards this clean energy transition that — that he knows President Lourenço is very interested in.

Q So, the average Angolan is, like, 19 years old. They don’t relate to, like, this cold war sort of, balance of power struggle on the continent that we’re seeing with China and the U.S. And, likewise, this colonial narrative of exporting raw materials from the continent doesn’t resonate with them. What are you offering to them — young Angolans?

MR. KIRBY: I’d say there is no cold war on the continent. We’re not asking countries to choose between us and Russia and China. We’re simply looking for reliable, sustainable, verifiable investment opportunities that the people of Angola and the people of the continent can rely on, because too many countries have relied on spotty investment opportunities and are now racked by debt.

And what the president is trying to put forward with the — with the other leaders of the G7 is a series of programs and opportunities that allow them to build out their infrastructure, improve their economic livelihoods — and the livelihoods of those young people, by the way; give them opportunities to rise and grow and develop without having to be racked by debt.

Q The trip is coming towards the end of President Biden’s administration. You touched on China and Russia. But do you think this trip is enough to, I guess, establish that
level of, you know, interest that the U.S. has in the African continent? Like, the trip is coming so late towards the end, so is this essentially, you know, showing African nations that the U.S., really, you know, is serious about committing to —

MR. KIRBY: I mean, since — since we launched the summit — the African Leaders Summit in ‘22, there have been
more than 20 Cabinet-level officials that have visited the continent. The president will be, obviously, the last of the administration to do that, but he has been preceded by a whole heck of a lot of travel — travel which, by the way — visits, which, by the way, delivered some 40-million-plus dollars of investment and — and assistance into Africa.

So, I — I just kind of push back on the premise that this is sort of a Johnny-come-lately trip at the — at the very end. This is something he’s been focused on since he became president of the United States, and he’s grateful for the opportunity to round out his time as president with a — with a trip to Angola.

Q Can you — are you able to touch on what some of the deliverables might be for President Biden this trip? Are you able to kind of highlight what we can expect in terms of, I don’t know, investment numbers? Is there anything you can share on that?

MR. KIRBY: I’m not going to get ahead of him and his announcement. You’ll hear more from him on this tomorrow. But I think you’ll hear from him — you’ll hear him talk about additional U.S. commitments to the Lobito Corridor, additional U.S. commitments to global health, additional U.S. commitments to clean energy transition and climate programs here, as well as people-to-people exchanges.

I mean, I — he’ll have a whole raft of things — range of things that he will be speaking to about in terms of current and future U.S. commitment to the continent.

Q John, with the limited amount of time that you have left in office at this point, can you give an assessment of the likelihood of a ceasefire deal in Gaza and Israel?

MR. KIRBY: We’re working on it every single day. And I wish I could give you odds. I can’t do that. But I can tell you, without a doubt, 100 percent of our energy and effort is being put to try to getting this. And it’s really — the — the main stumbling block continues to be Hamas.

And we believe that as they look at the world right now, they ought to see just how isolated and weakened they are. Iran is no longer there for them. Hezbollah is no longer there for them. You know, the — the Houthis aren’t doing anything materially to support what they’re trying to do. They’ve lost their leader, Mr. Sinwar. It’s time for Hamas to come to the table. And we’re going to keep — we’re going to keep doing that.

We’re working with ta- — Qatar, Egypt, Turkey. Even as we speak, there are active conversations that our team is having with them to see if we can get this on the table. There’s no reason why we — we can’t do it. We just have to — we just have to bring it home.

Q John, on Lebanon. Is it concerning to you that Israel has continued to strike Lebanon even after the ceasefire deal was agreed to? Does that raise any concerns about the deal coming to fruition?

MR. KIRBY: So, we are seeing some sporadic strikes in the last few days. This was expected. This is why — I mean, you’re talking about a war that’s been raging now for, actually, many years, if you think about it — certainly, since October 7th. We went from hundreds of rocket attacks to basically zero by Hezbollah and dozens of air strikes by Israel to one or two per day. So, there’s been a dramatic reduction in the violence.

We did put in place a mechanism to actually work out and deconflict and to try to stop these attacks. That mechanism is in — in full force and is working.

There’s a U.S. Army general who is basing himself out of the embassy in Beirut as part of this mechanism process, as we announced that we would do. And that’s — that’s ongoing.

Q What is that mechanism? Can you expand on what that is?

MR. KIRBY: Yeah, we have a — in Amos, we have a civilian and, in the military, we have a one-star general who are sort of operating as our connective tissue to the parties to try to monitor and keep the ceasefire implemented. And that deconfliction process, that system is in place.

So, again, largely speaking — sorry —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: No, no. It’s okay.

MR. KIRBY: Largely speaking, though, the ceasefire is — is holding.

Q I’ll continue on — on the cease- — or, on Lebanon. So, as far — other than the fact that Hezbollah is severely weakened now, what makes this ceasefire different in terms of its chances of succeeding compared to all the other previous Lebanon ceasefires?

MR. KIRBY: Well, again, we believe we have a mechanism in place, a system in place to monitor it and to implement that. And, again, so far, it largely is doing that.

Q Has it stopped any Israeli strikes?

MR. KIRBY: There have been sporadic strikes. No question about it. As the president said when he announced it, Israel has the right — inherent right of self-defense, so I’ll let them speak to what they’re targeting.

But we’ve gone from, you know, dozens of strikes, you know, down to one a day, maybe two a day. That’s a tremen- — tremendous reduction, and we’re going to keep trying to see what we can do to — to get it down to zero so that both sides are fully implementing it.

But this is a — this is the — only a — what? — a week or so old. So, there’s a lot more work to do.

Q Is that — is that due to the mechanism working? As in, is the U.S., through this mechanism, restraining Israel?

MR. KIRBY: I think it’s part — it’s part — it’s part and parcel of the mechanism working, but also the leaders on both sides are committed to this. They are in a — both — both sides in a different place after months and months of going after one another, and we think they both are, you know, still committed to this.

Q Can I ask one about Lobito? On the Lobito Corridor project. Obviously, Trump has a very different foreign policy view from this administration, so how — how Trump-proof is this project, this investment? And, you know, could — could he come in and, you know, if this doesn’t work with his “America First” vision — he obviously thinks that there is a cold war ongoing on the continent, so if this doesn’t jive with that, could — could he — could we see this whole thing fall apart?

MR. KIRBY: I’ll let President Trump and his team speak for what they will or won’t do once they get into office.

We are still in office. We still have 50 days. This is a — a key, major development not just for the United States and our foreign policy goals in Africa but for Africans, for, you know, the countries across the continent, particularly those involved in the — in the corridor itself, those four countries. And it will bring real opportunity to them.

So, our sense is — and you’ll see this for yourself when you all go there the day after tomorrow — that the leaders of those four countries are absolutely dedicated to seeing this through, because they see the value to their young people, to their population, to their economies. And that’s what we’re really trying to do, is drive a lasting investment opportunity that truly has a generational effect on — on prosperity on the continent.

Q So, this can and will go forward — sorry — witho- — without U.S. investment if U.S. investment is pulled?

MR. KIRBY: I can’t speak for those leaders and what they will do or won’t do, and I certainly don’t want to hy- — hypothesize about what President Trump might or might not do.

It’s our fervent hope that as the new team comes in and takes a look at this that they see the value too, that they see how it will help drive a more secure, more prosperous, more economically stable continent.

Q Speaking of there being only one president at a time, we saw that Canada’s premier met with Donald Trump. Did he speak to President Biden? Has Mexico’s president engaged with President Biden over this debate over tariffs? And do you feel that’s appropriate?

MR. KIRBY: I’m — I’m not aware of any follow-on conversations that President Biden had with Prime Minister Trudeau since his meeting with — with President-elect Tr- — Trump on this. And is it appropriate for foreign leaders to speak to an incoming president-elect? Yeah, of course it is.

Okay.

Q Thanks, John.

MR. KIRBY: All right. Over to you.

Q Thank you.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: All right. Okay. Go ahead, Will. I know you had two.

Q Okay. Thank you. Sorry about that.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah. No, no. It’s okay. I just wanted to —

Q So, two questions.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: — to give the Admiral and NSC their time.

Q Fair enough. Fair enough.

Topic of the day: You — you have said repeatedly yourself since the election, the president has said for months no pardon was coming. I just — you know, I wanted to ask you: Could those statements now be seen as lies from the American people? Is there really a credibility issue here, given now this announcement?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: First of all, one of the things that the president always believes is to be truthful to the American people. That is something that he always truly believes.

And if you see the end of his — I’m — I assume that you’ve read his — his statement — and you look at the end of that statement, and he actually says that in the first line in the last paragraph and — and respects the thinking and how the American people will actually see this in his decision-making.

And I would encourage everyone to read in full the president’s statement. I think he lays out his thought process. He lays out how he came to this decision. He came to this decision this weekend. So, let’s be very clear about that.

He says it himself. It’s in his voice. He said he came to this decision this weekend, and he said he wrestled with this and — because he believes in the justice system, but he also believes that the (inaudible) politics infected the process and led to a — a miscarriage of justice. This is his words. I’m just repeating what the president said.

He also said that no reasonable person, if you are looking at this in a good-faith way, if you are looking at the facts of Hunter’s cases and can reach — you can’t reach any other conclusion, right? And what we have seen — and not just us; there’s other people who have commented on the president’s actions in the last 24 hours — I’ve lost track of time — and could see that Hunter was si- — singled out and — because he — his last name was Biden, because he was the president’s son. That’s what we saw.

And so, the president believed enough is enough, and the president took action. And he also believes that they tried to break his son in order to break him. That’s what we saw.

And this — again, I am just repeating what the president said. I think the statement in full really lays out his thought process. He said that he came to this decision this weekend, and — and he wrestled with it. It was not — it wasn’t an easy decision to make.

Q But, Karine —

(Cross-talk.)

Q So, when — when he says —

Q One — one other —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: (Laughs.) Okay.

Q Sorry. Just a re- — just real quick on that. The — the two of them were together this weekend. Did the president and Hunter discuss this possibility? Did they talk about this happening?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, what I can say is he made this decision hi- — this weekend. He made it himself. I don’t have anything else to discuss beyond that.

Q Karine —

Q Do you know if he talked about it with Hunter?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I — I just don’t have anything to discuss. I — I’ve been pretty consistent in — in not talking about private conversations that the — he’s had with his family. I just don’t have anything to say besides the president made this decision this weekend, as he said in his statement, and he made this deci- — this decision himself. Once he made s- — this desic- — this decision, he shared it with his senior
staff.

Go ahead.

Q What changed, though? What ch- — the — the reasons y- — he laid out in his statement, if we assume those to be correct, that’s been correct. The — those are not changes that occurred this weekend. So, what changed his mind this weekend?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Look, again, it’s in — it’s in his statement. He wrestled with it. He thought about it. And he tr- — he believed and what he saw was that his son was singled out. And so, he made the decision. And once he made the decision, which was this weekend, he decided to move forward with it and not to — not to wait.

And, you know, I think he truly believed enough is enough. This is — this is — we have seen, in last five years or so, the president’s political opponents say this. Not even — I mean, this is not the president saying it; they said it themselves. They were going after Hunter Biden.

Q So —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: And so, he made this decision.

Q So, Karine, when the — when the president says that — that the justice system is “infected” with politics, how deep is the rot? And how much of the blame does the president take on himself for the fact that his — his own Justice Department, his appointees, have allowed to — have — have allowed it to get this bad?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Let me just — le- — and I’m going to get to your answers, but I do want to just share a couple of things from — for example, former Attorney General Eric Holder said, “No U.S. attorney would have charged this case given the underlying facts. After a five-year investigation, the facts as discovered only made that clear. Had his name been Joe Smith, the resolution would have been fundamentally and more fairly a decl- — a declination. Pardon warranted.”

Former U.S. attorney to the Eastern District of Michigan, Barbara McQuade, said, “Pardon of Hunter Biden is the best interest of justice. Based on the facts, most federal prosecutors would have declined to charge him. The botched mis- — misdemeanor guilty plea and sentence of the diversion were a tell that the special counsel had the same assessment.”

One more. Former deputy chief of — of the Criminal Division Southern District of New York said, “As SDNY Criminal Division deputy chief, I was responsible for approving charges and non-prosecution requests. I wouldn’t have approved Hunter Biden’s tax or gun cases. If Hunter’s last name wasn’t Biden, I don’t believe he would have ch- — he would have been charged. His pardon is justified.”

And the president says it — I’m going to pull out his statement — to your — to your question. And this — this plays into what I just read with the SDNY deputy chief, which is, look, there was a deal on the table — “a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, unraveled in the courtroom, with a number” — this is the president’s voice — “with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process. Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases.” This is the president saying this.

Q Yeah, he’s saying his own Justice Department is broken, Karine.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: He believe- — he believes — he’s — he believes in the Justice Department. He believes that there was —

Q After saying all of that?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: He believes —

Q He believes in the Justice Department?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: This is his words. He said this. This is the president saying this.

Q He just said it’s “infected” with politics.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I — he believes — “I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively and unfair[ly] prosecuted.”

Q So, how deep is the rot?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I’m not —

Q How many selective —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Look, I — I —

Q — prosecutions are there at the DOJ?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: What I — what I can speak to — what I can speak to is this particular case, which is Hunter Biden, who has the last name of the president, who, I just said, there were political opponents who were very clear and very vocal about going after his son. And I just laid out — and there’s more — multiple people who are part of that — who are part of that system — right? — who have either worked in the justice system or currently do so, and they have been very clear on how they feel about this particular case — the cases against Hunter Biden.

Q So, can other — can other —

Q But, Karine —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I don’t —

Q — the judge was also clear in this case. The judge said it wasn’t political pressure when it came to the plea deal. They said this was a process issue, that you basically had two agreements in one and that you can’t have side deal.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yep.

Q There were basic questioning —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah.

Q — in this case that both lawyers could not really answer the questions of.

So, the president, in his statement, is he not undermining the judge and a judicial system that he promised would be independent? The judge in this case did not say —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Hold on.

Q — it was political pressure.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: And I — and I just talked about the SDNI [SDNY] Criminal Division deputy chief who said he was responsible for th- — for approving the charges and not prosecuting requests. I just also quoted him and what he said, right?

And there are others who have said — former White House counsel said, “If — if I were his White House counsel, I would encourage him to pardon his son. The clemency power has few limitations and certainly would extend to a Hunter Biden — Hunter Biden pardon.”

Former Watergate Assistant Special Prosecutor Jill Weinberg: “This was one of those cases that called out for clemency. Hunter Biden, first of all, would not ever be prosecuted for the gun crime but for his last name. Hunter has now been sober for many years, and this — and this is a time when it is really appropriate to grant a clemency.”

Look —

Q Karine —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: — the president — wait. Wait. Two things could be true. The president does believe in the justice s- — system and — and the Department of Justice, and he also believes that his son was singled out politically. And this is what we saw over and over and over again over the last couple of years.

And when his deal — that deal that — that fell apart, which the president said in his statement he thought would have been fair — the president said this — that the Desh- — the Department of Justice agreed with — he said if that had gone through, he believed it would have been fair. When that fell apart, his own political opponents just continued to revel in it.

And one of the reasons the president did the pardon is because they didn’t seem like — his political po- — opponents would let go of it. It didn’t seem like they would move on.

Q Is —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: And so, this is why this president took this action.

Q But is it the same argument —

Q Is the president seeking —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Okay, guys. Okay.

Q Karine —

Q Is the president seeking the resignation of the attorney general?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: No.

(Inaudible.)

Q Is — do you think this would have happened if Harris hadn’t lost the election?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Look, I’m not going to — I’m not going to get into — into the election. It is a no. I can answer that. It is a no.

And what I can say —

Q It’s a no, this would not have happened if Harris hadn’t lost the election?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Oh, would — what would have not happened?

Q The pardon would not have happened —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Oh, I’m not —

Q — if Harris hadn’t lost the election?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Look, it’s hap- — what I can speak to — where we are today. And so, I can’t speak to hypotheticals here.

Where we are today: The president made this decision over the weekend. He thought about it. He wrestled with it. And for him, he made this decision because he believed his son was being politically singled out.

Q But we’re wondering what changed his mind. And obviously, the election — in the statement he refers to “enough is enough.” He thinks that there could be further — it sounds like he thinks there could be further prosecution of Hunter under a Trump administration.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: He didn’t — he didn’t believe that they would let up. Right? He didn’t think that they would — they would continue to go after his son. That’s what he believed.

And, look, I’m not going to get into hypotheticals, to the original part of your question. The president wrestled with this decision. He made this decision this weekend. And he decided to move forward with pardoning his son.

Q But these systematic —

Q So, does the president believe now — does the president believe now and agree with President-elect Trump that the justice system has been weaponized for political purposes and that it needs r- — root — root and branch reform?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: No. Read the president’s statement. Seriously, read the pr- — the president’s statement. He said he believes in the Department of Justice. He does. He says it in his statement.

He believes — he also believes that raw politics infected the process and it led to a miscarriage of justice. He believes his son was unfairly targeted. He said that what his political opponents have done to my son — that’s his words — is cruel, and enough is enough.

He says he believes in the justice sy- — system. And I said both things —

Q But those are the same arguments —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: No, but — no, no, no, but —

Q — the Trump camp was making.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I mean, both things — well, I — I’m not going to — I can only speak for — for this president. I’m not going to speak for anybody else. Bo- — both things could be true. Right? And that’s what he says.

He says that the Department of Justice — he believes in the Department of Justice. He also believes that, you know, politics infected the process here. It infected the process. And you saw that when the deal fell apart.

And let’s not forget, the Depart- — the Department of Justice agreed on that deal. The president said if that deal had moved forward, he thought it would be a fair — a fair process. And when that deal fell apart, his political opponents took credit for it. They took credit for it and didn’t seem like they were going to stop.

Q President-elect Trump has likened this to the case of the so-called January Sixers, the people who are in prison because of their role in January 6th. What do you think of that argument? And do you think that that’s a — a fair parallel that he believes he should —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Look, we —

Q — pardon —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Today, I’m going to talk about the pardon. We’ve been very clear about January 6th. The president has been clear about that. He has spoken to that many times before.

What we believe in this particular case is what is unprecedented is the way that his son was singled — singled out.

And this is not the first time a president has granted a pardon before sentended — sentencing. It’s not the first time a president has pardoned a family member. And it’s not the first time a president has pardoned conduct that occurred during a certain time of — time period.

We’ve been very clear where we stand on January 6th. I don’t have anything else to add, but —

Q But, Karine, what —

Q Do you —

Q Karine, what kind of precedent is this setting going forward for American families who, you know, don’t have the president as their dad? You know, is the president taking advantage of his position by doing this? Because not everyone, like I just said, has President Biden as their dad, who can, you know, do this — do this.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Well, let me — let me go back to the last thing that the president said. He said, “For my entire career, I followed a simple principle: just to tell the American people the truth. They’ll be f- — fair-minded. Here’s the truth: I believe the justice system — I believe in the justice system, but I — as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice. And once I made this decision this weekend, there was a no sen- — they were no — there was no sense in delaying it further. I hope Americans will understand why a father and a president would come to this decision.”

And as I’ve stated, and I read a couple of — a couple of — a couple of quotes from folks who said, incor- — including Eric Holder, who said, “If his last name was Joe Smith, this would not have happened.” “This would not have happened.”

Q So —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: They targeted him — hold on. I’m answering this question. They targeted him because his last name was Biden.

And, again, I think the way the president ended his statement, I think, clearly states where his head — where he was at, how he feels about this process, how he feels about being truthful to the American people. And so, that’s why he put out the statement. And we encourage everybody to — to really take a look about this.

And the last line is, “I think the American people will understand a father and a president” — “why father and a president would come to this decision.”

Q Karine, the United States has more people in prison than any country on Earth. Some are facing a death penalty that the president himself said he would get rid of, has not gotten rid of.

Can we expect that other people who are in prison whose clemency petitions are sitting at the White House are going to have their cases see the same care and attention that the president gave his own son?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, look, as you know, when it comes to the criminal justice system and really making sure we get to a place where it’s equal and fair, this is a president has taken this very seriously, and you know that by executive actions that he took very early on in his administration.

And he understands what certain communities go through. He has been very clear about that. He has talked about that.

As it relates to pardon- — pardoning or any clemency, the president, as you know, at the end of the year, makes announcements. He’s thinking through that process very thoroughly.

There’s a process in place, obviously. And so, once — I’m not going to get ahead of — of the president on this. But you could expect more announcement, more par- — pardons and clemency at the end of — at the end of — at the end of this term.

Okay.

Q But, Karine —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah.

Q — why was it the case that both you and the president said well after the plea deal fell apart that there wouldn’t be a pardon and now there is a pardon?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Again, I’d refer you to his statement. He thought about this this weekend. This is a decision that he made this weekend. He agonized over it.

Q Were there any new details that —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I mean, what I can tell you is what the president said himself. He made this decision this weekend. And I think — again, encourage you to read the statement and — really, just the first paragraph and what he’s watched his son go through — an unfair process, being singled out.

And let’s not forget, even in the last two th- — parts of his first paragraph here says “people are almost never brought to trial on fenoly — felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form. Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties, are typically given non-criminal resolutions. It is clear that Hunter was treated differently.”

And so, he wrestled with it this weekend, and he made a decision this weekend on how to move forward with this. And so, I’ll leave it there.

Q So, was he not wrestling with it before this weekend?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: What I can le- — tell you is that the president himself said he wrestled with it, and he made this decision this weekend.

(Cross-talk.)

Q If he was st- — if he was still — if he was still wrestling with this decision — I guess, two things. Is there anything in that statement that is a new detail in the case that would be a factor in him changing his mind here?

And then, two, if he was still wrestling with this — which, I mean, clearly he was — he wa- — like, we talked to the president’s allies; he was still wrestling with this decision — then why would he declare it off the table? Why would he say, “I’m not going to do this,” if, clearly, there was an intention to do this, unless you can point me to a new detail in the case for which he changed his mind?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: He made this decision this weekend. That’s what I can tell you. He wrestled with it, and he made this decision this weekend.

It is a decision that he came to terms with and made it and shared it with all of you, obviously, by — by offering the — his son a pardon.

Q I guess what we’re struggling with is that — his statement basically is a contradiction. It says, “I believe in this system. Enough is enough.” I — I don’t see how you can have it both ways.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I mean, I don’t think it’s a contradiction. I don’t. Two things could be true. You can believe in the Department of Justice system, and you could also believe that the process was infected politically. And that’s what the president says.

Remember, there was a deal on the table that the Department of Justice agreed on, and it fell apart. And his political opponents praised that deal falling apart.

And so, in that regard, yes, he believes in the Department of Justice and he believes in the system. But there was a — there was a political singl- — singling out of his son. And other people have said this. I just read through a bunch of folks who are — who are — who’ve been part of the justice system — if not currently, in the past — who have said — you know, I keep going back to what Eric Holder said, because he said if his last name was Joe Smith, he wouldn’t be going through this. His last name is Biden.

Q So, how do you fix that?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: And so, he went through this.

Q How do you fix that? How do you fix that problem?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I mean, look, this is one case, because this is the son of the president. Right?

Q How do we make sure this never happens again?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Look, I — I’m not going to go into — into the future and — and how — and un- — and go- —

Q The president doesn’t have any systemic solutions?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: (Inaudible.) (Laughs.) Let me finish — let me finish my — my answer.

I just don’t have anything more beyond that. What I can speak to is this particular action that he’s took. What I can speak to is this — the decision that he made. And that’s where I’m going — that’s — that’s where I’m going to stay.

And — and I think — you know, I think that it will be very clear to the American people why he made this decision as a father, as a president. And we all saw — we all saw what was going on for the past couple of years when it came to Hunter Biden, when it came to the cases.

And so, the president took an action because of the pol- — how politically infected these cases were and what the political opponents — what his political opponents were trying to do. And if you look at the cases, there wouldn’t have — it wouldn’t have gone as far as it did. It wouldn’t have.

Go ahead.

Q You’re telling us that — you — you’ve been telling us that he has complete faith in the justice system, except for in the cases where his son was concerned, and in those cases, politics corrupted the system. But you can’t tell us any other instance in which the president believes that politics corrupted the justice system. Is this literally the only time that this has happened, or — or the — the limit of this problem, to get to Trevor’s question?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Again, “If his name had been Joe Smith, the resolution would have been, fundamentally and more fairly, a dec- — a dec- — a declination. Pardon warranted.” That’s Eric Holder. It is because, from — from what I’ve just read to you, and from what other people, other experts, people who are smarter than I have said, because he wa- — he is Hunter Biden — his last name is Biden, that there were —

Q So, this (inaudible) —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: — actions — there were actions that were taken that were far and — and beyond. And so, they said pardon warranted, right? And I read a bunch of y- — I think I read almost all of them that I had for you to share about how people felt about this.

Again, “As a prosecutor, I doubt that these charges would ever have been brought against a guy named Hunter Smith. It was because he is the son of the president.” That’s state attorney for Palm Beach County, Florida, Dave Aronberg. That’s what he said.

Q So, the system works for people — the system doesn’t get corrupted by politics for people whose name is not Biden?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: You’re twisting and misrepresenting what I’m saying. I’m talking about a particular issue right now. I’m talking about the president’s action on his son, pardoning his son, Hunter Biden. And that’s what I’m going to stick to, and that’s what I’m talking about right now.

Q The statement is almost asking American families to understand why President Biden did what he did with the pardon. But for families who have a child who — or don’t have the same resources as President Biden, is that fair to ask them to understand, if they’re not sitting in this position?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: (Inaudible.) I mean, let’s take a step back. For the past five minutes, I’ve been talking about why there was a polit- — political infection on this particular case. It’s because it was Hunter Biden. That’s why we’re — we are where we are and why the president provided a pardon. And he believes that his son was singled out, and because — Hunter Biden was singled out because his dad is the president.

That’s what we’re talking about here, and that’s what we have been seeing for the past several years. And that’s what the president was speaking to, and that’s why the president took the action that he did.

Q How soon could the next round of, you know, pardons of — could come? For those who are waiting and have been waiting for some time and aren’t Hunter Biden, how soon could we expect to see those?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, I don’t have a timeline for you. As you know, this usually happens towards the end. And so, the president is going through that process, thinking through that process. I’m not going to get ahead of him. But you can expect more announcements to come.

All right. I think we’re supposed —

Q What was the —

Q Is the president con- —

Q What was the White House counsel and clemency officer’s advice on how to handle this particular case?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I — I don’t have anything beyond the president making this decision. As this — when the president —

Q What advice did he get from the White House?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I — I’m — I’m not going to get into private conversation that the president has. The president made the decision to pardon his son. The White House informed they have to be — pardons, as you know, have to be filed with the DOJ. The White House informed the DOJ. They filed it with the DOJ, and that’s how the process went.

I’m not getting into a private conversation. This is a decision that the president made himself. Again, he wrestled with it. He made the decision this weekend, and we’ve laid out pretty clearly of what he was thinking. His statement lays out pretty clearly.

He believes in the Department of Justice, but he also believes that his son was singled out politically. And so, he made — he made this decision.

Guys, all right. Thanks, everybody.

Q Do you have time for another topic?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: What’s the other topic? (Laughs.)

Q So, there is — there is a — there’s a DNC race going on right now —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah.

Q — to be the new chair of the — the party. What direction does Biden want to see the party go after he steps off the stage?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, I’m not going to weigh in on — on the — on the DNC chair election. Not something that I’m going to do from here.

What I will say is the president certainly — what he has seen the 52 years of his career — what you have seen from him is a — is someone who has always put the American people first when it comes to issues that matter to them — right? — when it comes to the economy, when it comes to health care, when it comes to where we stand on the global stage, as we’re doing on our way — as we’re — as you’re all going to see in the next 24, 40 hou- — 48 hours in Angola and as you have seen many times before when he’s traveled.

And the president is very proud of what he’s been able to do on behalf of the American people, whether it’s beating Big Pharma, whether it’s getting ou- — us out of a pandemic and making sure that schools were open, businesses were back open, and that we were able to — to get out of this in a way that was comprehensive, in a way that didn’t leave any communities behind.

And so, the president is going to continue to focus on that: What else can we do to lower costs? What else can we do to make Americans’ lives better? He wants us to run through the tape. So, every day — we have 50 days left. Every day is going to be an important day, just like the next, certainly, 48 hours are going to be.

You saw what the president did on the South Lawn with the first lady, talking about World AIDS Day, making — making announcements there. This is what the president cares about: How do we make lives better? And he hopes that — he hopes, you know, that’s continue — we continue to do that as a party.

As it relates to, certainly, the chairs, I — I can’t weigh in on that or step in — into that — into — into that. But I think what you have seen from the last four years, what you have seen — the president’s leadership in the last 52 years, I think, is a clear indicator at how he sees his role as a — as a leader of this party and how he sees the future of this country.

And he always talks about possibilities, and certainly that’s something that he continues to believe, is that — how important that is.

Q What is your experience of the transition? Have you met with the next team that’s coming in? What tangible changes do you think we’ll see at the White House?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Look, that’s up to them. You know? What we —

Q Have they come in already and had meetings with you?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: What — what I can say is that we want an efficient, effective transition of power. We want it certainly to be peaceful, ri- — right? — as the president, I think, showed himself when he — when he invited President-elect Trump to — to the White House. You saw them sit together in — in the Oval Office, and that is something that President Biden wanted to —

Q But have there been more lower-level meetings?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I — what I can say is we’ve been in touch with the Trump transition team. Those conversations continue. We are going to make this as smooth as possible. That’s what we want. And certainly, that’s what we will continue to do.

And teams — to your question, the teams have been talking. And I don’t have anything beyond that.

Q Is the president planning on having a press conference during this trip?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I — I don’t have a press conference to announce for this trip, but I’m pretty sure and — you know, the president likes to engage with you all, and I’m — I’m sure he’ll — he’ll continue to do that.

Thanks, everybody.

Q Thanks, Karine.

3:30 P.M. CVT

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State Dining Room, The White House

It’s great to be here today with a fellow community college professor and Delawarean. Lieutenant Garden, thank you for sharing your story, and for adding a new link to the chain of your family’s military legacy. I am so grateful to you, John, and Jaiden for your family’s service.

General Nordhaus, you are guided by a deep sense of purpose. Thank you for your decades of service to our country—and for this new chapter, as you will make the Guard stronger and more resilient.

I’m also grateful to Major General Wendy Wenke, SEA John Raines, and his spouse Karen for their record of service and leadership.

The Bidens are a Guard family—our son Beau was a Major in the Delaware National Guard. So we understand what makes Guard life different.

You don’t live on bases. One day, you’ll be in uniform—and the next, you’ll be running a small business, practicing law, or teaching at a community college.

You live and work and worship among civilians. And through your service, you become the beating heart of your communities.

But I also know that this life isn’t easy. It asks you to balance the demands of a career with the responsibilities of stepping up for our country, to spend time away from your families—sometimes at a moment’s notice—and to put your lives on the line to answer the call of duty.

The day after Joe’s inauguration in 2021, I brought baskets of chocolate chip cookies to National Guard troops who had kept all of us safe on that important day. It was a small act, but full of a Guard mom’s love and gratitude.

National Guard families are always in my heart.

As First Lady, I’ve made National Guard families—and all military families—a priority.

Over the past four years, through our initiative to support military families, called Joining Forces, we’ve been helping make sure that National Guard kids have the support they need in schools, that spouses have all of the career opportunities they deserve, and that we care for both the physical and mental health of our service members.

I began my time as First Lady by thanking National Guard members, and I remain grateful. For your service, and for sharing your stories and hopes with me. I have been so proud to work together, arm in arm, to make this life a little easier for fellow Guard families.

Now, this is a special time of year as we transform this house for the holidays. And one of the privileges I have as First Lady is deciding who will be the first to experience the magic of the season here at the White House.

Every year, I’ve asked to share it with National Guard families.

So today, I hope you’ve found delight in everything from the gingerbread house to the carousel that circles the tree in the Blue Room—and that even in the flow of the holiday season, you would find peace in your purpose and strength in your community.

May God bless you and your families.

Happy holidays!

###

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2:51 P.M. EST
 
DR. DRIFFIN:  Hello.  I’m Dr. Daniel Driffin. 
 
As a person living with HIV, working daily among the HIV Vira- — the HIV Vaccine Trials Network, days like World AIDS Day are significant to me.
 
For more than 36 years, nations near and far have raised awareness of those impacted by and living with HIV.
 
Today, with the theme of “Collective Action: Sustain and Accelerate HIV Progress,” I know we can continue to reduce the negative impact that HIV continues to have on our lives.
 
Action and progress link our globe as we continue to make advancements towards ending HIV.  Action and progress have taken our world from no test for HIV to having rapid, home-based testing.
 
We went from medications that only stop HIV on one step of the life cycle to medications that stop HIV throughout the process of multiplying.
 
We went from the days where people had to take many pills more than one time a day to now being able to either take a pill once a day or even an injection every two months, and additional therapies and longer options are on the horizon.
 
We know pre-exposure prophylaxis works.  We know post-exposure prophylaxis works.  We boldly know undetectable equals untransmittable, especially for the people living with HIV — I mean thriving with HIV.
 
As a person living with HIV, a new discussion is finally afforded around the importance and shared decision-making with your medical providers.
 
So, today, as we share time, take a moment and take in the more than 110,000 lives which are shared on these panels behind us.  Thank you for the artists.  Thank you for beauticians.  Thank you for lawyers.  Thank you for scientists.  Thank you for community health workers, doctors, caregivers, lovers, and maybe even future congressional members, and all of the other friends that we have lost due to HIV and AIDS.
 
I am happy to bring up our first lady of the United States, Dr. Jill Biden.  (Applause.)
 
THE FIRST LADY:  (Laughs.)  Thank you.  Thank you. 
 
Daniel, thank you.  Your leadership is redefining what it means to support people with HIV — not only access to health care but with community as well.  Because of your work, more people know that they are not alone.
 
So, good afternoon and welcome to the White House.  (Applause.)
 
Hidden in crowds, scattered throughout workplaces and grocery stores and parks, there is a fellowship of people who have lost sons and daughters.
 
To the uninitiated, we look normal, average, whole.  But like a secret handshake, I can spot them by the sadness that rests in the corner of their smile, by the curve of their shoulders, as if they can still feel the small arms of a child wrapped around their necks.
 
And though we are strangers, we know untellable truths about one another: that we will spend the rest of our lives longing for a face that’s gone forever and — and that when they left our world, they took a light inside us with them.
 
Still, we have discovered moments of grace too.  Somehow, against all odds, we rise from the floor, we find a fortitude that we didn’t know we had, and we reach out for help.  We realize that we’re not alone.
 
And as I look at this beautiful quilt, with its bright colors, the names in big block letters, renderings of lives and loves, I see it as a mom.  And I think of the mothers who stitched their pain into a patchworked panel so the world would remember their child not as the victim of a vicious disease but as a son who had played in the high school jazz band, as the child who grew up to proudly serve our nation in uniform, as the daughter whose favorite holiday was Christmas.
 
The act of quilting creates a work of art that wraps us up in its beauty. 
 
This one was woven together with a grief powerful enough to move the world toward unity, acceptance, compassion, and grace.
 
And Joe and I are proud to have the AIDS Memorial Quilt on the South Lawn of the White House for the first time ever.  (Applause.)
 
And it is especially meaningful to gather with you on World AIDS Day.
 
May we all feel the power of this worldwide day of unity.  And may we always cover each other in kindness, compassion, and beauty.
 
Joe and I are honored to have Jeanne White-Ginder here with us and to join with her in remembering her son, Ryan White.  (Applause.)
 
Jeanne, I know you didn’t choose the life of an activist.  But when Ryan got sick 40 years ago, you stepped up in the fight against discrimination and helped the world see this disease more clearly.
 
I know that a part of you is still missing.  Mother to mother, thank you for your strength.
 
So, Jeanne, would you like to say a few words?  (Applause.)
 
THE PRESIDENT:  Want me to hold your cane?
 
MS. WHITE-GINDER:  Yeah, let me see. 
 
Where’s my —
 
THE FIRST LADY:  Here, I think it’s this way.  Here it is.
 
MS. WHITE-GINDER:  Okay.  (Laughter.)  Sorry.
 
Good afternoon, everybody.  My name is Jeanne White-Ginder, and I am the mother of Ryan White. 
 
Ryan was a smart and funny teenager who became HIV-infected at the age of 13.  He contracted HIV at the age of 13 and — from a blood transfusion.  AIDS took him from us five and a half years later but not before he fought his way to — back to school and taught America we needed to fight AIDS and not the people who have it.  (Applause.)
 
In 1990, however, shortly after Ryan died, Senator Kennedy asked me if I would come to Washington to explain to senators how vital it was to pass the AIDS bill which had been recently named after my son, called the — for my son, called the Ryan White CARE Act.  He said I was something much more powerful than a lobbyist: I was a mother.  I am sure that Dr. Biden can relate.  Needless — needless to say, I went.  I went to D.C.
 
The first senator I met, who was getting off the elevator at the Capitol, was Senator Joe Biden.  With tears in his eyes, he told me that he had lost his child and that the only way he had found to deal with it was through grief and with — through a purpose.
 
In the 34 years since, that’s exactly what I’ve tried to do, in partnership with the extraordinary community here today that has become my family. 
 
In many ways, personal grief has fueled the AIDS movement since the beginning.  Both Republicans and Democrats and congresses have strongly supported Ryan’s bill.  And as a result, countless lives have been saved.
 
I’m especially grateful for President Biden’s tireless leadership and all that he’s done for the fight against AIDS in the United States and around the world as senator, vice president, and president.  (Applause.)
 
That’s why, along with my daughter, Andrea, and on behalf of my dear friend and partner in this work, Sir Elton John, and his foundation — and so honored to introduce today our commander in chief in the fight against AIDS, President Joe Biden.  (Applause.)
 
Thank you so much.
 
THE PRESIDENT:  You’re —
 
MS. WHITE-GINDER:  (Inaudible.)
 
THE PRESIDENT:  You’re my commander —
 
MS. WHITE-GINDER:  Thank you.
 
THE PRESIDENT:  You’re my commander in chief.
 
MS. WHITE-GINDER:  (Laughs.)  It took us all.  Thank you.
 
THE PRESIDENT:  Careful now.
 
I told her she’s my commander in chief.  (Laughter.)
 
Folks, you’ve changed the world.  Sorry, I have a cold.  You’ve changed the world.
 
Jeanne, thank you for the introduction and for your courage.  You just described the first time we met after your son passed away, and what I saw in you then was something extraordinary.  You said it best: a mom on a mission, turning your plan into purpose. 

After all these years, looking at everything you’ve achieved, the lives you’ve touched, the country you’ve changed, the world you’ve made better, you’re extraordinary, and it’s an honor to have you with us today again at the White House.  Love you.  (Applause.)

To the families here today, as Jill just said, we know how hard it is in different ways, but we know.  We know. 

I hope you can find comfort in remembering the one thing that’s never lost: your love for them and their love for you. 

Jill and I, along with countless others, are forever grateful to you for your collective and individual courage.  And Jill and I are especially grateful for the trust you put in us. 

It’s been the honor of our lives to serve in the White House — the people’s house, your house.  We felt a special obligation to use this sacred place to ensure everyone is seen and the story of America is heard.  That’s why we’re all together here on this World AIDS Day.  And I want to thank all of you, allies and advocates who are here, including Sir Elton John’s foundation and so many others for the long history of this fight, both globally and here at home.

Jill and I met with Elton and David this summer, and this event is, in no small part, the result of that meeting. 

And a special thanks to one of the great public health officials — a true hero — who have led this fight against HIV/AIDS, Dr. Anthony Fauci.  (Applause.)  Where is Anthony? 

Anthony, you’re a good man.  (Applause.)  God love you.  As my mother would say, “God love you, Anthony.”  (Laughter.)

I also want to alo- — acknowledge Dr. Laura Cheever, HIV leader — (applause) — Department of Health and Human Services —

THE FIRST LADY:  Oh, right here.

THE PRESIDENT:  — who’s re- —

THE FIRST LADY:  In the front.  The blonde.

THE PRESIDENT:  — who’s retiring this year.  She started when she was — after 25 years of service.  She started when she was 10, if you take a look at her.  (Laughter.)  God love you. 

The idea of the quilt was conceived in 1985 by Cleve Jones and Mike Smith, who is here with us today. 

Mike, there you are.  Stand up, Mike.  (Applause.)

To honor the memory of all those we lost to HIV/AIDS.  It started with one name on one panel nearly four decades ago.  And decades later, 50,000 panels and 110,000 names. 

This quilt weighs 54 tons, the largest community art project in the entire world, and tells the tragic stories of brothers who died too soon; moms who contracted AIDS at childbirth — her daughter’s life stolen, eventually her own as well; friends and partners who lost loved ones of their lives; and so many more stories of precious lives cut too short.

And I do realize that these days of celebration, they bring back all the memories.  They’re hard.  It’s not easy.  It’s important, but it’s not easy.  So, I want to thank you for being here. 

This quilt was first displayed on the National Mall in 1987.  Over the years, it made its way to the Ellipse and President Clinton’s inaugural parade. 

Today, for the first time in our nation’s history, the sections of AIDS quilts are being publicly displayed here at the White House because — (applause) — because, like the first threads of this quilt stretched nearly 40 years ago — stitched nearly 40 years ago, this movement is fully woven into the fabric and history of America, shining a light on the memory and the legacy of all the sisters and brothers, sons and daughters, husbands and wives, moms and dads, partners and friends who have lost — who we’ve lost to this terrible disease. 

Together, we honor the spirit of resilience and the extraordinary strength of people, families, and communities affected by HIV/AIDS, including the nearly 40 million people living with HIV around the world today — 40 million.  And we send a clear message to the nation and to the world that we stand united in the fight against this epidemic. 

It matters.  It matters we reinstate that.

I remember as senator when this epidemic was raging, the stigma, the misinformation, the government failing to act and acknowledge the dignity of LBGTQ+ lives and the seriousness of the AIDS epidemic.  It caused serious harm.  It compounded pain and trauma for a community watching a generation of loved ones and friends perish.  It was horribly, horribly wrong. 

We’ve also seen advocates, survivors, families, allies who have turned their pain into purpose like all of you have, their loss into determination, their anger into a movement that’s literally changing the world.  Science — new scientific discoveries, new preventative care, new global partnerships, and so much more. 

For example, through what’s known as PEPFAR — the President’s Emergency Plan on AIDS Relief — launched by President Bush — and he deserves credit — (applause) — George W. Bush — we made the single largest investment of any nation in the world to tackle a single disease, saving more than 26 million lives so far. 

I’m proud to have reauthorized PEPFAR last year, and I can — I’m going to call on Congress to pass five-year PEPFAR reauthorization to sustain these gains we made globally.  (Applause.) 

In fact, later today, I’m traveling in Angola in Africa, where we’re deepening our partnership across the continent on mainly health priorities, including improving outcomes for people with — people living with HIV through PEPFAR. 

It matters.  It matters throughout the world. 

But for all our progress, too many people continue to live with HIV, including 1 million Americans.  That’s why my first year in office, I launched a new national HIV/AIDS strategy to ensure treatment and prevention is available to everyone everywhere, all across this country, and that includes ensuring medications that can prevent HIV infections are affordable and available in all forms, without co-pays for people with health insurance.  (Applause.)

We made clear to the insurance companies they can’t deny coverage for these medications or for lab tests that doctors recommend to patients. 

We’re fighting the stigma of discrimination against the HIV community by ending the shameful — the shameful practice of banning gay and bisexual men from donating blood; strengthening civil rights protections in medical settings for people with HIV; educating the public about the latest science in transmission, testing, and prevention and care. 

So many of you have been leading the way in these efforts, including the late Cornelius Baker — (applause) — who passed away three weeks ago, as a pioneer on advancing HIV testing. 

Together with all of you, we’re also calling on states and community leaders to repeal outdated HIV criminalization laws throughout this country.  (Applause.)

And I’m proud to announce, before the end of my term, the Center for Medical and Medi- — Medicare and Medicaid Services will update its guidance on HIV care, encouraging states to adopt the best practices using the latest science and technology.  It matters.  It matters.  (Applause.)

Folks, you’ve been standing a long time, so let me close with this.  (Laughs.)  You’re pretty good.  (Laughter.)  I know the fight to end this terrible epidemic is hard.  But I look around today — and I mean this from the bottom of my heart — I look around today at all of you — survivors, families, heroes who have never given up — and I know it’s a fight that we’re going to win for all the lives lost and for all those that are still alive.

Look at what you’ve already done to change the hearts and minds and save lives across the country and around the world. 

That’s the power of this movement.  That’s the power of memory of your loved one.  That’s the power of America. 

We just have to keep going, keep the faith, and remember who in the hell we are.  We’re the United States of America, and there’s nothing beyond our capacity when we do it together — nothing, nothing, nothing.  (Applause.)

God bless you all.  And I know I’d like to invite everyone to view the quilt, so, folks, I’m getting off this stage.  (Laughter.) 
 
But really and truly, I mean it from the bottom of my heart: You’re changing the world.  You’re changing the world. 

Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.  (Applause.)

3:11 P.M. EST

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Our hearts are heavy today. Jill and I are devastated and outraged to learn of the death of Omer Neutra, an American citizen, whose body Hamas has apparently been holding since they killed him during their brutal terrorist attack October 7.

Omer was just 21 years old when he was taken by Hamas. He was serving as a tank commander in an Israel Defense Forces unit that was among the first to respond to Hamas’s campaign of cruelty— risking his life to save the lives of others. A Long Island native, Omer planned to return to the United States for college. He dreamed of dedicating himself to building peace.

Less than a month ago, Omer’s mother and father joined me at the White House to share the pain they’ve endured as they prayed for the safe return of their son – pain no parent should ever know. They told me how Omer’s grandparents were Holocaust survivors and how their family’s strength and resilience has been carried through the generations.

During this dark hour—as our nation joins Omer’s parents, brother, and family in grieving this tragic loss—we pray to find strength and resilience. And to all the families of those still held hostage: We see you. We are with you. And I will not stop working to bring your loved ones back home where they belong.

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President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. met today with President Ulisses Correia e Silva of the Republic of Cabo Verde in Sal, Cabo Verde. The two leaders discussed the growing U.S.-Cabo Verdean relationship, bolstered by the vibrant Cabo Verdean diaspora in the United States; support for democratic freedoms and human rights; and strengthening our collaboration to increase climate resilience. President Biden expressed his appreciation for Cabo Verde’s unwavering support for Ukraine as it continues to defend against Russian aggression and for the continued strength and value of U.S.-Cabo Verdean cooperation on security and law enforcement issues. President Biden also reiterated his support for expanding the United Nations Security Council to create two permanent seats for African countries, increasing representation of global voices to tackle global issues.
 

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