Biden hunkers down in White House with no public events on schedule again
President Biden was briefly seen Monday walking from Marine One to the Oval Office, ignoring reporters' questions, and the 81-year-old president has not been seen publicly since.
A lack of public appearances has become the new normal for the president since he dropped out of the 2024 race, allowing Vice President Kamala Harris to take the lead on the ticket. This comes as the administration is anticipating a possible attack by Iran on Israel.
When Fox News correspondent David Spunt asked why the American people have not heard directly from the president this week, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, "We just put out two readouts today."
"Can we expect to see him this week? Because I know you guys have been putting out the schedule. You know, we've been getting it the night before," Spunt asked Jean-Pierre during Tuesday's press briefing.
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"So we are in a different time," Jean-Pierre responded. "As I've said many times before, and you will get to see the president, that I can say. Look, it is certainly the president's priority, to make sure that we do everything that we can, to protect our national security, right?"
The press secretary said Biden's focus was to "de-escalate tensions," adding that the two "readouts" released by the White House indicated that Biden spoke with the leaders of Jordan, Qatar and Egypt.
"From that readout that we just put out, I was asked about the cease-fire deal and what the president – that last line – that was pointed out to me. That is something that the president has been focused on – getting that done. I don't have anything beyond what we put out, but we're monitoring the situation closely," Jean-Pierre said.
The president declared a state of emergency in Florida and South Carolina this week ahead of Tropical Storm Debby. Meanwhile, several U.S. personnel were injured in a rocket attack at a military base in Iraq.
Calling for calm in the Middle East, top U.S. national security leaders said Tuesday that they and allies are directly pressing Israel, Iran and others to avoid escalating the conflict, even as the U.S. moved more troops to the region and threatened retaliation if American forces are attacked.
"It’s urgent that everyone in the region take stock of the situation, understand the risk of miscalculation, and make decisions that will calm tensions, not exacerbate them," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at the close of a meeting with Australian leaders at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin noted the attack Monday on U.S. forces in Iraq by an Iranian-backed militia group, which injured seven, and made it clear that the U.S. will not hesitate to respond.
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"Make no mistake, the United States will not tolerate attacks on our personnel in the region," Austin told reporters. "And we remain ready to deploy on short notice to meet the evolving threats to our security, our partners or our interests."
Despite economic concerns, Biden claimed to have "cured the economy" last week, just days before global stocks plummeted on Monday.
In a case disclosed by the Justice Department on Tuesday, Asif Merchant, a Pakistani man alleged to have ties to Iran, was charged in a plot to carry out political assassinations on U.S. soil, including potentially against former President Trump. Based on the ongoing DOJ investigation, Jean-Pierre told Spunt on Tuesday, no evidence suggests the defendant was connected to the July 13 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.
"It's an ongoing law enforcement DOJ indictment, so I'm going to be really mindful," she said. "But we have said many times that we have been tracking Iranian threats against former politicians. We've been very clear about that. These threats arise from Iran's desire to seek revenge for the killing of Qassem Soleimani. We consider this a national and homeland security matter of the highest priority – the highest priority."
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Jean-Pierre said the administration has taken a "comprehensive response" to these threats, including having "invested extraordinary resources in developing additional information about these threats, disrupting individuals involved in these threats, enhancing protective arrangements in potential targets of these threats, engaging with foreign partners and directly warning Iran."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.