RIO DE JANEIRO — President Biden missed a gaggle picture of world leaders on the G20 summit on Monday — as a perplexed pool reporter could possibly be heard telling colleagues that the commander in chief was “behind the palm tree!”
Biden, 81, skipped the household image after buzz forward of time that he would accomplish that to keep away from being seen smiling alongside Russian international minister Sergey Lavrov throughout the ongoing Ukraine conflict.
The White Home blamed “logical points” afterward and stated it was merely a matter of dangerous timing that Biden missed the picture.
“Oh my God… they took it!” an American journalist was heard uttering on the pooled video feed after different leaders clasped palms and smiled with out the retiring commander in chief.
“Yup, he’s proper there … he’s behind the palm tree proper now!” the unidentified reporter alerted her friends.
Biden’s spokespeople insisted afterward that G20 organizers didn’t wait lengthy sufficient for him to reach alongside Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau, who additionally missed the picture, as did Italian PM Giorgia Meloni
“As a consequence of logical points, they took the picture early earlier than all of the leaders arrived,” an unnamed senior US official informed the press pool.
Biden earned extra awkward headlines after being relegated to the again nook of the APEC convention group picture in Lima, Peru, on Saturday — as Chinese language President Xi Jinping took a front-and-center spot alongside the host nation’s president, Dina Boluarte.
The White Home expressed indignation over widespread protection of the optics of that picture, insisting that it was merely a matter of standing in alphabetical order — regardless of then-President Donald Trump showing within the middle of two group pictures on the APEC convention in Vietnam in 2017.
Whereas in Peru, Biden skilled a lot of different unflattering optical incidents involving Xi, who obtained a much more elaborate welcome as he inaugurated a large new port on Peru’s coast.
Biden needed to journey to Xi’s lodge for a bilateral assembly, with the White Home attributing the slight to supposed locale-switching among the many hosts.
Biden was then pressured to journey to the Lima airport amongst spectators who lined the streets to wave Chinese language flags.
The outgoing president’s photos have emerged as main tales, as he has refused to have interaction with any press questions on different issues throughout his journey — leaving exasperated journalists to shout throughout the tarmac asking why he was hiding and even holding placards that learn “Ukraine?” and “Xi?”
Biden has not taken any media questions because the Nov. 5 election, during which Vice President Kamala Harris misplaced to former President Donald Trump, who will take workplace Jan. 20.
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