Biden says NATO leaders hail his meeting with Putin
President Biden on Monday wouldn't divulge any more details about his upcoming summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, telling reporters he'll discuss the topics of conversation "when it's over."
Biden and Putin will meet Wednesday in Switzerland. He fielded questions from reporters following a meeting with NATO leaders in Brussels, and avoided answering what he expects Putin will say to him or any concessions he might make. Biden did say he has spoken with other NATO leaders who "thanked me for meeting with Putin now. They thought it was thoroughly appropriate that I do so."
While Biden is keeping mum publicly, he asked several leaders during the recent G7 summit in the United Kingdom - including German Chancellor Angela Merkel for their advice ahead of the Putin meeting, people familiar with the matter told CNN.
Biden has also been spending time every day preparing for it with
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, and they have discussed Biden bringing up with Putin everything from cyberattacks to the situations in Syria and Ukraine.
U.S. officials told CNN they are still working out with their Russian counterparts whether there will be a one-on-one meeting between Biden and Putin during the summit, without any notetakers present; as of now, they will have two separate meetings.
There won't be a joint press conference at the conclusion of the summit, and Biden will speak to reporters on his own. Officials told CNN Russia requested a joint appearance before the press, but the U.S. does not want Putin to have the chance to appear like he'd gotten the better of an American president. On Sunday, Biden said this is "not a contest about who can do better in front of a press conference or try to embarrass each other."
Meanwhile The White House announced its support for legislation that would revoke the 2002 authorization for the Iraq War on Monday, days ahead of an expected House vote. "The administration supports the repeal of the 2002 AUMF, as the United States has no ongoing military activities the rely solely on the 2002 AUMF as a domestic legal basis, and repeal of the 2002 AUMF would likely have minimal impact on current military operations," the White House commented in a statement Monday.
The legislation, sponsored by Democratic Representative Barbara Lee, would rescind the 2002 authorization for the use of military force (AUMF) invoked to justify intervention in Iraq. After a similar repeal failed to advance in 2019, there is renewed congressional interest to put it back on the table after President Biden deployed airstrikes on Iran-backed militias in Syria in February in retaliation for militia attacks on U.S. personnel in Iraq.
In March, the House Foreign Affairs Committee pushed Lee's bill forward on a 28-19 vote, with Republican Representatives Ken Buck and Peter Meijer joining the Democrats in support. Those in favor of repealing the AUMF argue it is now an unnecessary framework, since it already served it original purpose of approving the U.S. military's mission to combat and oust former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.
They claim that the provision exists as a never-ending mandate for counterproductive military involvement overseas. Lee, the bill's author, was the the only member of Congress to vote against the original AUMF on September 14, 2001, citing concerns that she was being asked to vote for "an open-ended war with neither an exit strategy nor a focused target."
The repeal legislation's critics, however, believe the 2002 AUMF should not be removed until a replacement is offered in its stead, fearing that it could constrain the U.S. from pursuing anti-terrorism military efforts in the future.
The 2002 AUMF stipulates that military action must "defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq." "The president is committed to working with Congress to ensure that outdated authorizations for the use of military force.