President Biden assigned himself a light schedule this week with no public events from Tuesday through Thursday, and let Vice President Kamala Harris take the lead on a meeting with companies on artificial intelligence.
The only listed activity from Biden today was a private briefing with Harris, who will then meet with tech executives on AI and then depart to Richmond, Virginia, for an event on small businesses. The president is not listed as an attendee for either event.
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Also today, first lady Jill Biden will fly to the United Kingdom for King Charles III’s coronation — an invitation the president declined to attend.
Biden spoke at an event Monday on Small Business Week then had a meeting with the president of the Philippines. He spent Saturday at festivities for the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner.
The lightened work load for Biden, 80, comes one week after he announced his bid for re-election.
No White House immigration events were scheduled this week as Title 42 is set to expire next week. The Biden administration will reportedly send 1,500 US troops to the Mexico border in response.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Wednesday responded to a question about Biden’s lightened schedule.
“He’s been meeting with — having internal meetings in the Oval Office,” Jean-Pierre said. “I had a meeting with him earlier today with… senior advisors, senior staff, talking about the issues that matter to the American people.”
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The White House did not respond to questions on why Biden deferred to Harris on the artificial intelligence event Thursday.
Harris will be joined Thursday by senior White House officials in her meeting with tech executives at Microsoft, Google and OpenAI. The officials, CNBC reported, include Biden Chief of Staff Jeff Zients, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and Director of Science and Technology Policy Arati Prabhakar.