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President Joe Biden and first lady Jill left the White House on Wednesday on the way to Europe for the G7, a meeting with the Queen and his summit with Vladimir Putin.
Officials have billed the trip as a coming out party for a new administration intent on rebuilding alliances after the Trump years but it will come as a welcome relief to a president a day after the collapse of infrastructure talks with Republicans and amid intense criticism of Kamala Harris‘ trip to Guatemala and Mexico.Â
As he left Joint Base Andrews he swatted away a cicada that landed on his neck.
‘Watch out for cicadas,’ he told journalists traveling with him on Air Force One. ‘I just got one… it got me.’
His brief brush proved a lucky escape. Journalists traveling separately to cover Biden’s visit were delayed by seven hours on Tuesday night as the flying insects overran their charter plane.Â
Biden also told reporters that his G7 mission was part of a mission to demonstrate unity among western democracies.
‘Making clear to Putin and and to China that Europe and the United States are tight,’ he said, adding that he would also be unveiling a COVID-19 vaccine plan for the world. Â
President Biden brushes a cicada from his neck as he and first lady Jill Biden leave for the United Kingdom from Joint Base Andrews. The eight-day swing to Britain and Europe is the president’s first foreign trip as he tries to reassert the United States on the world stage, but it will come as welcome relief a day after his key infrastructure package suffered a setback when negotiations with Republicans collapsed
Cicadas delayed the departure of a press plane carrying journalists by seven hours. Biden swatted away one of the flying insects before warning his traveling pool of journalists, ‘Watch out for cicadas’ before leaving for the United Kingdom
Biden told reporters that part of the aim of the trip is demonstrate unity between Europe and the United States to Russia and China. ‘Making clear to Putin and and to China that Europe and the United States are tight,’ he said, adding that he would also be unveiling a COVID-19 vaccine plan for the world
Biden and Jill are expected to land at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk to meet US troops on Wednesday night as they kick off an eight-day trip to Europe.
He will then meet British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday, where the pair will affirm their special relationship, discuss global vaccine strategies and discuss reopening travel corridors.  Â
The president will then prepare to meet with the rest of the G7 leaders on Saturday in St.Ives in the first major face-to-face summit between world leaders in two years. He is believed to be staying in the Tregenna Castle Resort.Â
On Sunday, he will travel from Cornwall to Windsor Castle where he and Jill will hold a reception with the Queen.Â
He will then head to Brussels that night ahead of meetings on Monday with NATO leaders and the European Union before his highly-anticipated summit with Vladimir Putin on June 16.
Biden is kicking off his first foreign trip after White House insiders said they were ‘perplexed’ by Vice President Harris’ pointed answers to questions on whether she will visit the border.
He also heads to the UK amid outrage over American PhD student at Oxford University who removed a portrait of the Queen from a student’s room at Magdalen College.
As president of Magdalen’s Middle Common Room, an organization of 200 graduate students, Matthew Katzman of Maryland said the portrait was ‘unwelcoming’ and represents ‘recent colonial history’. They’re going to replace it with ‘art by or of other influential and inspirational people’.
British Education Secretary Gavin Williamson tweeted: ‘Oxford University students removing a picture of the Queen is simply absurd. She is the Head of State and a symbol of what is best about the UK. During her long reign she has worked tirelessly to promote British values of tolerance, inclusivity & respect around the world.’Â
Biden’s hopes of passing his much-touted infrastructure bill now rest on a bipartisan group of senators after direct talks with Republicans collapsed.
Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican representing West Virginia, had been liaising with the White House over the bill.
But their talks collapsed on Tuesday after they’d tentatively bargained $928 billion worth of infrastructure improvements.
Ahead of his trip, Biden is facing increasing criticism for not nominating ambassadors to more than 90 ambassadors, including a representative to the UK.
Many in the diplomatic world expected Biden to name his British ambassador – one of the poshest postings in the diplomatic world – by Thursday’s G7 meeting.
The president has named a series of career diplomats to lower level ambassadorial postings, including Bahrain, Somalia, and Algeria. But no one has been nominated for the London position nor any other top destination, such as France, Israel, Russia, China or the European Union.Â
Biden and first lady Jill Biden flew by Marine One to Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday morning. From there they travel on Air Force One to Royal Air Force Mildenhall in the United Kingdom
Biden shouted at the press and told them to watch out for the bugs before he spoke to a huddle of reporters at Joint Base Andrews in MarylandÂ
Biden salutes on the top of the steps of Air Force One ahead of his flight to the UK for the G7 summitÂ
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill left the White House on Wednesday on the way to Europe for the G7, a meeting with the Queen and his summit with Vladimir Putin
Coronavirus restrictions have limited the president’s travel since taking power in January. But the G7 and NATO summits will allow him to pack multiple meetings with world leaders into one trip, before he sits down with President Putin in Geneva. He and his officials have made clear that the trip offers a chance to highlight the importance of alliances in standing up to rival powers such as China and Russia
They jetted off for the president’s first foreign trip with his administration facing the fallout of the collapse of his infrastructure talks with Republicans and amid intense criticism over Kamala Harris’ trip to Guatemala and Mexico
Biden and Jill are expected to land on Air Force One at RAF Mildenhall to meet US troops in Suffolk on Wednesday night as they kick off an eight-day trip to Europe
‘It is embarrassing that six months into office we still have over ninety embassies without ambassadors,’ Brett Bruen, former US Diplomat and Director of Global Engagement at the Obama White House, told DailyMail.com.
Biden held off on foreign travel due to the coronavirus pandemic but is making up for it with this trip that includes meetings with foreign leaders, Queen Elizabeth II, the king of Belgium, and his Russian counterpart.
First lady Jill Biden will join him for the British portion of the trip but will return to the United States after the first couple meets with the Queen at Windsor Castle next Sunday.
Biden will be the 13th American president the Queen has met since ascending to the throne in 1953.
There is speculation that the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall will also meet the American couple at some point during their visit to the UK.
At his sit down with Johnson, Biden will ‘affirm the enduring strength of the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom,’ White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement last week.
Biden and Johnson have spoken on the phone multiple times since Biden was elected president.
‘There’s a range of issues of mutual interest,’ Psaki said Thursday at her White House press briefing when asked about the sit down. ‘From the future of economic growth in the world to addressing the COVID pandemic to security issues around the world so they have a range of topics they can clearly discuss.’
Johnson will also ask the American president to exempt vaccinated British and American travellers from quarantine restrictions to facilitate travel between the two nations.
The pair board Marine One on the way to Joint Base Andrews where they will catch the flight to the UK for the first leg of their trip
Surfers enjoy the waves as a Royal Navy ship is seen, as security preparations are underway for the G7 leaders summit, near St Ives, Cornwall
A Royal Navy ship is pictured near St Ives, as security preparations are underway for the G7 leaders summit, in Cornwall, Britain. Biden left on Wednesday morning for an eight-day trip leaving behind a series of headaches for his administration
An RAF Giraffe agile multibeam radar system is set up near the beach in Cornwall ahead of the G7 summitÂ
United States Marine Corps (USMC) Osprey helicopters are seen flying above St Michael’s Mount, left, and landing on a grass area of the mount, right. The Osprey helicopters carry Biden’s staff, while the President travels in Marine One
A 400-strong contingent of Secret Service agents and support staff are due to arrive for the summit being hosted by Boris Johnson and held in the tiny Cornish resort of Carbis Bay. President Biden is believed to be staying in the Tregenna hotel. They have hired 50 luxury RVs to house agents during the tripÂ
Police officers and security stand by erimieter barriers erected in Carbis Bay, Cornwall, ahead of the G7 summit
Snipers take up position ahead of the G7 summit in Corbis bay, Cornwall. Security is tight, with warships stationed off the coastline, as the area prepares for the arrival of world leaders
Armed British police land on Carbis Bay beach early on Tuesday morning as security teams practice ahead of the summit
Biden is believed to be staying at the Tregenna Castle in Newquay. Military planes and helicopters have been seen flying around the area over the last few days
Demonstrators have begun assembling in Cornwall ahead of the G7 summit. Pictured here, an activist from climate action group Ocean Rebellion wearing a mask depicting Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson and another representing the fossil fuel industry, known as ‘Oil head’ demonstrate in St Ives Harbour
The President’s security team for the Summit is so vast they will have to stay in more than 50 hired luxuryRVs because there is not enough accommodation.
The recreational vehicles have been delivered to St Mawgan airbase near Newquay, 20 miles from where the meeting of leaders takes place in the tiny Cornish resort of Carbis Bay at the weekend.
A 400-strong contingent of Secret Service agents and support staff will be at the summit, but with thousands of vacationers already in the area, almost every hotel and B&B in a 30-mile radius of the summit has been booked.
Meanwhile, video footage showed two Sea King and three V-22 Osprey helicopters soaring above Cornwall and Devon as they practiced the route the President will take from the airbase to Tregenna Castle Resort, St Ives, after Air Force One lands at RAF Mildenhall and then Newquay airport on Wednesday.Â
Some 1,000 police will be staying on a cruise liner docked in Falmouth harbour and others will stay in RVs currently parked up at the RAF airbase near Newquay.
The PM wants to create a ‘green channel’ for those fully vaccinated, The Times reported, as the summer holiday season approaches.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Monday declined to say when travel restrictions might be eased.
‘This is a process being driven by science and public health guidance and so it is ultimately up to the public health professionals in the US government to make that determination,’ he said.
‘We have heard very clearly, the desire of our friends in Europe and in the UK, to be able to reopen travel across the Atlantic. And we want to see that happen. But we have to follow the science and we have to follow the guidance of our public health professionals so we’re actively engaging with them to determine the timeframe, and I can’t give him a date today but I will tell you that we recognize the concern and we are fundamentally being guided by objective analysis,’ he added.
Afterward the meeting with Johnson, Biden will attend the G7 summit, where he will hold bilateral meetings with fellow G7 leaders. The G7 includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union.
After his meeting with The Queen, Biden will travel to Brussels, Belgium, to participate in in a NATO meeting and an EU Summit.
Security fences have also been set up around the Villa La Grane in Geneva, Switzerland, which is slated to be the destination of Biden’s summit with Putin
The American Oxford student, 25, who attended elite Sidwell school with Malia Obama, who removed ‘unwelcoming’ portrait of the Queen from common room because she represents ‘recent colonial history’Â
A 25-year-old Stanford graduate who attended the prestigious DC school Sidwell Friends and is the son of a top commercial lawyer has enraged British politicians and sparked a free speech row in the UK by removing a portrait of the Queen from the students’ room at the Oxford college where he is now getting his PhD.
Matthew Katzman grew up in privilege in Bethesda, Maryland, a rich suburb of DC where he attended Sidwell Friends, a $48,000-a-year school where the Obama daughters, the Biden grandchildren and countless other politicians’ kids have studied. After graduating from Sidwell in 2014, he studied math and theoretical computer science at Stanford, where a four-year undergraduate degree costs $295,000. He graduated in 2018.
Now, he is getting a PhD in computer science at Oxford, the historic university attended by British Prime Ministers. The four-year DPhil course he is enrolled in is $38,800-a-year. In total, his education costs $640,000.
This week, he sparked fury by removing a portrait of the Queen from the common room at Magdalen College, in his role as president of Magdalen’s Middle Common Room, an organization of around 200 graduate students.Â
They decided between them that the portrait was ‘unwelcoming’ and represents ‘recent colonial history’. They’re going to replace it with ‘art by or of other influential and inspirational people’.
The decision has been blasted as ‘absurd’ by British politicians who say the young students ought to ‘show some respect’ for the 95-year-old Monarch.Â
British Education Secretary Gavin Williamson tweeted: ‘Oxford University students removing a picture of the Queen is simply absurd. She is the Head of State and a symbol of what is best about the UK. During her long reign she has worked tirelessly to promote British values of tolerance, inclusivity & respect around the world.’Â
Katzman is the son of Scott and Sandy Katzman, both 65. His father is a partner at the commercial law firm Steptoe & Johnson. The family lives in a sprawling, $4million home in Bethesda.  They have not yet commented on the row their son has unapologetically caused.Â
 Matthew Katzman, 25, has sparked fury in the UK by removing a portrait of the Queen from the students’ room at his Oxford college because he and other students think it’s ‘unwelcoming’. The PhD student is the son of Sandy and Scott Katzman (shown with him right, on his graduation day at Stanford in 2018). They haven’t commented on the row their son has caused
Katzman has defended his position, telling DailyMail.com on Wednesday the removal of the portrait ‘did not equate to a statement on the Queen’. He said instead it was being taken down to create ‘a welcoming, neutral place for all members regardless of background, demographic, or views’.   Â
Members of the Middle Common Room at Magdalen College – which is made up of graduates – overwhelmingly backed the removal of a portrait of the Queen (pictured is a likeness of the photographic print)Â
‘The Magdalen College MCR yesterday [Monday] voted to remove an inexpensive print of the queen that was hung in the common room a few years ago (a motion I brought forward in my role as MCR President as I do all motions raised in a sub-committee).Â
‘It is being stored securely and will remain in the MCR’s art collection.Â
‘The action was taken after a discussion of the purpose of such a space, and it was decided that the room should be a welcoming, neutral place for all members regardless of background, demographic, or views.Â
‘The Royal Family is on display in many areas of the college, and it was ultimately agreed that it was an unnecessary addition to the common room.Â
‘The views of the MCR do not reflect the views of Magdalen College, and the aesthetic decisions made by the voting members of its committee do not equate to a statement on the Queen.Â
‘Indeed, no stance was taken on the Queen or the Royal Family – the conclusion was simply that there were better places for this print to be hung.’Â
Magdalen has indicated it will not attempt to reverse the decision, despite its long association with royalty. This includes visits from the Queen in 1948 to receive an Honorary Degree and again in 2008 to mark the college’s 550th anniversary.Â
The print was bought and put up by a previous group of students in 2008, and shows the monarch in a white gown and blue sash. It is based on a 1952 photograph taken by Dorothy Wilding to mark her accession and coronation.Â
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