Joe Biden snubs Zelensky peace summit for A-list fundraiser with George Clooney, Julia Roberts and sends Kamala Harris instead
The White House announced this on Monday Joe Biden would not attend a ‘peace summit’ planned in Switzerland with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiybut would send vice president Kamala Harris instead of.
The news is a blow to Zelensky, who has publicly pressured Biden to attend the summit, scheduled for June 15-16 at the luxury Bürgenstock hotel after the G-7 summits for world leaders in Italy.
Biden has other plans as he will leave and return to the G-7 summit Los Angeles for an A-list fundraiser with former president Barack Obamaactors George Clooney And Julia Robertsand night host Jimmy Kimmel.
Kimmel will moderate a conversation between Biden and Obama at the fundraiser, where tickets could raise as much as $500,000 for the Biden victory fund.
Last week, Zelensky said Russian President Vladimir Putin would celebrate if Biden did not attend the peace summit.
‘Putin “I will just applaud his absence, personally applaud him – and stand by that,” he said said on Tuesday.
President Joe Biden will not attend a peace summit in Switzerland with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
He also recorded a video in a The Ukrainian war zone publicly calls on Biden to attend.
“I appeal to the leaders of the world who are still apart from the global efforts of the Global Peace Summit,” he said specifically. to report Biden.
But the White House defended Biden’s decision to skip the summit, while White House national security communications adviser John Kirby reminded Zelensky that the president remained a staunch supporter of Ukraine.
“Ukraine has no stronger champion than President Biden and the United States has actively participated in each of the previous peace summits in Ukraine,” Kirby told reporters on Monday.
He added that Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan would also attend the meeting with Harris, calling it an important show of support.
Vice President Kamala Harris will attend the peace summit in Switzerland with Zelensky
“We are sending the vice president of the United States and the national security adviser to this particular peace summit … which alone is a very serious, high-level representation of the United States,” he said.
Harris frequently trumpets her foreign policy contributions during the campaign, telling donors that world leaders often speak to her about the need for she and Biden to win reelection.
“I can’t tell you how many times one of those leaders has taken me aside and talked about how much the world relies on us and on Joe Biden’s leadership,” she said Wednesday.
