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Biden Meets With Zelensky in France

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President Biden used the backdrop of the beaches at Normandy on Friday to argue that defending democracy in Ukraine and around the world in 2024 is as vital as the day that American troops joined the allies on D-Day to begin rescuing Europe from the grip of Hitler’s tyranny.

“As we gather here today,” he said, “it’s not just to honor those who showed such remarkable bravery that day, June 6, 1944. It’s to listen to the echo of their voices. To hear them. Because they are summoning us.”

“They’re not asking us to scale these cliffs,” Mr. Biden added during remarks at the edge of the same cliff where Ronald Reagan delivered a similar speech on democracy four decades ago. “They’re asking us to stay true to what America stands for.”

Mr. Biden delivered the speech just hours after he apologized to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine for the monthslong delay in approving military aid, blaming it on conservative Republican opposition. But he vowed to stand by Ukraine against Russian aggression, comparing the fight in Eastern Europe to the battles for freedom during World War II.

“I apologize for the weeks of not knowing what was going to pass, in terms of funding, because we had trouble getting the bill that we had to pass, that had the money in it,” Mr. Biden told his Ukrainian counterpart ahead of a private meeting in Paris. “Some of our very conservative members were holding it up.”

But Mr. Biden said his administration “finally” got the funding approved and he promised to continue supporting Ukraine’s war effort.

“You are the bulwark against the aggression that is taking place,” he said. “We’re still in. Completely. Thoroughly.”

The meeting and Mr. Biden’s commitment of support comes at a critical juncture in the war with Russia, as the two allies seek ways to reverse the momentum on the battlefield that has helped the forces of President Vladimir V. Putin.

Mr. Zelensky thanked Mr. Biden for what he called “significant support” from the United States as his forces battle Russia, and he compared the American effort to the fight against Hitler 80 years ago.

“During World War II, the United States helped to save human lives, to save Europe,” Mr. Zelensky said. “And we count on your continuing support and standing with us, shoulder to shoulder. Thank you so much.”

The two men are participating in ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings, which helped turn the tide against Nazi Germany in World War II. Mr. Biden will travel later in the day back to Normandy to deliver a speech honoring U.S. soldiers and linking that long-ago war to today’s conflict in Ukraine.

The meeting was the first between the American and Ukrainian leaders since December, and follows a decision by Mr. Biden last week to give permission to Ukraine to fire U.S.-provided weapons into Russian territory. That was a reversal in policy after more than two years of limits intended to avoid an escalation with a nuclear-powered adversary.

But Mr. Biden loosened the restrictions only enough to authorize strikes against military targets just over the border in the northeast to defend Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city. Long-range strikes deeper into Russia are still banned.

In his brief remarks, Mr. Zelensky referred obliquely to Mr. Biden’s policy shift, indicating that it had been helpful to his forces.

“Your decisions have had a very positive influence,” he said. “I don’t want to share everything, all the details with press, sorry, but there are some details on the battlefield that you need to hear from us.”

Mr. Zelensky’s comments appeared to betray an ongoing frustration at the restraint, and a desire for latitude to use the weapons for more than the limited self-defense currently allowed in the Kharkiv area.

The Ukrainians are also disappointed that Mr. Biden will not attend a peace summit in Switzerland on June 15 organized by Mr. Zelensky. Vice President Kamala Harris and Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, are to attend instead.

Even though it did not meet all of Mr. Zelensky’s wishes, Mr. Biden’s reversal on the use of U.S. weapons against targets inside Russia — a tactic also endorsed by other NATO countries — provoked a predictably prickly response from Mr. Putin, who suggested a tit-for-tat retaliation.

Speaking with reporters in St. Petersburg, Mr. Putin suggested this week that such a move meant that Russia had “the right to send our weapons of the same class to those regions of the world where strikes can be made on sensitive facilities of the countries that do this against Russia.”

The United States has been the most important supplier of arms to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. But Mr. Biden has at times been slow to provide more sophisticated weaponry for fear of provoking an escalation with Moscow, and House Republican leaders blocked additional military aid for six months, leaving Ukrainian defenders scraping for ammunition and weapons just as Russia was pressing forward with fierce assaults.

Congress finally passed a $61 billion aid package in April and the weapons are now flowing again. On Friday, Mr. Biden announced a $225 million package that he told Mr. Zelensky was designed to “help you reconstruct the electric grid.” American officials said the funding included money for air defenses that could, among other things, defend an energy grid that has been badly degraded by relentless Russian assaults.

The session with Mr. Zelensky was the first of two in coming days for Mr. Biden, who also plans to see his Ukrainian counterpart at the Group of 7 meeting later next week in Italy.

“It’s a signal of the depth of our commitment to Ukraine at this vital moment,” Mr. Sullivan told reporters this week. “And this opportunity for the president and Zelensky to sit down twice will really allow them to go deep on every aspect and every issue in the war.”

Mr. Biden’s speech on Friday afternoon in Normandy is meant to further link the struggle to liberate Europe from Nazi tyranny with the effort to defend Ukraine against Russian aggression eight decades later, extending a theme he articulated at a ceremony on Thursday.

He will speak from Pointe du Hoc, where Army Rangers scaled 100-foot cliffs on D-Day to take out a suspected German gun emplacement, one of the most daring moments of the invasion of Europe on June 6, 1944.

In doing so, Mr. Biden will follow in the footsteps of President Ronald Reagan, who delivered one of the most memorable speeches of his presidency at Pointe du Hoc in 1984, and make a similar case for American leadership and democracy on the world stage at a time of isolationist strains at home.



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For sale: A piece of California’s country music history

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The famed Buck Owens Crystal Palace, where music legends including Willie Nelson, Dwight Yoakam, Garth Brooks and a young Taylor Swift have played, is up for sale, with the foundation that runs the Bakersfield venue planning to list it for $7 million on Monday.

The nightclub, museum and steakhouse was owned by its namesake Buck Owens, the country music trailblazer who bucked the slick commercial melodies of Nashville for a distinctly West Coast twang. Owens opened the Crystal Palace in 1996, watching it become a premier venue for the biggest names in country music, including himself. Buck and the Buckaroos played there every Friday and Saturday night until his death in 2006.

Jim Shaw, a member of the Buckaroos and a director of the Buck Owens Private Foundation, said that after 28 years of running the famed venue, the Owens family plans to step back and find new owners amid a challenging business climate. The foundation said in a statement that “since Buck’s passing in 2006, we’ve tried to maintain the excellence that he expected, even as it became more and more difficult during these challenging times of increasing food and labor costs.”

The venue is not closing and scheduled events will continue as planned, Shaw said.

“It’s business as usual for now,” Shaw said. “Ideally, someone who wants to keep it exactly as it is will come forward.”

Owens’ youngest son, Johnny Owens, wrote on Facebook that the family’s hope “is that a buyer steps forward with a vision for the future and a reverence” for his father and the Bakersfield Sound.

The Crystal Palace, located on Buck Owens Boulevard, is a major tourism staple for Bakersfield. The 18,000-square-foot venue is next to the city’s downtown entrance.

“It’s the No. 1 tourist attraction in Bakersfield,” Shaw said. “There are people stepping forward and we are waiting to see what happens. I am getting a lot of phone calls. I’m anxious to see what happens.”



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2nd local radio host says they were given questions ahead of Biden interview

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A second local radio host on Saturday told ABC News that he was provided a list of questions in advance of his interview with President Joe Biden this week.

“Yes, I was given some questions for Biden,” Earl Ingram of CivicMedia told ABC News. Ingram, a prominent host of a Wisconsin radio station, interviewed Biden this week in the wake of his debate performance.

Ingram said he was given five questions and ended up asking four of them.

“I didn’t get a chance to ask him all the things I wanted to ask,” he said.

Ingram is the second interviewer who now says they were provided questions by Biden aides to ask the president this week. Earlier today, another local radio host who interviewed Biden this week told CNN she was given questions to ask Biden before the interview.

PHOTO: President Joe Biden speaks to supporters during a campaign rally at Sherman Middle School, on July 5, 2024, in Madison, Wisconsin.  (Scott Olson/Getty Images)PHOTO: President Joe Biden speaks to supporters during a campaign rally at Sherman Middle School, on July 5, 2024, in Madison, Wisconsin.  (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

PHOTO: President Joe Biden speaks to supporters during a campaign rally at Sherman Middle School, on July 5, 2024, in Madison, Wisconsin. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

“We do not condition interviews on acceptance of these questions, and hosts are always free to ask the questions they think will best inform their listeners,” the Biden campaign told ABC News on Saturday.

Ingram told ABC he didn’t see anything necessarily wrong with the practice. “To think that I was gonna get an opportunity to ask any question to the President of the United States, I think, is a bit more than anybody should expect,” he said.

He continued that he was grateful for the opportunity to interview Biden at all.

“Certainly the fact that they gave me this opportunity … meant a lot to me,” Ingram said.

MORE: Wealthy Democratic donors sound alarm over Biden staying in race

On CNN earlier today, Andrea Lawful-Sanders, the host of WURD’s “The Source,” said Biden officials provided her with a list of eight questions ahead of their interview with Biden.

“The questions were sent to me for approval; I approved of them,” she said.

“I got several questions — eight of them,” she continued. “And the four that were chosen were the ones that I approved.”

Responding to Lawful-Sanders, Biden campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt said in a statement that it’s not “uncommon” for interviewees to share topics they would prefer. She noted that Lawful-Sanders was “free” to ask any questions she saw fit. She also noted that it was the campaign who sent over the questions and not the White House as other reports claim.

Lawful-Sanders did note in her interview with CNN that she ultimately “approved” the questions provided.

“It’s not at all an uncommon practice for interviewees to share topics they would prefer. These questions were relevant to news of the day – the president was asked about this debate performance as well as what he’d delivered for black Americans,” the statement said.

“We do not condition interviews on acceptance of these questions, and hosts are always free to ask the questions they think will best inform their listeners. In addition to these interviews, the President also participated in a press gaggle yesterday as well as an interview with ABC. Americans have had several opportunities to see him unscripted since the debate.”

A source familiar with the Biden booking operation told ABC News that moving forward they will “refrain” from offering suggested questions to interviewers.

“While interview hosts have always been free to ask whatever questions they please, moving forward we will refrain from offering suggested questions.”

2nd local radio host says they were given questions ahead of Biden interview originally appeared on abcnews.go.com



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President George W. Bush turns 78 years old

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George W. Bush, born on July 6, 1946, in New Haven, Connecticut, was the 43rd President of the United States.

Bush was born to parents Barbara Bush and former President George H. W. Bush. He has five siblings; Jeb Bush, Marvin Bush, Neil Bush, Dorothy Bush Koch and Pauline Robinson Bush. Pauline was diagnosed with leukemia and passed away at age three.

He was formerly the Republican Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000.

WHY FORMER PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH IS WINNING … THE POST-PRESIDENCY

Bush was first elected to the White House in November 2000, and officially began his first term as president in January 2001, after he defeated Democrat Al Gore during the presidential election. Bush was reelected to his second term as the incumbent in November 2004, when he prevailed over Democrat John Kerry, and led the United States until January 2009 before handing over his torch to former President Barack Obama.

Bush married Laura Bush on November 5, 1977, the day after her 31st birthday, in her hometown of Midland, Texas. The couple were engaged in September 1977, and married less than two months later in a Methodist church. Bush and Laura met at a barbecue, and he took her to play mini-golf on their first date. 

The Bush’s share twin daughters, Barbara Pierce Bush and Jenna Bush Hager, born on November 25, 1981. Today, the couple also share four grandchildren; Mila, Poppy, Hal and Cora.

GEORGE BUSH, FORMER FIRST LADY ISSUE STATEMENT ON AFGHANISTAN WITH MESSAGE TO US TROOPS, VETERANS

During his presidency, Bush cared for his English springer spaniel, Spot Fetcher, who accompanied him to meetings in the Oval Office and on adventures throughout the White House. The dog was born to his parent’s dog, Millie.

On September 11, 2001, less than one year into Bush’s presidency, the Twin Towers in New York City were attacked by terrorists when airplanes hit both buildings, causing a collapse and thousands of lives lost. At the time, Bush was reading to elementary-aged children at a school in Sarasota, Florida. He was calmly and quietly advised of the attacks and quickly returned to Washington, where he was briefed alongside Vice President Dick Cheney.

Bush was regarded highly for his poise while learning of the attacks and for his demonstration of patriotism and leadership in the uncertain days and weeks following the hijackings of multiple planes on the day that shook America to her core.

SADDAM CAPTURED ‘LIKE A RAT’ IN RAID

On December 30, 2003, during Bush’s first term as POTUS, Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi leader and executor of the 9/11 attacks on the U.S., was captured by the American military

In the early morning of December 30, 2006, during Bush’s presidency, Hussein was hanged and executed for his crimes against humanity. Americans across the nation celebrated the death of Hussein and applauded Bush for promising the country he would take him out and following through.

While Bush was regarded for his dealings with the terrorist attacks, the signing of No Child Left Behind Act and the Patriot Act and the creation of the United States Department of Homeland Security, many Americans were unhappy with the sanctions of interrogation techniques, the war in Iraq and taxes while he was president.

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