RIO DE JANEIRO — President Biden missed a group photo of world leaders at Monday's G20 summit. A confused Poole reporter was heard telling a colleague that the commander-in-chief was “behind the palm trees!”
Mr Biden, 81, omitted the family photo, as there had previously been speculation that he wanted to avoid being seen smiling with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The White House later blamed “logistical issues” and said Biden's failure to take the photo was simply bad timing.
“Oh my god…they took it!” an American journalist says in a pooled video feed after other leaders shake hands and smile without the outgoing commander in chief. I heard it.
“Yes, he's right there… behind the palm trees now!” the unidentified reporter warned his colleagues.
Biden's press secretary later claimed that G20 organizers did not wait long enough for him to arrive alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was not pictured, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who was also not pictured. I failed to take a picture.
“Due to logistical issues, we took photos early before all the leaders arrived,” an anonymous US official told reporters.
After being relegated to the back corner of a group photo at the APEC meeting in Lima, Peru, on Saturday, Biden grabbed yet another embarrassing headline — Chinese President Xi Jinping alongside host country President Dina Bolarte. This is because he occupied a central position in the front row.
Even though then-President Donald Trump appeared in the center of two group photos at the 2017 APEC meeting in Vietnam, the White House was criticized for the optics of the photos, which were widely reported. He expressed his anger at the issue and argued that it was simply a matter of alphabetical order. .
Biden experienced a number of other unpleasant optics incidents involving Xi during his time in Peru, but Xi was involved in a far more elaborate incident when he completed a massive new port on the Peruvian coast. I received a warm welcome.
Biden had to go to President Xi's hotel for the bilateral meeting, but the White House blamed it on a minor change in locale between the hosts.
Biden was then forced to travel to Lima's airport through crowds of people lining the streets waving Chinese flags.
Photos of the outgoing president surfaced as big news after he refused to answer questions from reporters about other matters during his trip, prompting furious journalists to wonder why he was hiding. shouted someone on the tarmac, asking if he was holding a placard that read “Ukraine?” and “West?”
Biden has not responded to questions from the media since the Nov. 5 election, which Vice President Kamala Harris lost to former President Donald Trump, who will take office on Jan. 20.
