President Joe Biden plans to flee Washington this weekend for his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, as the crisis in the Middle East continues and chaos over the House speakership has left Congress unable to act. can help.
In the Middle East, Israel is preparing a ground invasion of Gaza, while US forces are targeting Iraq and Syria, with the clock ticking to get more American hostages back now that the first two were released.
On Capitol Hill, Rep. Jim Jordan’s third attempt to serve as speaker failed, creating even more uncertainty about when the House Republican Party would choose a new speaker.
The 80-year-old president returns Wednesday from a whirlwind trip to Israel, where he spent seven hours on the ground, meeting with Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu and those directly affected by Hamas’ horrific Oct. 7 terror attack.
The second half of the Middle East trek was canceled after a rocket hit a hospital in Gaza, prompting Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to cancel a planned meeting in Amman, Jordan with Biden, Jordan’s King Abdullah II and the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
President Joe Biden (left) and first lady Jill Biden (right) return to their home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, this weekend. They are photographed reading and napping on the beach during a trip to the seaside in August
President Joe Biden often takes bike rides when he and first lady Jill Biden spend time at their $2.74 million home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware
Instead, the leaders spoke by phone as Biden returned to the United States.
The president then gave a speech in the Oval Office on Thursday evening – only the second time he has used the historic site to deliver a speech – to make clear to Americans that the US should fund both Ukraine’s and Israel’s war efforts.
Although Russian President Vladimir Putin and the terrorist group Hamas, responsible for the Oct. 7 terror attack in Israel, “represent different threats,” they share a common goal, Biden said.
“They both want to completely destroy a neighboring democracy,” he said.
“We cannot and will not let terrorists like Hamas and tyrants like Putin win,” the president argued.
On Friday, before hitting the beach, Biden entertained leaders of the European Union, President Charles Michel of the European Council and President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission.
von der Leyen praised Biden for making the trip to Israel on Wednesday.
The Bidens own a $2.74 million vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where the president and first lady will spend the weekend amid the Middle East crisis — and a chaotic speakers’ race on Capitol Hill
President Joe Biden (right) walks on the sand in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, with three of his grandchildren and his daughter Ashley
‘I would like to thank you for your remarkable visit to Israel. It is important to show solidarity with Israel, (the) victim of the worst attack since the Shoah,” she said, using the Hebrew word for the Holocaust.
Von der Leyen has also visited Israel since the October 7 terrorist attack.
“What I saw was barbaric,” she said. “The impact on Israeli society cannot be overstated.”
She also called it “crucial” to provide humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
News emerged Friday afternoon that two American hostages, kidnapped by Hamas and dragged into Gaza during the October 7 attack, would be released.
“Our fellow citizens have endured a terrible ordeal over the past fortnight, and I am overjoyed that they will soon be reunited with their families, who are tormented by fear,” the president said in a statement.
“From the earliest moments of this attack, we have worked around the clock to free American citizens held hostage by Hamas, and we have not halted our efforts to secure the release of those still held,” Biden said. also said.
Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets launched from the Gaza Strip on Friday, amid the current crisis in the Middle East, after the terrorist group Hamas attacked Israeli civilians on October 7 in an attack that killed 1,300 people.
On Friday, President Joe Biden met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (left) and European Council President Charles Michel (second from left)
Rep. Jim Jordan lost his third vote to become Speaker of the House of Representatives on Friday, with no clear end in sight to the chaos overwhelming Capitol Hill
Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, the search for a new speaker of the House of Representatives remained up in the air after Republican Rep. Jim Jordan’s bid failed again in a third floor vote.
Biden will participate in a political fundraiser in the Washington, D.C., area early Friday evening before heading to the Delaware coast.
During trips to Rehoboth, President and First Lady Jill Biden often read on the beach or go biking near their $2.74 million beach house.
Republicans were already preparing to criticize his escape.
“Biden asks no questions while his handlers force the press out of the room. Later today, Biden will go to the beach,” the RNC Research account posted on Xwith images of Biden during his meeting with European leaders.