Sebastian Smith
@SebastianAFP
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AFP Washington desk chief. Formerly White House. Formerly formerly: Moscow, Chechnya, NYC, Rio de Janeiro, US #localnews . You say Thor, I say thaw.
Washington, DC
Joined November 2010
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CNN apologizing to viewers for not being able to warn them that the video compilation played by Zelensky to Congress would be so graphic. I think this was Zelensky's point: Americans need to see what war looks like, without the comfort blanket.
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@POTUS
arrives in Pittsburgh where he is met by Senate candidate John Fetterman (wearing a suit with long pants today)
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Trump in Erie, PA, says in US “the police aren’t allowed to do their job.”
To stop crime, you need “one really violent day.”
He says: “One rough hour and I mean real rough, the word would get out and it would end immediately.”
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The 1 pm remarks by President Biden on Afghanistan are not happening at 1... No new time announced by White House.
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Senator Bernie Sanders in the rain, outside the White House, attacking the “greed of the pharmaceutical industry.”
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US official describes Zawahiri op:
- ID'd family in Kabul
- Built up 'pattern of life'
- ID'd Z himself spending 'sustained periods' on balcony
- 3 months secret discussions, including Biden checking 'model of Zawahiri's house'
- July 25 authorization
- July 30 (US): 2 Hellfires
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Never been that into my own birthdays but today on Air Force One somewhere between Poland and the US,
@PressSec
and crew brought me surely the coolest cupcake I’ve ever had (and I’ve had a few).
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Biden says the Ford is seriously fast. Then to prove it he asks press to get out the way and floors the accelerator for another burst around the Dearborn testing site
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Each flower represents not only Navalny but some otherwise unremarkable person ready to get arrested on a Moscow winter’s day for placing that flower
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Latest Afghanistan evacuation figures from the White House: There have been approximately 25,100 personnel (on both military and coalitions flights) evacuated since August 14.
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What has to be one of the most unusual Oval Office meetings ever just ended with Kanye West jumping from seat and hugging Trump. “I love this guy,” Kanye said.
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Biden has just spoken to Zelensky about the fire (and firefight) at the nuclear power station in Ukraine, a senior official says
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Vladimir Putin: "We have taken the decision to conduct a special military operation."
He's speaking to the Russian nation.
It's just before 6 a.m. in Moscow.
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Per alarming report in NYT on supposed much higher coronavirus death tolls coming, White House says the document cited is not legit.
“Not a White House document nor has it been presented to the Coronavirus Task Force or gone through interagency vetting" - Judd Deere
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Meaningless or not, it was noticeable throughout this visit: Biden smiles quite a bit; DeSantis scowls quite a lot and smiles almost never.
DeSantis: We were very fortunate to have good coordination with the White House and FEMA.. We got a major disaster declaration approved by the President and we really appreciated that and that basically set off the massive mobilization that we had ready
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Say what you will but easy to forget how much diversity right there in the three people to Biden’s left. Covered lots of countries’ politics and it’s not that common.
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Dr Fauci, delivering straight news with a calm voice. “People say ‘are you overreacting?’ We’ve got to lose that.”
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The ageless
@steveholland1
of Reuters celebrates his birthday aboard AF1 on the way to London with a presidential cupcake
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Narrator: “what the recent leader of the world’s most powerful country didn’t know, perhaps, is that more than 20 journalists have been murdered since Putin took power.”
Trump: You know they say that in Russia the people in Russia don’t even know they’re having a war because they have a rigged press. We have the same rigged press. Maybe not quite as severe
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While President Yoon of South Korea, one of America’s closest allies, is on a State Visit to Washington
Trump: They're right next door to Kim Jong Un. He and I have a very good relationship… He’s not so happy with Biden. He says bad things about Biden.
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“I love ‘em man. They ain’t got no shame.”
@potus
still slinging barbs at Republicans but with the lighter touch tonight.
Biden does an impression of Republicans trying to take credit for legislation they didn’t vote for lol
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The “Trump cup,” officially known as the President’s Cup, is on display in Tokyo’s Palace hotel ahead of a sumo tournament being attended by POTUS. It’s quite the draw.
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Trump just spoke in public for the first time on his long trip to the Ohio and Texas massacre sites. One sentence stood out for passion -- and it was about the reaction to him: "The love, the respect for the office of the presidency, it was -- I wish you could there to see it."
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Extraordinary Western sanctions aim to completely hobble Russian state.
Senior US official tells reporters:
-Russia now 'a global economic and financial pariah'
-Russia now 'can't support the ruble'
-West to 'hunt down' Russian oligarchs' 'yachts, jets, fancy cars'
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"CNN was playing on the giant television screen in the conference room near the front of the plane."
Pooler
@seungminkim
confirms that someone has found the remote on Air Force One after four years of Fox News.
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Part of the news really is that there are people who are totally ok laughing and cheering adoringly, line on national TV, as the former president lies, insults and makes stuff up. Him calling Kaitlin Collins “nasty” is greeted like a masterpiece of verbal dexterity and wit.
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President Biden proposes SCOTUS overhaul:
- 18 year term limit (instead of lifetime today)
- reversal of presidential immunity (like that awarded to Donald Trump)
- binding code of conduct (targeting the type of behavior engaged in by Justice Thomas)
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The Beijing Olympics closing ceremony is in 12 hours. Russia’s tanks and missiles etc are reportedly now building up within a few miles of the Ukrainian border. President Biden he called a rare weekend meeting of his National Security Council for tomorrow.
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Great example of a statement that if made by Biden would provoke an absolute firestorm. It won’t for Trump, not at all, because it’s “just typical Trump.” This is and has been for years his political superpower.
Trump: 100% of the black people should vote for Trump because I did more for black people than any president other than Abraham Lincoln. It's true. It's true. I did more than any president other than Abraham Lincoln.
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Adam Schiff just now: "We're not fooling around here, though. We don't want this to drag on months and months and months, which appears to be the administration's strategy."
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Matthew McConaughey is an actor so you’d expect him to deliver more powerfully than Washington pols and media. But it’s the detail of his description of Uvalde that hits. Anger, smiles, near tears. At one moment he hit the
@PressSec
podium so hard that it shuddered.
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Um....
Biden in speech just now trying to recover his racial justice champ chops: "We have to recognize that kid wearing the hoodie, may very well be the next poet laureate, and not a gangbanger."
It's the way he says it...
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@POTUS
and Rep. Jim Clyburn tour the factory floor at Flex Ltd, which makes advanced solar panel components
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My last White House briefing after five years. Hard to believe (they also literally just installed comfy new seats in here). Thankful to my amazing colleagues whom I’ve learned so much from. Also thank you
@PressSec
for graciously (as ever) giving me a farewell shoutout.
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Trump hosts Fabiana Rosales, wife of Venezuelan opposition leader Guaido in the Oval Office. Trump said Maduro ally Russia “has to get out “ of Venezuela.
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Dear journalism students, this is a 'lede'
BREAKING: Donald Trump, who tried to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election and inspired a deadly riot at the Capitol in a desperate attempt to keep himself in power, has filed to run for president again in 2024.
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Have had some pretty cool meals on Air Force One -- they always feel like an adventure. Today was my last POTUS foreign trip before switching job and I went off-menu, requesting the classic, impossible-to-ruin, impossible-to-improve AF1 PB&J. Thank you USAF.
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Tim Cook of Apple, once referred to in this same building by Trump as Tim Apple, listens to President Joe Biden speak
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Trump said the immigration crisis at the border is so serious he had to override Congressional authority to seek funding. Congress just voted -- with help from Trump's own usually lockstep loyal Republican party -- to ride right back over him. He'll veto. But embarrassing rebuke.
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AFP: Russia expelled from World Cup following Ukraine invasion - FIFA
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President Biden announces Abrams tanks for Ukraine to fight “the truly brutal aggression by Russia.”
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@PressSec
takes questions from a regional reporter (this one in Alaska) beamed in by video. There’ll be a non-inside-the-Beltway reporter joining each day, Psaki said.
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The Biden-Macron state dinner is taking place in a kind of winter wonderland inside a temporary glass pavilion on the South Lawn
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A desperate call at night by Zelensky for the world to “wake up” after what he says is Russian “nuclear terror” in shooting at the nuclear power station. He says they have night vision equipment and know what they are hitting.
"Europe needs to wake up": Ukraine President Zelensky issues a dire plea to world powers as Europe's largest nuclear power plant is on fire from Russian shelling.
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Hey we missed the real news but us travel poolers are headed to Warsaw to catch up with
@POTUS
, using his usual plane. Because no POTUS aboard, it’s not Air Force One. Instead we get the designation “Special Air Mission 28” which is actually quite cool sounding.
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No longer comparing himself to dead Russian dissidents then?
Trump at the Black Conservative Federation Gala: I got indicted and lot of people said that’s why the black people like me…
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Bipartisan right there…
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Hard to know, since little reliable info avail.
But if Navalny dies, then add another to the list of people who openly opposed Vladimir Putin and either
(a) gave up opposing Putin
(b) didn't give up and then died -- some quickly, some slowly.
Navalny is basically the last one.
BREAKING: Alexei Navalny’s press secretary Kira Yarmysh reports that his condition has seriously deteriorated and to use her words, “he is dying”. She says he only has a couple of days after this 18 day hunger strike where he’s lost more than 50 pounds. Extremely disturbing news!
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Trump just tweeted “I am in the Oval Office”. Says he’s working, unlike the Dems. But when POTUS is in West Wing - ie in Oval Office - a marine always stands guard at that door. There has been no marine seen there this morning.
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@POTUS
celebrating the deal to avoid a crippling rail strike— and he’s telling his favorite Amtrak stories!
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Biden "sat down in the middle of a table, grabbing a piece of pepperoni and jalapeño pizza. The jalapeños made his eyes water, so he dabbed at them with a napkin and someone got him a glass of water."
@AshleyRParker
putting the spice into an A+ pool report
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"I don't believe the polls," Trump says. "They have a boat thing, 5,000 boats."
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Will the US send more artillery to Ukraine (major request from Ukrainians)? President Biden tells reporters here in New Hampshire: “Yes.”
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@charliespiering
Could it be as simple as not wanting to block the people he's visiting with, who are behind him, while still remaining center stage?
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Between
@DougJBalloon
,
@TheOnion
and, well, the actual media, there’s nowhere to turn when seeking that satire break
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Refugee Yolande Bukasa philosophical after losing Oly judo bout. 'the fight's not just judo. The fight is for life.'
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President Trump, speaking on bathroom issues: "You turn on the faucet and you don't get any water. They take a shower and the water comes dripping out. It's dripping out, very quietly dripping out. People are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once."
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Important difference in NYT version of this blockbuster story, compared to CNN report: "former intelligence officials said there was no public evidence that Mr. Trump directly endangered the source"
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Ukraine’s President Zelensky finally gets the White House meeting he wanted under Trump in 2019, before being caught up in the quid pro quo/impeachment storm
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All the people who said they "own the libs", how does it work -- do they have to give the libs back now?
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Per White House official:
“This morning, President Biden formally accepted an invitation to attend the State Funeral Service of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on September 19. He will be accompanied by the First Lady.”
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“This is one of those times where we aren’t Democrats or Republicans”
Biden: I want folks in all these states to know we’re going to get through this. We’re going to get through this together and the federal government is not going to walk away. This is one of those times where we aren’t Democrats or Republicans
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President Biden speaks at Fort Liberty. There are seats for everyone but no one is sitting.
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Putin: 'the decision will be taken. Today.'
-- and with that, the weird Putin national security meeting abruptly ends.
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The WHCA represents an amazing variety of outlets with one thing in common: professionalism. OAN's 'counterpoint' is a Kremlin-style attempt at creating parallel realities. QAnon will no doubt have a seat in the White House briefing room before we know it.
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Just loved, loved, working here. Thrilled, though, that
@AFP
has given me a chance to stay in the belly of the US news beast as head of our Washington desk. Follow my replacement
@dannyctkemp
. Top guy joining the GOAT
@AureliaEndAFP
(even if she never did fully accept my PB&Js).
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(Rare) joint White House/Elysee statement on subs spat:
1. French ambass. returns next week.
2. Macron, Biden agree 'consultations' would have avoided crisis.
3. Macron, Biden to meet end Oct
4. US agrees with Macron argument that bigger EU military role needed.
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“I brought the A team,”
@potus
says at the US-EU summit, flanked by Sec State Blinken and Commerce Sec Raimondo
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It’s a wrap.
@POTUS
leaves for a Bidenomics day trip to Maine and I cover my last South Lawn departure. Has been the greatest honor (and a lot of fun) working with this talented press corps. Leaving has yet to sink in. Thanks all of you.
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Mick Jagger. Havana. Half a million people. Delerious.
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President Biden leaves the Oval Office to board Marine One for a weekend at his beach house in Rehoboth. Next week he’ll be flying to Europe for a series of summits with allies on Russia’s Ukraine invasion.
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Japanese and US government delegations. Spot the difference.
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In Cambodia,
@potus
says the midterms mean he goes into Monday’s meeting with Xi Jinping “stronger”
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The White House on Inauguration Day. Donald Trump has six hours and a few minutes left as president.
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US: 'all options' on table if Maduro uses force in Venezuela
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President Biden with Danish PM Frederiksen. I asked
@POTUS
if the Ukrainian counteroffensive will work. He couldn’t respond verbally because the White House press officers were yelling so loudly for us to leave the Oval. But he looked at me and crossed his fingers
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Never, ever, ever underestimate how dumb people can be. A lot of the mysteries in the world become easier to process...
A Michigan woman tried to hire an assassin online at . Now, she’s going to prison.
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One of the LA Dodgers sporting a terrific matador vibe
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The president is either well enough to tweet or someone is tweeting in caps so that the public thinks he's well enough to tweet. Sadly the confusing messages from the doctors and the almost entirely contradictory message given right after by a top official mean we don't know.
OUR GREAT USA WANTS & NEEDS STIMULUS. WORK TOGETHER AND GET IT DONE. Thank you!
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After confirming the Biden-Putin summit idea, senior White House official puts down some major dampeners: “Timing to be determined. Format to be determined so it’s all completely notional.”
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Incrementally the picture seems to be darkening to an amazing degree. Are Americans in their media silos paying proper attention though?
NEW: Election denier Phil Waldron, who circulated a version of the Jan. 6 PowerPoint that Mark Meadows turned over to Congress, says he met with Meadows at the White House, spoke with Meadows 8-10 times and attended an Oval Office meeting on the election
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President Biden pushes Americans to get that vaccine, telling the doubters who claim there is something nefarious about mandates: “Vaccine requirements have been around for decades .”
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President Biden begins a cabinet meeting by touting the CHIPS Act and the IRA package as proof that “democracies can deliver for people”
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