By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-19 19:12:45 | Updated at 2024-11-23 16:36:01
3 days ago
President Joe Biden got a second chance to grin for the cameras at the G20 in Rio – after the Brazilian government said his own tardiness was to blame for yesterday's botched group photo.
This time, Biden joined the array of world leaders who gathered for the hand-holding grip and grin meant to show solidarity even among the disparate members of a group that includes the U.S., China, and Russia. He did a quick jog entering a room where the gathering was organized and quickly took his position.
It came after the stunning group photo Monday where organizers went ahead with a photo even without Biden, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni, and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau. They then arrived on the scene after it was over after being spotted emerging from behind palm trees.
It was immediately seen as a potential slight to the lame duck president that the White House quickly tried to clean up on Biden's last overseas summit as president.
'Due to logistical issues, they took the photo early before all the leaders arrived,' a senior official told reporters traveling with Biden after the diss. 'So a number of leaders weren’t actually there when they took the photo.'
This time, Biden was positioned in the center of the group center next to Trudeau, who he chatted with amiably, as well as Meloni. The entire group clapped when the photo was over.
But there was still more behind-the-scenes drama about the photo in the twilight of Biden's term.
Paolo Pimenta, Brazil's minister of communications, told DailyMail.com in Rio that it was Biden who was at fault for the snap snafu.
2nd time's a charm: President Biden made it to a second group photo at the G20 after missing a different one Monday
'Biden was talking to Trudeau,' Pimenta said, speaking in his native Brazilian Portugese.
'Because Brazil is like this. When it's time, it's time.'
'It's British punctuality. But it will be sorted out,' he added. 'The photo yesterday was not a G20 photo...everyone thought it was the official photo but it wasn't.'
The drama of the moment got captured on footage that aired live on TV, as stunned members of the media realized that the photo was going ahead without the departing 'leader of the free world,' even as Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi mugged for the cameras.
It turned out that Biden strolled in late, after meeting with Trudeau and Meloni.
Biden, 81, tried to make the best of the situation with a post on X featuring the three amigos in exile Tuesday night.
'It was great to meet with Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada and Prime Minister Meloni of Italy today at the G20. We will continue to strengthen our alliances to make the world a better, safer place,' Biden said.
The post otherwise made no mention of the photo they missed.
The official said Biden's move was not some sort of a power play to avoid standing next to Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, as the Kremelin has been inveighing against a reported decision to allow Ukraine to use U.S. long range missiles to strike deep inside Russia.
'It was just simply logistical issues,' said the official.
Biden himself has acknowleded his departure from office at the summit, where he has had just a small interaction with reporter before a meeting with Xi and has not held a formal or even informal press conference.
He did get to put one bucket list stop on his itinerary with a four hour stopover in the Amazon.
Biden joined the group on the late side, and chatted with Canada's PM Justin Trudeau before the picture
Biden was up front with Trudeau and Giorgia Meloni of Italy
It came at a summit meeting that coincides with a state visit for Chinese President Xi Jinping
'It’s no secret that I’m leaving office in January,' Biden said Sunday in Peru. 'I will leave my successor and my country a strong foundation to build on, if they choose to do so.'
It wasn't his only photo incident with Meloni. Back at the G7 summit in Bari, Italy in June, it was Meloni who guided Biden back to a group photo after he wandered off in the direction of a paratrooper demonstration. That came weeks before Biden stepped back from his plan to run for reelection.
Biden was stunningly left out of a group photo of the world leaders gathered at the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro Monday after he arrived late - and they chose not to wait.
In a signal of how the world no longer bends to the leader of its most powerful nation, the photo went off without him, while other leaders including China's Xi Jinping and India's Narendra Modi gripped and grinned.
The event was played live on local Brazilian television as the culmination of work on a new Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty being championed by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
It also got captured on C-Span, as journalists who were there to memorialize the photo-op were amazed that it went on without Biden, 81.
The leaders were arrayed before a picturesque backdrop featuring Rio's internationally famous coastline, with its iconic Sugarloaf Mountain in the background.
Such 'family photo' events are a staple of international summits and meant to feature unity despite clashes over trade and territorial invasions and threats of war over lethal weapons.
A TV producer who was capturing the moment in real-time provided breathless commentary as it all unfolded.
'Where was he? They're telling them to wait for Biden, guys,' she said in video that got shared on social media, as Xi and other leaders stroll away. 'Oh my god!' she intoned.
President Joe Biden was late to a 'family photo' of the leaders attending the G20 summit in Rio. The assembled leaders grinned for the picture and left before Biden arrived
'Do you see him to the left? To the left of the palm tree,' she exclaims.'Oh my god ... He's behind the palm tree right now.'
Brazilian media carrying the event quickly zoomed in to show the tardy Biden, wearing a blue suit and aviator shades, approaching.
He arrived late with Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, getting there right after the photo session ended.
But it was too late. The photo was done, and the assembled leaders would not be saying 'cheese' again for the outgoing president.
Some of leaders gathered there, including China's Xi Jinping, have a long history of flouting U.S. pronouncements anyway.
White House officials did not respond to questions from DailyMail.com about why Biden was late, on a trip that has not featured a presidential press conference or less formal interactions with the press by the outgoing president.
It may not have been an intended slight, but it came as the lame duck president is heading for his final two months in office, with his successor vowing to rip up some of his most hard-fought achievements.
It was arranged to call attention to fighting global hunger in a country that features aching poverty around its metropolises. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva organized the initiative
Other leaders, including Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, South African Cyril Ramaphosa, President Chinese President Xi Jinping and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Alabanese, grinned during the group photo
It featured a stunning backdrop of Rio de Janeiro
Days ago at the APEC summit in Lima, Peru, Biden was about five minutes late for the family photo, which featured leaders sporting brown scarves made from Alpaca wool, a proud export of the country.
Biden was pictured near the back of an earlier APEC photo, but aides said it was for alphabetical reasons.
The family photo is dictated by alphabetical order - though Trump got a front row spot in the center, next to Russian President Vladimir Putin, during his one and only APEC appearance in Vietnam in 2017. Trump famously pushed aside the Montenegrin prime minister as he was lining up for a similar 'family photo' taken at the NATO summit in Brussels in 2017.
It comes on a trip to South America that began with Biden ignoring a series of questions about President-elect Donald Trump, as his successor made a series of extraordinary announcements about people he wants to install in his cabinet, including Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz as attorney general.
At both the APEC Summit in Lima and the G20 here in Rio, China’s President Xi Jinping is receiving an official state visit. In Peru that got him an elaborate welcome ceremony which far outshone Biden's.
Xi was positioned in the front row for the Rio photo.
It was a trip that also had Biden becoming the first sitting U.S. president to visit the rainforest. He announced new funds to preserve precious forests and a new International Conservation Day.
But his team faced repeated questions about whether his actions will be undone by the incoming Trump administration. Trump has called climate change 'a hoax.'
