OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Joe Biden was “literally” not aware of an international incident between the United States and France with led to France briefly recalling its ambassador.
Climate Envoy John Kerry made the revelations in an interview broadcast on French television this week, Fox News reported.
“[Biden] asked me. He said, ‘What’s the situation?’ And I explained- he had not been aware of that. He literally had not been aware of what had transpired,” he said. And I don’t want to go into the details of it, but suffice it to say, that the president, my president is very committed to strengthening the relationship and making sure that this is a small event of the past and moving on to the much more important future.”
“We have a relationship with France that is so much bigger than this moment of what happened with respect to a lack of communication,” the climate envoy said. Adding that there is an “understanding that we have so much to work on.”
“Our commitment…to our ability to work together is much, much stronger to any of these differences over the last few days,” he said. “President Biden looks forward to meeting with President Macron and I’m absolutely confident that the bigger issues we have to work on, about nuclear weapons, about cyber warfare, about climate…we have a lot of work to do and we can’t get lost in a momentary event that I think we will get past very quickly.”
John Kerry admits in interview with French TV that Joe Biden had no idea about the fallout with the French from the AUKUS sub deal.
"He literally had not been aware of what had transpired" pic.twitter.com/EblvE05zKg
— POLARIS (@polarisnatsec) October 5, 2021
The news had some important members of Congress wondering what else Biden is not aware of and who is in charge.
.@ClimateEnvoy John Kerry says @POTUS isn’t consulted on reactions of key US Allies. This could explain disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal & Biden Admin selling out Eastern European allies in NATO & Ukraine while waiving sanctions on Nord Stream 2 pipeline, Sen. Bill Hagerty said on Twitter.
.@ClimateEnvoy John Kerry says @POTUS isn't consulted on reactions of key US Allies. This could explain disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal & Biden Admin selling out Eastern European allies in NATO & Ukraine while waiving sanctions on Nord Stream 2 pipeline. https://t.co/RNaa2vsaJg
— Senator Bill Hagerty (@SenatorHagerty) October 5, 2021
“What else does Joe Biden not know??” Rep. Jim Banks said.
What else does Joe Biden not know?? https://t.co/TSdF9ghKoF
— Jim Banks (@RepJimBanks) October 5, 2021
“Remember, questioning the 78-year-old president’s ability to remember what he’s been told in briefings, or handle the pressures of the job, is absolutely unacceptable, or at least that is what I keep getting told,” National Review correspondent Jim Geraghty said.
Remember, questioning the 78-year-old president’s ability to remember what he’s been told in briefings, or handle the pressures of the job, is absolutely unacceptable, or at least that is what I keep getting told.https://t.co/KF5OOrVgDX
— Jim Geraghty (@jimgeraghty) October 5, 2021
France had recalled its ambassadors to the United States and Australia in September in response to being excluded from a deal to build nuclear-powered submarines for Canberra’s navy as China continues to exert undue influence over the region and expand its own naval fleet.
“At the request of the President of the Republic, I have decided to immediately recall our two ambassadors to the United States and Australia to Paris for consultations,” said French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.
“This exceptional decision is justified by the exceptional gravity of the announcements made on 15 September by Australia and the United States,” Le Drian added.
The foreign minister cited the cancellation of the submarine deal specifically as the reason for the recall.
“The cancellation of the Attack class submarine program binding Australia and France since 2016, and the announcement of a new partnership with the United States meant to launch studies on a possible future cooperation on nuclear-powered submarines, constitute unacceptable behavior between allies and partners, whose consequences directly affect the vision we have of our alliances, of our partnerships and of the importance of the Indo-Pacific for Europe,” Le Drian said.
In addition, France’s ambassador to Australia, Jean-Pierre Thebault, was recalled as well and he said that his country was “deliberately kept in the black” about being cut out of the submarine deal.
French Defense Minister Florence Parly also issued a joint statement with Le Drian:
The American choice to exclude a European ally and partner such as France from a structuring partnership with Australia, at a time when we are facing unprecedented challenges in the Indo-Pacific region, whether in terms of our values or in terms of respect for multilateralism based on the rule of law, shows a lack of coherence that France can only note and regret.
President Joe Biden announced the trilateral deal between the U.S., the UK, and Australia to build the nuclear-powered subs, Australia’s first, as the continent races to replace its aging conventionally-powered sub fleet while China’s navy dramatically expands.
