Biden Macron news: President and Jill Biden host administration’s first state dinner with French guests

President Joe Biden blasted Russian President Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine in his remarks welcoming French President Emmanuel Macron.

“France and the United States are once again defending the democratic values and universal human rights which are the heart of both our nations,” he said. “The wellspring of our strength is a shared commitment to liberty and justice for all — liberté, egalité, fraternité.”

“We are proving to people around the world that democracies deliver, from our joint leadership to make sure partners everywhere — everywhere and parents everywhere can be — feed their children, to cooperate and to tackle the climate crisis, and preserve our planet for generations yet to come,” he added.

American and French support for Ukraine’s fight against Russian invasion forces will continue until Kyiv’s defence forces have emerged victorious, US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday following a marathon bilateral meeting during the French leader’s second state visit to the White House in just over four years.

In a joint statement issued following the conclusion of a meeting between the two leaders and their respective staffs, Mr Biden and Mr Macron said efforts to provide Ukraine with “provision of political, security, humanitarian, and economic assistance” will continue for “as long as it takes” and reaffirmed both nations’ “continued support for Ukraine’s defense of its sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

The leaders said the continued assistance would include “significant resources” for “Ukrainian civilian resilience” during the cold winter months, as well as “stepping up the delivery of air defense systems and equipment needed to repair Ukraine’s energy grid”.

Mr Biden and Mr Macron also said their respective nations intend to keep up provisioning “robust direct budget support” for Kyiv and encouraged international institutions to “scale up” the support already being provided.

Speaking at a press conference in the East Room of the White House following their bilateral meeting, Mr Biden said the French Republic has been “one of our strongest partners and our most capable allies” and called Mr Macron “a friend”.

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Mr Macron was asked if he believes the US will continue to support Ukraine after the Republicans take charge of the House in January.

Republicans have said that they will “not write a blank check” to the Ukrainians.

“I’m confident,” the French president said, adding that France will also boost its level of aid to Ukraine.

Mr Macron said support for Ukraine is about “our values” and that if they “abandon the full respect of these principles, that means there is no stability in this world”.

“We will never urge Ukrainians to make a compromise that will not be acceptable for them,” he added.

Mr Biden said he would be willing to speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin but that he wouldn’t do so without speaking to NATO allies.

He said he’s “prepared” to speak to Mr Putin but “I’m not going to do it on my own”.

Mr Biden said Mr Putin must show a willingness to end the war, something the Russian leader hasn’t done.

“I’m prepared if he’s willing to talk to find out what he’s willing to do,” Mr Biden said. “But I’ll only do it in consultation with my NATO allies.”

The American leader thanked his French counterpart for welcoming over 100,000 Ukrainian refugees to his shores, adding that such actions were “a mark of who you are as a people”.

“Putin thinks that he can crush the will of all those who oppose his imperial ambitions by attacking civilian infrastructures in Ukraine, choking off energy to Europe as a driver of crisis, [and] exacerbating [a] food crisis that’s hurting very vulnerable people not just in Ukraine, but around the world. And he’s not going to succeed,” he said.

Mr Macron said he would not elaborate on France’s work in Ukraine because Mr Biden had “perfectly” described the longtime allies’ joint efforts.

Mr Biden said the only way for the “sick” war in Ukraine to end would be for Russia and Vladimir Putin to “pull out”.

“But it appears he’s not going to do that. He’s paying a very heavy price for failing to do it, but he’s inflicting incredible, incredible carnage on the civilian population of Ukraine. Bombing nurseries, hospitals, children’s homes. It’s sick what he’s doing,” the president said.

He said he would be willing to talk to the Russian leader “if in fact there is an interest in him deciding he’s looking for a way to end the war — he hasn’t done that yet”.

“If that’s the case, in consultation with my French and my NATO friends, I’ll be happy to sit down with Putin to see what he wants, has in mind. He hasn’t done that yet. In the meantime, I think it’s absolutely critical what Emmanuel [Macron] said. We must support the Ukrainian people,” he added.

Mr Macron said that Ukraine will decide when it’s time to negotiate an end to the war, arguing that allies must not force Ukraine into a deal that would “not be acceptable for them”.

“We will never urge the Ukrainians to make a compromise which will not be acceptable for them,” he told the assembled press.

“They are so brave and they defend precisely their lives, their nation, and our principles. ... If we want a sustainable peace, we have to respect the Ukrainians to decide the moment and the conditions in which they will negotiate about their territory and their future,” Mr Macron added.

The US Supreme Court has declined to reinstate President Joe Biden’s plan to cancel student debt balances for millions of borrowers, but justices will hear oral arguments in the case in February.

The nation’s high court will review whether the Biden administration can legally cancel outstanding federal student loan debt balances up to $10,000 for roughly 40 million Americans, or $20,000 for borrowers who relied on Pell grants to fund their college and university admission.

A long-anticipated plan for widespread debt cancellation was met almost immediately with legal threats from conservative legal groups and Republican officials. Two lawsuits have successfully blocked the programme.

The US Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit granted a request from six Republican-led states for a nationwide injunction that halts the plan during the legal battle.

A federal judge in Texas in a separate case also ruled that the administration did not have authority to implement it and had unlawfully sidestepped Congress. The US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit rejected a request from the US Department of Justice to put the Texas ruling on hold during an appeal.

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