President Joe Biden made a rare appearance at the White House press briefing Friday, taking questions from reporters on foreign policy, the 2024 election and the economy.
Biden thanked the Longshoremen's Union for reaching an agreement during a critical time, when the response to Hurricane Helene raised the stakes for commerce across the country.
"It was truly a service to the American people for all these parties to come together and respond to our request to keep the ports open," Biden said of the agreement.
The costs of Helene
Recovering from Helene, President Biden said, was "going to cost a lot of money. And I'm probably going to have to ask the Congress before we leave for more money to deal with some of those problems."
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On U.S. relations with Israel
Reporters asked if the president worried whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may try to influence the U.S. election by delaying a diplomatic solution to the war in Gaza.
"No administration has helped Israel more than I have," President Biden said. None. None. None. And I think Bibi should remember that. Whether he's trying to influence the election, I don't know. But I'm not counting on that."
President Biden said U.S. and Israeli military and diplomatic agents are in constant contact.
"We're not going to make a decision immediately. We're going to wait to see when they want to talk."
On the security of the U.S. election in November
"I'm confident it will be free and fair," President Biden said of the election. "I don't know whether it will be peaceful. The things that [former President Donald] Trump has said, and the things that he said last time out when he didn't like the outcome of the election were very dangerous."
"I noticed that the vice presidential Republican candidate did not say that he would accept the outcome of the election," President Biden said. "And they haven't even accepted the outcome of the last election. So I'm concerned about what they're going to do."
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