By BEN GITTLESON, ABC News
(WASHINGTON) President Joe Biden on Thursday planned to deliver his first major foreign policy speech during a visit to the State Department where he signaled he would place diplomacy at the center of U.S. foreign policy. America is back, Biden told State Department staff who had assembled in person and virtually to hear him speak ahead of his address. Diplomacy is back. You are the center of all that I intend to do. You are the heart of it.
He also signed a presidential memorandum on Thursday that his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said would focus on protecting the rights of LGBTQ individuals worldwide. Sullivan told reporters that Biden would speak more about the move during his afternoon remarks.
Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images
By BEN GITTLESON and CONOR FINNEGAN, ABC News
(WASHINGTON) President Joe Biden will deliver his first major foreign policy speech in office Thursday during a visit to the State Department, where he is expected to talk about “reclaiming America’s role in the world” and restoring values to the center of U.S. foreign policy, according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
Biden’s speech, alongside Secretary of State Antony Blinken, will outline his foreign policy vision and how he will put diplomacy at the center of it, a senior administration official told ABC News a point driven home by the fact that the State Department will be the first federal agency he visits as president. He is also expected to take a series of executive actions while there, the official said.
2021-01-13 03:35:32 GMT2021-01-13 11:35:32(Beijing Time) Xinhua English
WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo s final trip abroad to Europe was cancelled on Tuesday with multiple reports saying European officials declined to meet the outgoing U.S. top diplomat.
State Department Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said in a Tuesday statement that Pompeo s trip was cancelled due to the transition with the incoming Joe Biden administration. We are expecting shortly a plan from the incoming administration identifying the career officials who will remain in positions of responsibility on an acting basis until the Senate confirmation process is complete for incoming officials. As a result, we are cancelling all planned travel this week, including the Secretary s trip to Europe, said the statement.