Jason Walls: ZB political editor on Prime Minister Chris Luxon meeting Joe Biden at Washington DC gathering

Prime Minister Chris Luxon's enjoyed a variety of discussions with fellow leaders in Washington DC for the NATO Summit.

President Joe Biden has hosted a White House dinner with NATO partners.

ZB political editor Jason Walls is travelling with the Prime Minister.

He says Luxon described meeting Biden, and some other interactions, in a statement to media.

"He didn't go into detail in the statement as to what they talked about - but it did go on to say that he talked all things Hobbit with the Prime Minister of Italy."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good Father due to see LS go to Washington. Prime
Minister Chris Luxon has just got to meet US President
Joe Biden. He's wrapped up a dinner at the White House,
which is of course attended by all NATO's allies heads
Estate and Jason wols is our political editor in Washington.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hey, Jason coome on, Good afternoon, Heather.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
So do we know how this came about?

Speaker 2 (00:16):
That?

Speaker 1 (00:16):
How long did they chat for? Where did they chat?
What happened?

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Well, it was the White House banquet dinner thrown by
Joe Biden. So it started at roughly eight pm Washington time,
which was around midday New Zealand time, and it wrapped
up a couple of hours later. And so we probing
journalists just wanted to get a little bit of an
insight as to what happened. So we got a wee
statement from the Prime Minister saying who he met with

(00:39):
and briefly what he talked about. Of course, he met
with US President Joe Biden and the first Lady, and
he said he had a nice chat with the Prime
with the President, who expressed his love for New Zealand.
He also had a good chat with the newly elected
British Prime Minister Sir Kiirstarma, and he congratulated him on

(01:00):
the election victory. And then also interesting he interestingly he
spoke with President Zelenski as well. It didn't go into
detail the statement as to what they talked about, but
it did go on to say that he quote talked
all things hobbit with the Prime Minister of Italy. So
quite a few different conversations going on.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
Yeah, it sounds like he's quite taken with her. I
described her as delightful. Yeah, is in Washington? Is Biden
all that anyone's talking about?

Speaker 2 (01:29):
It is the only story that's happening here. And of
course the NATO summit was supposed to be all about
Russia's invasion of a Ukraine and some more aid going
that way. But of course this story about Joe Biden
and his if he's fit to run for president again
is the only story that people are talking about, more
so than if Donald Trump is somebody who should be

(01:49):
on the Republican ticket. And this morning it got to
this peak level of interest I think for the retail consumer,
with George Clooney penning a letter saying essentially, Joe Biden,
you should stand aside now, a lot of Americans might
have heard some some senators or some congress people that
they might never have heard of before say that Joe
Biden should step down. They would have seen the debates

(02:11):
and seen it for themselves. But given that George Clooney
is such a household name, I think this has pushed
it to a whole nother level for the president.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
Yeah, I would actually agree with you on that, Jason.
Thank you very much. Jason Wall's News Talk zibb's political
editor in Washington. For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive,
listen live to News Talk zib from four pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio