Entering a global scene upended by ego-driven tumult, Biden is hoping to return American diplomacy to a state of normalcy. His conversations with roughly a half-dozen leaders this week have hewed heavily toward amiable chats after four years of strain, with touchier topics left for later. French President Emmanuel Macron eschewed his translator to speak in English. German Chancellor Angela Merkel offered a quick invitation for a visit before she retires in the fall.
Putin himself seemed to fully anticipate the onslaught, according to a senior administration official, including Biden’s warning that new sanctions may be in the offing.
Biden’s call with Putin was kept buttoned-up before, during and after it happened, with security and preparation measures harkening back to the pre-Trump era, according to officials. The President’s tough talk on a range of issues signaled the abrupt readoption of long-standing US policies had fallen fell by the wayside over the past four years.
It also hinted at a renewed emphasis on protocol in the early days of the Biden administration, an extension of his concerted effort to restore a sense of normalcy to the presidency.
Working from a playbook
Each of Biden’s calls with world leaders this week has hewed to the same plan, according to officials familiar with the calls who described them to CNN. Unlike his predecessor, virtually all of Biden’s calls have happened in the Oval Office. Trump liked to phone his counterparts from the Treaty Room of the residence, with only one or two senior aides in attendance as others were patched in from the Situation Room or sensitive facilities.
For Biden, there were briefing binders and talking points, calls-before-the-call and a note-taker standing ready. When the prescribed hour arrived and the line was connected, an operator in the White House Situation Room patched it through to the Oval Office. A red light started to blink on one of the two black telephones positioned on the Resolute Desk. An aide tapped it and announced: “You are now on speakerphone with President Biden.”
Sitting in the Oval Office with a black pen in hand and a carefully crafted script in front of him, Biden has mostly been calling just to break the ice. His talks have so far lacked the freewheeling banter and open hostility that became a hallmark of Trump’s early calls with foreign leaders — and in the past colored some of Biden’s own interactions with his international interlocutors.
While Trump restricted the number of officials allowed to listen in on his phone calls, Biden has not, a person familiar with the process said. Aides with specific expertise in the countries or officials focused on an issue set being discussed on the call listened in or were provided with…
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