During a bilateral sit down on the sidelines of the Quad Leaders’ Summit in Tokyo, Albanese — who led the Australian Labor Party to victory in Saturday’s general election — regaled the President with a story about coming to America for five weeks as a guest of the State Department.
“You could design a theme [for the program], and mine was — I wanted to see the interaction of groups with the U.S. government,” said Albanese, 59. “So I did everything from the National Rifle Association to the Sierra Club to Planned Parenthood to the full — the full kit and caboodle across the spectrum.”
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At the citation of the NRA, Biden stood up and began to walk away before stopping to tell Albanese, “You’re a brave man.”
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“I am,” Albanese responded.
“You’re a brave man,” Biden repeated, later adding, “The Sierra Club and the National Rifle …”
”But it was an — an opportunity to see the — the full diversity of the way that the country operates,” said Albanese, who fondly remembered getting security briefings in Hawaii and noting that “the U.S. State Department was good enough as well to manage to justify a trip to Vegas as well.”
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“And I had security briefings in — in Hawaii on the way back. And then — the U.S. State Department was good enough as well to manage to justify a trip to Vegas as well. (Laughter.) I’m not quite sure — I’m not quite sure where that fitted in, but it was a — it was a good trip indeed.”
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In an earlier meeting with Albanese and the two other leaders in the Quad — Japanese Prime Minister Kashida Fumio and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi — Biden quipped with the Australian leader about attending the high-level summit so soon after his election.
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“I welcome you to your first Quad meeting. Like I said, you got on a plane — you were sworn in and got on a plane. And I’m — if you fall asleep while you’re here, it’s okay. Because I don’t know how you’re doing it,” Biden said.
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“It is really quite extraordinary. Just getting off the campaign trail as well,” he said.
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