Awkward! Republican lawmakers join Hunter Biden at president’s first state dinner, joining Hollywood stars, fashion influencers and business titans
- Hunter Biden, wife Melissa and president’s daughter Ashley join President Joe Biden and Jill Biden’s first state dinner
- Bidens honor President Emmanuel Macron of France
- Several Republicans are also attending the black-tie event
- House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy brushed off a question about whether it will be awkward attending a dinner with the president’s son
- GOP lawmakers have vowed to investigate Hunter Biden when they take control of the House in January
- ‘I’m at dinner with my mom so I’m going to have a great time,’ he said
Hunter Biden is joining titans of industry, stars of the fashion world and Hollywood celebrities for President Joe Biden and Jill Biden‘s first state dinner.
Several Republicans are also attending the event honoring President Emmanuel Macron of France and his wife Brigitte.
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy brushed off a question about whether it will be awkward attending a dinner with the president’s son, who GOP lawmakers have vowed to investigate when they take control of the House in January.
‘I’m at dinner with my mom so I’m going to have a great time,’ he said.
Other Biden family members will also be present: the president’s sister Valerie Biden Owens and his daughter Ashley Biden. Hunter’s wife Melissa Cohen Biden is also attending.
Ashley, in a floor-length blue gown, said she brought her best friend from college as her guest.
Several celebrities are also attending, including actress Jennifer Garner, who brought her daughter Violet, Ariana DeBose, John Legend, Chrissy Teigen, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
From the fashion world, Vogue editor Anna Wintour brought director Bazmark Luhrmann. Wintour recently put first lady Jill Biden and the Bidens’ granddaughter Naomi on its digital cover in honor of Naomi’s wedding.
‘Well what girl doesn’t want to be in Vogue for her wedding,’ Wintour said when asked how Vogue got the Bidens to pose.
Wintour arrived wearing black sunglasses, which she kept on as she walked through the East Wing entrance toward the state rooms in the White House.
Bernard Arnault, the head of fashion powerhouse Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy, and Apple CEO Tim Cook also walked the red carpet.
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, who brought his mom Roberta, brushed off a question about whether it will be awkward attending a dinner with the president’s son Hunter, who the GOP have vowed to investigate
Director Baz Luhrmann and Anna Wintour, wearing her signature shades, arrive for the State Dinner
Actress Ariana DeBose arrives for the State Dinner
Actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus and her son actor Charlie Hall
Late night talk show host Stephen Colbert and his wife Evelyn McGee-Colbert
Chief Executive Officer of Apple Tim Cook arrives at the State dinner
More than 350 guests in sweeping gowns and tuxedos will descend upon the White House for an evening of music, toasts and amore.
Guests will walk through a snow-covered forest in the White House’s East Wing, which is decorated for Christmas, and gather under a glass pavilion on the South Lawn for the dinner.
Chandeliers that will hang above them; candles will light the night sky; and images fleurs de lis, stained-glass roses and irises will be flashed on the pavilion walls.
It will be heated too.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden with French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron wave from the Blue Room Balcony
President Emmanuel Macron and President Joe Biden shake hands in the Oval Office
First lady Jill Biden previewed the night to come on Wednesday.
‘The design of this dinner was inspired by the shared colors of our flags – red, white, and blue – and our common values: liberty and democracy, equality and fellowship. These form the bedrock upon which our enduring friendship was built,’ she said.
Eight weeks of planning went into Thursday night’s dinner.
The White House staff had outside help from Fête, an event planning and design production firm out of New York led by founder Jung Lee.
At the sit-down dinner, the tables will be covered in blue table clothes. Arrangements of red and white flowers, sprinkled with red candles, will form the centerpieces.
The flower arrangements feature France’s national flower, the iris, and American Beauty roses. There will also be piano roses to honor President Macron’s love of the piano.
The gold and white plates that guests will dine off of are rented. Typically state dinners use official White House china from one of the previous administrations but those place settings are not allowed outside the White House. Because the dinner is taking place out on the South Lawn, the china settings can’t be used.
Completing the table’s look are short French-forged champagne vessels that will feature American sparkling wine.
In addition to the lobster, caviar, triple cooked butter potatoes, beef and squash raviolo are on the menu.
American wine is being served – all picked by the first lady.
‘We had a tasting,’ said White House social secretary Carlos Elizondo.
White House Executive Chef Cris Comerford said the cuisine was inspired by the seasons.
‘We want to honor everything that is beautifully American,’ she noted.
‘The first thing that we consider is the season and next thing is the preferences of the guests because we want to honor the things that they like,’ she said. ‘Everything is very well thought of and very thoughtfully made, and it so happens that the White House garden had the squashes ready for us so what you see in the raviolo came from the garden.’
US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden welcome French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron to the White House
The table settings are a nod to the colors in the French and American flags – red, white and blue
White House Executive Chef Cris Comerford (left) and White House Executive Pastry Chef Susie Morrison (right) show off the plates of food that will be served at the state dinner
White House Executive Pastry Chef Susie Morrison created the dessert: orange chiffon cake, poached pears and crème fraiche ice cream.
‘Then, in the very front, we’ve placed the flags of the United States and France on the outer part of the cake,’ she said as she displayed her work.
The Statue of Liberty will be the backdrop for the President Biden’s toast and is featured in the menu programs, which have navy covers with the gold seal of the United States.
A graphic rendering of the Statue of Liberty is on translucent paper on the first and last pages of the menu.
The statue was a gift from the people of France.
‘This State Dinner will not only reflect the shared colors, history, and values of the United States and France, it also shows the warmth and heart of our First Lady and this White House,’ said Elizondo.
Guests will be feted by Grammy-winner musician Jon Batiste, accompanied by his father, Michael Batiste, and ‘The President’s Own’ United States Marine Band, and the Army and Air Force Strolling Strings.
Batiste is a New Orleans native. The Macrons will visit that city on Friday for several cultural programs.
Thursday’s dinner is the hottest ticket in town as lawmakers, Democratic donors and longtime friends of the Bidens want to attend.
Elizondo said many parts of the government were involved in deciding who got the coveted invitation.
‘Many offices have been involved in and, you know, we’re trying to sort of bring in all the many supporters and, and friends of the President, the First Lady for their first state dinner,’ he said.
The cost of the dinner hasn’t been announced. It’s paid for by the State Department since it’s an official state occasion.
The menu programs have navy colors and feature the Statue of Liberty
The dinner plates: Butter Poached Maine Lobster; American Osetra Caviar; Delicata Squash Raviolo (left) and Tarragon Sauce Calotte of Beef; Shallot Marmalade Triple Cooked Butter Potatoes Sunchoke; Creamed Watercress Red Wine Reduction (right)
Cheese course: Rogue River Blue; Oregon Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog; Soft Ripened Goat Cheese and the Dessert Course: Orange Chiffon Cake; Roasted Pears with Citrus Sauce; Crème Fraiche Ice Cream
The program for Thursday night’s state dinner
The table settings include gold and white plates and French-forged champagne vessels
The flower arrangements feature France’s national flower, the iris, and American Beauty roses
The Bidens’ first state dinner is happening nearly two years into his term – by comparison Barack Obama had six at this point of his. But the COVID pandemic delayed the normal pageantry that comes with a visit by a foreign leader.
Macron was also the guest for Donald Trump’s first state dinner.
Biden and Macron’s relationship got off to a rocky start. At one point, Macron briefly recalled France’s ambassador to the United States after the White House announced a deal to sell nuclear submarines to Australia, undermining a French contract.
But the relationship has mended and Macron has been one of Biden’s staunchest allies in the response to Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine.
Biden and Macron tried to paint over their economic tensions on Thursday when the U.S. President hinted there is room to change the climate subsidies his French counterpart called a threat to Europe.
In a private meeting in the Oval Office, the two leaders went head-to-head over Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act and policies that Macron says will kill jobs.
Afterward, Biden defended his plan to revive America’s economy, which includes $368 billion to fund green technology for U.S. manufacturers.
‘I make no apology’ for it,’ he said.
But, in an effort to try and ease friction, he conceded his landmark legislation has ‘glitches’ that need to be fixed in order not to harm Europe.
‘There’s obviously going to be glitches in it and [we] need to reconcile changes in it,’ he admitted without going into detail about what those might be.
He described them as ‘tweaks that we can make that can fundamentally make it easier for European countries to participate.’
Both leaders agreed to continue discussing the matter on a staff level. And, during a joint press conference at the White House, both Biden and Macron tried to spin an issue at has been an underlying tension during what is supposed to be a friendly visit.
Macron surprised some officials when he threw a diplomatic hardball at the American president shortly after coming to the U.S. shores, warning Biden the IRA, as the Inflation Reduction Act as known, would cost France ‘a lot of jobs.’ He urged Biden to ‘fix it.’
Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron tried to paint over their economic tensions on Thursday when the U.S. President hinted there is room to change the climate subsidies his French counterpart called a threat to Europe
The French and American president held a joint press conference at the White House after a private meeting where they discussed Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act
The Bidens and the Macrons ate at Fiola Mare on Wednesday evening – an Italian restaurant on the bank of the Potomac River where an entree runs between $50 and $150. The menu includes a variety of pasta, seafood and cheeses
But, in public comments at the White House, standing next to Biden in the ornate East Room, Macron sounded a more conciliatory note.
‘France simply did not come to ask for an exemption for our economy but simply to discuss the consequences of this legislation,’ he said.
‘The wish of president Biden is to be building a strong industry here and to secure some technology solutions for the future. France wishes exactly the same thing for itself,’ the French President added. ‘We want to succeed together, not one against the other.’
Biden also argued his legislation was necessary due to the economic downturn that came after the COVID pandemic but said, now that inflation has started to drop, tweaks can be made.
‘It was never intended when I wrote the legislation, I never intended to exclude folks who were cooperating with us. That was not the intention,’ he said.
‘My point is we’re back in business. Europe is back in business. And we’re going to continue to create manufacturing jobs in America but not at the expense of Europe,’ he added.
It remains to be seen if his words will placate Macron and other European leaders, who are worried about the economic fallout.
