Daily Appointments

Although, not on the official appointment schedule, according to MarkKnoller, White House Correspondent for CBS news (and a great twitterer if I may say so myself...) Secretary Clinton and VP Joe Biden were having breakfast together this morning.

11:00 a.m. EST - Bilateral with His Excellency Sukhbaatar Batbold, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia. Read entire post

Daily Appointments

Well, looks like the Secretary is up and running today! Lots of appointments to catch up on:

7:45 a.m. EST - Weekly Breakfast with Vice President Biden

9:00 a.m. EST - Bilateral with His Excellency Shimon Perez, President of Israel, at the OmniShoreham Hotel. (CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE / PRESS OFFICE TO RELEASE OFFICIAL PHOTO)

10:15 a.m. EST - Bilateral with His Excellency Edward Nalbandian, Minster of Foreign Affairsof the Republic of Armenia.

11:00 a.m. EST - Bilateral with His Excellency Marat Tazhin, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

11:30 a.m. EST - Meeting with Mrs. Christine Levinson, wife of Robert Levinson. (CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

2:00 p.m. EST - Bilateral with His Excellency Elmar Mammadyarov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan.(CAMERA SPRAY IN TREATY ROOM PRECEDING BILATERAL/ EDITORIAL PRESENCE WELCOME / NO Q&A)

3:15 p.m. EST - Bilateral with His Excellency Carl Bildt, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden. Read entire post

Hillary Clinton's day of bilaterals

After a breakfast with Joe Biden at 7:45 this morning, Hillary got to work at the State Department.

She met with Libyan National Security Adviser Dr. Mutassim Qadhafi. Watch their brief remarks to the press below:

She then hosted a working lunch for His Majesty King Abdullah II bin Al Hussein, King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan at the State Department.

She said that he "is no stranger either to the State Department or to Washington. He has been a partner, an ally and a friend of the United States on behalf of his country and on behalf of the search for peace that would result from a two-state solution in the Middle East. And I am deeply honored and greatly delighted to welcome His Majesty back to the State Department for the series of important meetings."

A question was thrown out by a member of the press asking if human rights were raised with the Libyan national security advisor.

Hillary replied that she would address that question after her later meeting in the afternoon with President Sirleaf.

Watch the brief remarks with the press below:

Secretary Clinton met with Mutassim Gadhafi, son of and national security adviser to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, and said she asked him about a long-held, gravely ill Libyan dissident.

Officially, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said the meeting focused on security cooperation between the United States and the North African country that has been on speaking terms with the United States only recently after four decades as a bitter antagonist.

Hours later, after Clinton emerged from a bilateral meeting with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf she addressed the matter. Specifically, whether she inquired about the status of Fathi el-Jahmi, a provincial official who has spent most of the past seven years in prison because he has pressed for democracy.

Hillary responded,"We did raise human rights issues and specifically the case you referenced, with the security adviser today."

The United States has appealed repeatedly for his release since his first arrest in 2002.

The press also asked another question on her position in favoring a timeline for the Middle East peace process that reportedly has been suggested by King Abdullah?

Her response:

"Well, we had very productive discussions with King Abdullah, both in the Oval Office and then over lunch here at the State Department. And let me say three things.

We are in total agreement that we support a two-state solution; that we have to do more to bring the Israelis and the Palestinians together in a negotiation that will benefit both the Palestinian and the Israeli people; and that we have to enlist the neighbors in the region in support of those efforts. And we are fortunate to have a leader like King Abdullah, who is willing to speak out so forcefully on behalf of the two-state solution and will do what he can to bring the parties together."

Watch their remarks to the press below:

Then she and and Omani Foreign Minister Yusef bin Alawi bin Abdullah deliver remarks after their meeting in the Treaty Room.

"It is a treat for me to see the minister again. We met in Sharm el-Sheikh during the donors’ conference on Gaza. And I’m very pleased that he could be here for a bilateral visit."

Watch their brief remarks to the press below:

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Daily Appointments

7:45 a.m. EST - Breakfast with Vice President Biden

9:00 a.m. EST - Attend Haiti Donors Conference at the Inter-American Development Bank, Enrique V. Iglesias Conference Center, 1330 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, DC.

3:45 p.m. EST - Bilateral with His Excellency Grigol Vashadze, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia.

4:15 p.m. EST - Meeting with State Councilor Liu Yandong of the People’s Republic of China.

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Daily Appointments

7:45 a.m. EST - Breakfast with Vice President Biden

1:00 p.m. EST - Working lunch for The Honorable Kevin Rudd, M.P., Prime Minister of Australia.

3:30 p.m. EST - Meeting with Congressional Border Caucus

Yay! I love Breakfast with Joe! :D

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Breakfast with Hillary May 18th

Hillary is to be honored at a breakfast on May 18. There really are NO details as of yet, but it looks like tickets will be available for purchase. Prices range between $200 to $350, goes for a good cause. Totally worth it!

I got the inside scoop from a great Bill Clinton blogger. Check back for updates!

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Daily Appointments

8:30 a.m. EST Breakfast with House Foreign Affairs Committee Members.

11:00 a.m. Bilateral with His Excellency Fatmir Sejdiu, President of the Republic of Kosovo, and with His Excellency Hashim Thaci, Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo.

12:45 p.m. EST Joint Announcement with Special Representative for North Korea Policy Ambassador Stephen Bosworth.

1:15 p.m. EST Bilateral with His Excellency Rangin Dadfar Spanta, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

3:45 p.m. EST Meeting with President Obama and Vice President Biden.

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Daily Appointments

Lots on the Schedule for today!

7:45 a.m. EST- Breakfast with Vice President Biden.

9:45 a.m. EST - Bilateral with His Excellency Miguel Angel Moratinos, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain. NO Q&A

10:30 a.m. EST - Attend The President’s bilateral with His Excellency Taro Aso, Prime Minister of Japan, at the White House.

1:15 p.m. EST - Bilateral with His Excellency Jose Ramos-Horta, President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste. NO Q&A

3:00 p.m. EST - Bilateral with The Honorable Lawrence Cannon, P. C., M.P., Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada. NO Q&A

5:00 p.m. EST - Bilateral with His Excellency Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. NO Q&A

6:30 p.m. EST - Drop by Reception and supper for Diplomatic Corps attending The President’s address to Joint Session of Congress.

9:00 p.m. EST - Attend The President’s address to Joint Session of Congress.

Aides are reporting President Obama's address will lat about 60 minutes and have a heavy emphasis on the economy and will try to strike an optimistic tone. Some are saying that's a sign Obama has heard the criticism, including from former President Clinton, that he needs to mix sober talk with an upbeat bottom line.

"He believes we will meet these challenges and lift ourselves out of this" recession, one top aide said. "He will say, 'The best days are ahead of us.'"

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Wow, busy day for the Secretary!

This busy day started with an 8:00 a.m. Breakfast with Senator John Kerry. (Just an aside- I now love John Kerry after seeing him in person on the Senate floor ramble on for approximately 40 minutes about melting ice glaciers. My favorite part was when he said out loud "I'm just stalling for time here." HIL-AR-IOUS! Come on' whoever watched Hillary's confirmation vote on C-SPAN knows what I'm talking about... )

Then at 10:45 a.m. Weekly meeting with President Obama and Vice President Biden. Possibly open to the press... so look out for some recaps on the news today!

At 1:00 p.m. there is a bilateral with His Excellency Ahmed Ali Aboul Gheit, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt. No Q&A, just photos.

2:30 p.m. Meeting with Martin Luther King, III and others before their India trip, as mentioned in the last post. Hillary's remarks on the 50^th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 1959 trip to India and Black History Month will begin at 2:45 p.m in the Treaty Room.

And lastly at 4:45 p.m. another bilateral with His Excellency Javier Solana, Secretary General of the Council of the European Union and High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy. I googled this guy because I had no idea who he was.. he is really interesting. He was a physicist who became a political minister for 13 years. In his early life, he was anti-NATO and was on the US subversives list which was a little controversial when in 1995, Solana became the new Secretary-General of NATO. He worked with President Clinton on ending the Kosavo war... and so on and so on.

He said on Wednesday the next Israeli government must restart serious peace negotiations with the Palestinians. "I think if we continue in a crisis management mode, if we don't enter into a conflict resolution mode it will be going back and back again."

I'm so glad to see Hillary meeting with so many people. She really is doing a great job and hearing from all people. This is going to be a great day at the State Department!

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Dick Lugar and Hillary have breakfast

The only scheduled appointment today for the Secretary is a private, closed to the press, breakfast with Senator Dick Lugar at 8:00 a.m. this morning. God, his name is awful.. anyway, Lugar is the senior Senator from Indiana and if you didn't know is also a Republican.

Also, if you didn't know, Lugar made a big ta-do about Bill Clinton's foundation and the foreign contributions he recieved. He submitted an extensive "Questions for the Record" document during the nomination process that asked a rang of questions about the kind of fundaraising and transparency that would go on during her tenure in which Hillary answered very thouroughly.

I always thought maybe he was just a little jealous because there were rumors flying around about Obama nominating him as SOS. But I think everyone is jealous of Hillary so...

Wonder what the breakfast was about...

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