During a press briefing on Monday, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan responded to inquiries about San Francisco’s efforts to clean and organize its streets before the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
A journalist from FOX Business, Hillary Vaughn, questioned Sullivan about President Biden’s reaction to the significant efforts made by a U.S. city to enhance its appearance for international visitors attending the summit.
The summit, which began on November 11, includes a scheduled meeting between President Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, as previously reported by Fox News Digital. This meeting is expected to occur mid-week.
In his response, Sullivan expressed that President Biden is “incredibly proud of the record that the United States will bring as host to this summit.”
“The strongest economic record of any developed country, the lowest unemployment over a sustained period in half a century, far reaching investments in innovation and in ships, rebuilding America’s infrastructure,” Sullivan continued. “So actually, Joe Biden thinks he is walking into the summit on the front foot and able to showcase the United States as the premier destination for investment, good job-creating investment here in the United States, all of which will be on display while he is there.”
Xi Jinping is set to meet with President Joe Biden in San Francisco and somehow they've miraculously managed to cure our nation's liberal utopia of it's homelessness crisis.
Did Gavin Newsom do this for Xi or was it Biden?
They can fix things, if they want to, that is. pic.twitter.com/fv9lyYhDBI
— Freedom On Fire (@freedomonfire) November 12, 2023
Sullivan further commented that the international delegates attending the APEC summit “are arriving with an awareness of the United States’ robust and, for many, enviable economic status.”
The APEC forum consists of 21 member economies, among them the U.S., China, Russia, Mexico, and Canada.
She also mentioned a statement recently made by Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom, relating to the clean-up initiatives in San Francisco.
“I know folks are saying, ‘Oh, they’re just cleaning up this place because all those fancy leaders are coming to town,’” Newsom said last week. “That’s true, because it’s true — but it’s also true for months and months and months prior to APEC, we’ve been having conversations.”
NEWSOM: “I know folks say, 'Oh, they're just cleaning up this place because all these fancy leaders are coming into town.' That's true because it's true.”
Incredible admission
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) November 13, 2023
Sullivan stated that he was not aware of the specific context of the comment and therefore declined to answer her query. He also expressed his disagreement with the underlying assumption of the question, saying he “completely reject[ed] the premise of your question.”
San Francisco has been in the spotlight for several challenges, including homelessness, crime, drug issues, and increased vacancies in office buildings, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to data from the San Francisco Police Department, the city experienced a 7% overall decrease in crimes from the beginning of the year until November 5, compared to the same period last year. This includes a rise in homicides, robberies, and motor vehicle thefts, but a decrease in rapes, assaults, human trafficking, burglaries, arson, and larceny thefts.
