President Joe Biden is planning on hosting a “unity summit” to bring together Republicans and Democrats at the White House after the FBI raided former President Donald Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced Biden’s plan to host the summit in a statement on Friday, noting the president wanted to “counter the corrosive effects of hate-fueled violence on our democracy and public safety.”
“The United We Stand Summit will bring together heroes from across America who are leading historic work in their communities to build bridges and address hate and division, including survivors of hate-fueled violence,” she wrote.
The White House stressed they wanted both Democrat and Republican public officials to attend, as well as civil rights organizations, faith and community leaders, technology and business leaders, and law enforcement officials. It is unclear which Republicans will be invited to attend or speak.
Biden has a deep appreciation for summits, as he hosted a “virtual leaders summit” on climate change at the White House last April and a “Summit for Democracy” last December. The announcement of the “unity” summit comes as a growing number of Republicans are outraged over the FBI raid on Trump’s home Mar-a-Lago home.
The former president has expressed concern about the growing anger in the country since the raid, even offering to assist the nation in lowering the political temperature.
The White House cited the 2017 Charlottesville riots as a motivating factor for the summit, in addition to the multiple mass shootings that took place during Biden’s administration.
The priorities of the unity summit were outlined by Biden’s domestic policy adviser, Susan Rice, in a blog post on the White House website.
Joe Biden and Susan Rice (Mike Theiler -Pool/Getty Images)
“Hate must have no safe harbor in America,” she wrote, noting the summit would “counter the corrosive effects of hate-fueled violence on our democracy and public safety.”
Biden will deliver the keynote speech of the summit, according to Rice, and the summit will also include roundtable discussions and panels on preventing radicalization and violence.
“Even as our nation has endured a disturbing series of hate-fueled attacks, Americans of all beliefs and political affiliations remain overwhelmingly united in their opposition to such violence,” she wrote.
She urged Americans to email UnitedWeStand@who.eop.gov to nominate “an extraordinary Uniter” so that the White House could recognize him or her.
“As President Biden said in Buffalo after the horrific mass shooting earlier this year, in the battle for the soul of our nation ‘we must all enlist in this great cause of America,’” she stated, concluding, “The United We Stand Summit will present an important opportunity for Americans of all walks of life to take up that cause—together.”
