President Joe Biden got back onto Air Force One to leave the Bay Area on Thursday afternoon after a brief trip that included multiple re-election campaign fundraisers and a meeting with the widow and daughter of the recently deceased Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Biden arrived in the region Wednesday and attended two campaign receptions later that day in San Francisco.
On Thursday, the president met with Navalny’s widow Yulia Navalnaya and daughter Dasha Navalnaya to express his condolences over his death.
A readout of the meeting provided by the White House says Biden expressed admiration for “Navalny’s extraordinary courage and his legacy of fighting against corruption and for a free and democratic Russia in which the rule of law applies equally to everyone.”
Biden also plans Friday to announce new sanctions against Russia in response to Navalny’s death and Russian aggression, including its war with Ukraine, according to the White House.
As he left the Fairmont San Francisco hotel earlier Thursday, Biden was met with dozens of protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to U.S. military aid to Israel.
He then attended another campaign reception in Los Altos Hills before getting back onto Air Force One shortly before 4 p.m. to head back to Washington, D.C., according to pool media reports.
