Who’s coming to the White House’s Japan state dinner: the Clintons, De Niro, Bezos
CNN
Former President Bill Clinton, former first lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, actor Robert De Niro, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos are among the distinguished guests arriving at the White House Wednesday evening for an official state dinner with Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
Former President Bill Clinton, former first lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, actor Robert De Niro, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos are among the distinguished guests arriving at the White House Wednesday evening for an official state dinner with Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. The glitzy, black-tie dinner is among the highest diplomatic tools a White House can employ to honor a top ally, with the meticulously planned event aimed at intertwining and highlighting American and Japanese cultures as President Joe Biden seeks to emphasize the strong alliance between the two countries. Guests are arriving at a grand entrance decorated with oversized, colorful fans – a symbol of life and the many paths life can take, according to the office of the first lady. A guest list released Wednesday included other notable names – Olympic champion figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, who is Japanese American, Apple CEO Tim Cook, BlackRock CEO Laurence Fink, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, and Microsoft president Brad Smith. Other top political allies of the president will be on hand: United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain and former Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards. Biden Cabinet secretaries in attendance include Secretary of State Antony Blinken; Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen; Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who faces a pending impeachment trial in the Senate; Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm; and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. The guest list also includes Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield and White House chief of staff Jeff Zients. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, and NASA administrator Bill Nelson will also be in attendance.
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