The White House disputed reports that President Obama is snubbing the new head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Jens Stoltenberg by failing to set up a meeting with him during his visit to Washington this week.
“Those reports are entirely false,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Wednesday. “The report that the president somehow failed to return the call the secretary general is ridiculous. We’ve been in regular touch with them.”
The White House had a harder time explaining why Obama has decided not to make time in his schedule to meet with Stoltenberg during his three-day visit to the nation’s capital this week. The leaders of all the other 28 NATO member countries have met with him since he took office in October.
Earnest noted that Obama met with Stoltenberg last fall during a NATO summit in Wales, but that visit occurred at the beginning of September, before he took over the world’s largest military alliance.
“You’ve seen the president’s schedule, certainly over the course of the day — I would anticipate the secretary general’s schedule is pretty full as well,” Earnest said, noting that the White House would continue to try to set up a meeting with Stoltenberg.
Other than Tuesday, when Obama spent most of the day meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, the president’s schedule has been relatively light this week. Wednesday morning he delivered a short speech on the fifth anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, and Thursday he travels to Alabama to give remarks on the economy.
Earlier Wednesday, Bloomberg News, citing two sources close to the NATO chief, reported that Stoltenberg’s office requested a meeting with Obama well in advance of this week’s visit, but never heard anything from the White House.
Bloomberg also quoted a U.S. permanent representative to NATO under both Presidents George W. Bush and Obama who said the president broke a long tradition of visiting with the NATO secretary whenever he came to town in order not to diminish his stature or authority.
The timing of the alleged snub, when Russia is threatening European security and flouting agreements against continuing aggression in Ukraine, is giving new fodder to Obama’s foreign policy critics.
Stoltenberg will meet with Defense Secretary Ashton Carter this week. He is in town for the NATO Transformation Seminar, an annual gathering of the organization’s leadership and experts and top officials from the host country. The Atlantic Council and the Allied Command Transformation, based in Norfolk, Va., organized the meeting this year.
