Politico

President Joe Biden tested negative for Covid-19 Saturday but will continue “strict isolation measures” until he tests negative a second time, the White House physician said.

“The President continues to feel very well,” White House physician Kevin O’Connor wrote in a letter released Saturday.

“In an abundance of caution, the President will continue his strict isolation measures pending a second negative test as previously described,” O’Connor wrote.

Biden, who is fully vaccinated and doubly boosted, initially tested positive for Covid-19 July 21 and experienced “very mild” symptoms. Biden began taking Pfizer’s antiviral pill Paxlovid but later experienced a Covid-19 rebound on July 30, a phenomenon that has occurred in some cases after people take Paxlovid.

The White House announced Friday that the president will travel with first lady Jill Biden to Kentucky on Monday to meet with families affected by recent floods that have devastated the eastern part of the state.

Four people have been critically injured after a lightning strike outside the White House, fire officials said Thursday.

The District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department said the four people were injured in Lafayette Park, located directly outside the White House complex.

They were all taken to local hospitals in critical condition.

A portion of the park remained closed Thursday evening with emergency crews at the scene.

Tim Wu, the White House adviser helping to drive the administration’s push to rein in corporate giants with tougher antitrust enforcement is planning to leave his position in the coming months, according to a person with knowledge of the move.

Time to go: Wu is expected to return to teaching at Columbia Law School after a roughly year-and-a-half as special assistant to the president for technology and competition policy.

Driver of the progressive antitrust agenda: Wu was part of a trio of antitrust hawks President Joe Biden installed last year as part of a push to curb the power sprawling companies — a fight that has focused in particular on tech titans like Amazon and Google. It’s unclear what Wu’s departure means for the Biden administration’s antitrust strategy, but it does mean one of the key drivers of Biden’s antitrust strategy won’t be there to push for those changes anymore.

What he made happen: From his position on the National Economic Council, Wu was a primary architect of Biden’s wide-ranging executive order from July 2021 designed to boost competition throughout the economy. The executive order included 72 initiatives targeting a range of industries including technology, transportation, health care and agriculture.

Wu did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The rest of the gang: Wu, along with Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan and Justice Department antitrust head Jonathan Kanter, have been praised by progressive advocates looking to rein in corporate power. Wu had also worked on competition policy under President Barack Obama in addition to stints at the FTC and New York Attorney General’s office.

Last August, an explosion in Afghanistan knocked Joe Biden’s presidency off course. A burst of violence left 13 American troops dead, shattered the administration’s central claim of competence and sparked a nearly yearlong slide for the White House.

Nearly 12 months later, another strike in Kabul marks, what the White House hopes will be, a turning of the page on the presidency’s darkest day — one that could aid a potential Biden revival.

Standing on the White House balcony on Monday evening, Biden announced that a Hellfire missile drone strike in Kabul killed Ayman al-Zawahri, the leader of al Qaeda who was at Osama bin Laden’s right hand when the terror group struck on Sept. 11, 2001. It was the most successful counterterrorism mission ever carried out in Afghanistan, ordered by a president who ignored bipartisan criticism last year to insist it was time for the United States to end its mission in the war-torn nation.

Isolating after being infected with Covid, Biden’s voice was quiet and hoarse when he addressed the nation, speaking outside with the press pool kept at a distance to reduce the risk of transmission.

“We make it clear again tonight,” Biden said, “that no matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the United States will find you and take you out.”

The Hellfire drone doesn’t explode, but rather uses lethal blades to slice through metal and walls — and terrorists — to eliminate targets without much additional damage. The one that took out Zawahri bookended nearly a year of tumult in Afghanistan which began when a suicide bomber at Kabul’s airport killed those 13 U.S. service members and 170 Afghan civilians.

That bombing punctuated the disastrous early days of America’s military withdrawal from that nation after 20 years of war. The chaotic exit left a powerful vacuum that dangerous, repressive forces have filled: Zawahri appears to have been given safe harbor in downtown Kabul by the Taliban; thousands of Afghans who aided the Western coalition remain trapped there; personal liberties have been taken away yet again from women and girls in the nation.

But for the administration, the weekend drone strike bolstered its case that its over-the-horizon strategy — meaning that terror threats could be snuffed out in Afghanistan without a significant military presence there — was working. Aides argued that it validated Biden’s decision against asking another American family to sacrifice a loved one in the distant, mountainous land.

The operation was among the most significant counterterrorism successes since Navy SEAL Team Six stormed bin Laden’s Pakistan compound in 2011. It comes at a moment when Biden appears poised to arrest and perhaps reverse his slumping political fortunes.

In the last week, Biden’s White House has watched key Democrats agree to a surprise, stunning reconciliation package that could jumpstart the party’s chances this fall. Additionally, a bipartisan deal was reached to pass a massive economic program to bolster the nation’s ability to manufacture computer chips in order to compete with China. And the president may soon be able to sign a bill granting additional benefits to veterans exposed to toxic burn pits.

The Zawahri operation also carried an air of vindication for Biden, who as vice president 11 years ago famously expressed reluctance about the Abbottabad raid that ended bin Laden’s reign. Biden has insisted that he supported the raid but felt more time was needed to ensure its success. His position, nevertheless, has dogged him for years, including during his run for the presidency.

Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations and senior aide in George W. Bush’s State Department, warned against deeming the Zawahri strike a “decisive blow” in the battle against terror — because al Qaeda, already diminished, would soon have a new leader. But he also made clear that Biden had notched the type of moment that eluded him when he was vice president. It was, Haass said, “an important day.”

“It disrupts one of the most important terror networks in the world,” said Haass. “It sends an important message that the United States has enormous reach, that we don’t need to have an on-the-ground presence.”

For all the celebration on Monday evening, the strike still highlighted worrisome developments in one of the world’s most dangerous countries.

Zawahri’s presence in a tony Kabul neighborhood, under the very nose of the Taliban, underscored how the new government in Afghanistan seems willing to allow terrorists to live and work out in the open. It would be, as Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday, a “gross” violation of the Doha Agreement between the U.S. and the Taliban, which pledged it would not allow the country to become a safe haven for terrorism. And it raised fresh fears that the soil could once again be used as a base to plot an attack on the West.

“What unnerves me is that Al-Zawahri felt comfortable enough being out in the open in the Kabul area after the Taliban takeover,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a fierce critic of Biden’s decision to withdraw. “So much for the Taliban rejecting al-Qaida. This is proof positive that Afghanistan has once again become a safe haven for international terrorists.”

The deal to remove American troops was struck by President Donald Trump in 2020 but it also was a long-held Biden belief. As vice president, he counseled against President Barack Obama’s troop surges in Afghanistan and, during his White House campaign, committed to withdrawing the military.

It went sideways quickly.

With stunning speed, the Taliban recaptured outer provinces and then moved its way to Kabul. The Afghan government collapsed, President Ashraf Ghani fled the country and the Afghan national security forces put up little resistance and many laid down their arms to join the Taliban. Republicans overwhelmingly criticized Biden and he found few vocal backers among fellow Democrats.

Thousands of Afghan citizens, many of whom worked as translators and other aides to American troops, fled to the Kabul airport, desperate to escape the Taliban. In heartbreaking footage, some tried to desperately board a U.S. military plane flying to safety, dashing alongside as it raced down the runway. A few managed to cling to the plane before it took off and video showed several falling through the air as the airplane rapidly gained altitude over the city.

The suicide bomb detonated Aug. 26. Biden addressed the calamity in a national address but he did not waver in his commitment to the evacuation. Over the next several weeks, the U.S. safely evacuated thousands but scores of Afghans who worked as interpreters or helped the Americans in other ways were left to fend for themselves against the Taliban.

Last year’s foreign policy failure hung heavy over the White House. It was twinned with a rise in the pandemic’s Delta variant, sending Covid deaths soaring, and knocked the West Wing off its stride. In the months that followed, the loss side of the ledger grew crowded, with the failures of the president’s Build Back Better initiative and voting rights legislation; the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade; the rise of the Omicron variant, surging inflation and more.

Biden’s poll numbers went into a freefall and several Democrats began openly questioning whether he should seek reelection. But in recent weeks, signs of a turnaround emerged: gas prices have begun to fall, gun safety legislation passed, infrastructure investments have begun, Ukraine has held off Russia. And perhaps most potent politically, a sweeping Democrats-only reconciliation package is on the precipice of passing, giving the party an important midterm win and potentially reframing voters’ view of the Biden White House.

“Especially given the nation’s climate of gridlock and polarization, this has been — assuming reconciliation passes — a great stretch for him and he can point to a lot of big things he got done over the past two years,” said Julian Zelizer, presidential historian at Princeton University.

“Now, the economy still looms large in voters’ minds and success on the policy front doesn’t always translate in the midterms,” Zelizer continued. “But even if it doesn’t help now, these are types of victories that could strongly undergird a possible 2024 campaign.”

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris endorsed Rep. Karen Bass for mayor of Los Angeles on Tuesday, lending the Democratic Congresswoman significant national support.

The endorsement essentially throws the weight of the White House behind Bass, solidifying her standing as the Democratic Party’s pick. Bass is vying with Republican-turned-Democrat businessman Rick Caruso to lead America’s second-largest city.

“We are eager to continue to partner with her on innovative strategies to reduce homelessness and increase public safety and prosperity,” Biden and Harris said in a joint statement. “Karen Bass has our friendship, and she has earned our respect through her leadership in Congress on crime prevention strategies, effective and fair policing, and the welfare of children and families.”

The background: Bass has built political ties to both Biden and Harris during her years in Congress. She and Harris both represented California — Harris in the Senate — and they both live in Los Angeles. She was also on Biden’s vice presidential short list. While Bass ultimately lost out to Harris, the vetting process may have benefited Bass by boosting her visibility.

The White House has worked with Bass on criminal justice as she shepherded a policing bill through the House. While the measure stalled in the Senate, Biden praised Bass’s work when he signed a subsequent executive order that amended use-of-force standards and banned no-knock warrants for federal law enforcement, among other changes.

What’s next: Bass finished seven points ahead of Caruso in the primary. Neither of them managed to win a majority in a crowded field, which means they will go head-to-head on the November ballot.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will visit Taiwan on Tuesday, decisively ending weeks of wrangling between the United States and China about whether she should make the trip.

Pelosi’s controversial stop in Taipei, which would make her the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the self-governing island in decades, indicates that the Pentagon has downgraded its assessment of a potential credible Chinese military threat to the speaker’s safety.

Beijing has strongly protested Pelosi’s Taiwan visit and issued lurid warnings of a stern Chinese response. “A visit to Taiwan by her would constitute a gross interference in China’s internal affairs … and lead to a very serious situation and grave consequences,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Monday.

Despite the rhetoric, Pelosi’s Taiwan visit — part of a congressional trip to four Asian countries — suggests that both sides have come to a grudging accommodation that will allow it to proceed while mitigating the potential for miscalculations at a time of heightened bilateral tensions. “Part of our responsibilities is to make sure that she can travel freely and securely and I can assure you that she will,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Monday, without elaborating.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that the military-to-military are having conversations … to make sure there’s no accident that could happen,” said Ret. Command Chief Master Sergeant in the United States Air Force, Dennis Fritz, director of the Eisenhower Media Network.

Such bilateral military discussions, though unconfirmed, are likely to occur in tandem with diplomatic outreach to ensure that Beijing has adequate clarity on Pelosi’s trip to reduce the possibility of dangerous misinterpretations of U.S. intentions.

“In advance of her arrival in Taiwan, the U.S. will relay detailed information about Speaker Pelosi’s flight plans to China’s military,” said Craig Singleton, senior China fellow at the nonprofit Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “U.S. officials will also message, publicly, and privately, the trip’s very limited goals and Washington’s continued adherence to its ‘One China’ policy … [and] work to shape and downplay the media coverage surrounding the trip.”

Pelosi said earlier this month that the Pentagon had hinted her plane “would get shot down” if her visit went ahead.

President Joe Biden amplified those concerns when he stated earlier this month that the U.S. military assessment of the proposed trip was that “it’s not a good idea right now.”

Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Snr. Col. Tan Kefei fanned those fears when he warned last week that a Pelosi visit to the self-governing island would prompt “further escalation of tension across the Taiwan Straits.” U.S. officials have concluded in recent days that China’s belligerence is an intimidation tactic, the congressional official said.

That rhetoric reflects the Chinese government’s efforts to push back on long-established standards of U.S. engagement with the self-governing island. U.S. congressional delegation visits to Taiwan are routine and U.S. law — the 2018 Taiwan Travel Act — authorizes “officials at all levels of the United States government … to meet their Taiwanese counterparts.”

But the Chinese Communist Party considers “reunification with Taiwan,” a territory that the CCP has never ruled, a “historical task.” And Chinese President Xi Jinping has ramped up pressure on the island with a relentless campaign of hostility since the 2016 election of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen of the pro-independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party.

That tough-on-Taiwan policy is key to Xi’s credibility as he seeks an unprecedented third term as China’s leader this fall. Earlier this month, Liu Jieyi, director of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, described “national reunification” — Beijing’s shorthand for a Taiwan takeover — as an “inevitable requirement” of Xi’s hawkish “national rejuvenation” policy.

“The fairly aggressive statements we’ve had from China over the past few weeks are probably more for domestic than international [consumption] — the Chinese leadership cannot be seen as backing down in any shape or form,” said Ret. Vice Adm. Robert B. Murrett, professor of practice at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School. “President Xi can’t be seen as backing down from what could be viewed as a challenge by the speaker’s visit to Taiwan and at the same time, politically, the Congress and the [Biden] administration can’t be viewed as backing down, either.”

Beijing backed its criticism of Pelosi’s travel plans with “live fire exercises” on Saturday off the coast of Fujian opposite Taiwan. In the lead-up to Pelosi’s arrival in Taiwan, China’s Maritime Safety Administration warned on Monday — the politically sensitive 95th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army — of an additional five days of military exercises in the area starting Tuesday.

Those exercises shouldn’t endanger Pelosi’s visit, however. But the PLA is expected to flex some muscle in the Taiwan Strait — something that Chinese state media can trumpet as a symbol of Xi’s iron resolve — and which projects power over Taiwan without risking military confrontation.

“PLA Air Force aircraft [could shadow] her flight into or out of Taiwan…but there wouldn’t be any interaction,” Murrett said. “Aircraft for countries that are not friendly to each other [shadow] each other all the time … it’s typically handled very effectively.”

The Pelosi visit will inevitably fuel the Chinese government’s suspicions regarding U.S. policy toward Taiwan and may prompt a longer-term intensification of ongoing military intimidation of the island.

“I do think there will be some form of retaliation,” Fritz said. “You’re going to see more [PLA] live fire drills — they’re going to be more active, there’s no question.”

Andrew Desiderio, Alexander Ward and Matt Berg contributed to this report.

The United States will ensure that Speaker Nancy Pelosi has a “safe and secure” visit to Taiwan if she goes, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on Monday.

At a White House press briefing, Kirby repeatedly refused to confirm whether Pelosi would visit Taiwan — which POLITICO confirmed earlier in the day through officials familiar with the itinerary. But when asked by a reporter whether the speaker could be at risk of an attack from China, Kirby confirmed that the government would provide protection.

“We’re going to make sure that she has a safe and secure visit because that’s our responsibility,” he said.

Tension has mounted in recent weeks as discussion about a possible trip by Pelosi to the island grew, which Chinese officials have firmly spoken out about. The speaker, who would be the highest-ranking official to visit the island in decades, has acknowledged concerns that her plane could be shot down by the Chinese military.

Beijing considers Taiwan part of China, and sees the U.S. posture toward Taiwan as tacit support for the island’s independence.

Kirby on Monday expressed concern about recent military activity on the coast opposite the self-governing island and China’s continuous threats, which he expects to persist in the coming days.

“It does increase the risk of miscalculation, as I said, which could lead to unintended consequences,” Kirby said. “That’s where the risk comes in. It’s not so much that there might be a direct attack, but it raises the stakes of miscalculation and confusion, which could also lead to unintended consequences.”

Last week, President Joe Biden told reporters that the U.S. military believes her potential visit to Taiwan is “not a good idea.”

President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s more than two-hour “in-depth and candid” phone meeting Thursday made no tangible progress on key policy issues, suggesting the bilateral relationship remains at a standstill because of worsening tensions around Taiwan, trade and a deadlocked diplomatic policy agenda.

The call was the fifth conversation between the two leaders since Biden took office, and it marked the latest effort to keep U.S.-China ties from backsliding by “maintaining open lines of communication to ensure that the United States and China manage our differences,” a senior administration official said.

That stalemate in the bilateral relationship imposes high expectations for an in-person meeting that the two leaders are negotiating for later this year.

There was “a conversation about a face-to-face meeting being worked out between the teams, so from my perspective there was very much a clear affirmative agenda that was put forward and agreed to by the leaders for the teams to work toward,” the official said.

The most pressing issue for the teams is managing tensions over Taiwan that have soared because of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s proposed visit to the self-governing island. A Chinese government readout of the call shows that Xi berated Biden about perceived U.S. violations of the U.S.-China Three Communiqués that spell out Washington’s relationship with the island. Beijing’s readout of the conversation contained an implicit threat against anyone seeking to stir up independence fervor on Taiwan: “Those who play with fire will perish by it.”

To hammer that home, 30 minutes after the call concluded Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, tweeted a video featuring the Shanghai-based Chinese Communist Party propagandist Andy Boreham. Boreham is a New Zealand native whose Twitter feed is categorized as “China state-affiliated media.” Boreham titled the video “Taiwan is not a country and Nancy Pelosi should stay away.”

In Washington’s China policy community there is sympathy for Beijing’s view that Pelosi’s proposed trip is a gratuitously inflammatory gesture that will only worsen the U.S.-China relationship.

“Her presence in Taipei would not make any points that the United States has not made recently and repeatedly… and is distracting both sides from efforts to frame and stabilize their dangerous relations,” said Robert Daly, director of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Wilson Center.

But hopes for a breakthrough at an in-person Biden-Xi meeting may be misplaced. The timing of the proposed meeting — after the autumn’s 20th Communist Party Congress, where Xi is widely expected to emerge with an unprecedented third term as a paramount leader — suggests that his motivations for meeting Biden may be more tactical than strategic.

“He wants Biden to meet him, and basically that will be a public announcement that, ‘hey, look, my legitimacy and my leadership has been recognized by the U.S. president,’” said Yun Sun, China program director at the Stimson Center, a Washington-based think tank. “I actually don’t believe that the Chinese are going to change their approach to issues that are contentious. I don’t think the Chinese are going to be less coercive on Taiwan, and I don’t think the Chinese will be less competitive or less bitter and hostile in regional competition.”

The Biden-Xi call touched on other issues in only the most general terms. Xi underscored the need for bilateral coordination on macroeconomic policies to keep global supply chains stable and to maintain food and energy security. Xi and Biden committed to unspecified follow-up on the issues of climate change and health security but didn’t outline timelines or objectives. The two leaders exchanged views on what the administration official described as “Russia’s war in Ukraine and the global impacts it is having,” but there was no hint that Biden sought to budge Xi from his “no limits” alliance with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Discussion of trade tensions linked to Trump-era tariffs imposed on $370 billion in Chinese imports also got short shrift. Biden limited his talking points on trade to “core concerns with China’s unfair economic practices,” the administration official said.

Biden sought Xi’s cooperation on counternarcotics, an urgent issue given the thousands of overdose deaths in the U.S. each year from illicit fentanyl made from Chinese raw materials. Xi’s readout made no mention of that issue and Beijing has refused to engage on it since national security adviser Jake Sullivan first raised it as a proposed bilateral cooperation point in November.

“President Biden also raised the need to resolve the cases of American citizens who are wrongfully detained or subjected to exit bans in China,” the official said.

That’s good news for the families of hundreds of U.S. citizens arbitrarily detained or unable to leave China because of exit bans who say their efforts to push both the Chinese and U.S. governments to get their loved ones home have hit a wall. Biden’s move to raise the issue with Xi reflects what Sullivan last month described as “a personal priority for both himself and for the president.”

But as with counternarcotics cooperation, it’s unclear whether the Chinese are interested.

“The label of arbitrary detention suits the US better than anyone else,” Liu, the Chinese spokesperson said in a statement earlier this month. “We urge the US to stop such hypocritical and preposterous performance and focus on correcting their own mistakes.”

Despite the challenges to meaningful progress on bilateral issues, the fact that the two leaders can still engage on them for up to three hours in one sitting confirms that the relationship is viable and that positive change remains possible.

“Although this latest call, like the four that preceded it, did not produce much in the way of meaningful deliverables, there is value in maintaining regular leader-to-leader exchanges,” Craig Singleton, senior China fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, said in a statement. “As the U.S. and China confront serious economic headwinds, both Biden and Xi will face intensifying domestic pressure to stabilize the bilateral relationship, if for no other reason than to calm jittery investors who remain deeply skeptical about the health of the world’s two largest economies.”

Nicolle Liu contributed to this report.

President Joe Biden touted a Democratic deal for climate, tax and health policy Thursday as “a historic agreement to fight inflation” and “the most significant legislation in history to tackle the climate crisis.”

“With this legislation, we’re facing up to some of our biggest problems and taking a giant step forward as a nation,” Biden said.

Biden’s remarks came one day after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), the lawmaker who had been Democrats’ sticking point in striking a deal on the marquee legislation, found agreement with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on the bill the duo have dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act.

Senate Democrats are looking to pass the fresh deal next week, though they face obstacles: The party needs all 50 members to be in favor of the deal and present to vote, and they must ensure the bill complies with strict parliamentarian rules allowing Democrats to pass it with a simple majority — plus the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), another Democrat who party leaders have struggled at times to get on board with legislation, has not taken a public stance on the bill yet.

Still, Biden took the opportunity Thursday to acknowledge the breakthrough in negotiations, which has appeared to stall out multiple times over the past year, most recently last month.

“The work of the government can be slow, and frustrating, and sometimes even infuriating,” Biden said. “Then the hard work of hours and days and months of people who refuse to give up pays off. History is made. Lives are changed.”

The agreement was a surprise to many Democrats, who were broadly outraged when Manchin said two weeks ago he would only approve a limited health care deal — appearing to deadlock the fight for climate, energy and tax provisions. The West Virginia senator is one of the most conservative Democrats in the chamber, and holds a crucial vote under his party’s slim majority.

Manchin also killed an even larger Biden agenda item in December, the $1.7 trillion climate and social safety net package dubbed Build Back Better.

Included in the proposed deal is $370 billion for energy and climate, $300 billion in deficit reduction and three years of subsidies for Affordable Care Act premiums. It also includes prescription drug reform and a 15 percent minimum tax on large corporations, among other tax reforms.

“It’ll literally be a godsend for many families,” Biden said of a specific provision limiting the cost of prescription drugs for people on Medicare.

Following criticisms of his administration on inflation, Biden said the bill would “reduce inflationary pressures on the economy” and cut the cost of living for Americans, through provisions including lower drug costs and subsidies on clean energy.

However, he disputed the assessment that the country is headed toward a recession, citing a strong job market and ongoing manufacturing investments: “That doesn’t sound like a recession to me,” Biden said.

The president also praised the Senate for passing a separate bill investing in semiconductors and research Wednesday, and asked the House to follow suit.

“My plea is: Put politics aside. Get it done,” Biden said. “We should pass this today and get moving.”

The climate spending package would be the largest in U.S. history, outspending former President Barack Obama’s 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act by some $280 billion.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), for his part, called the proposal “an absolute monstrosity,” and said Republicans will “be really aggressively in opposition.”