President Joe Biden will travel to Michigan on Tuesday to support UAW workers, a source familiar with the trip told CNN.
The trip was first reported by The Washington Post.
Earlier in the day, UAW President Shawn Fain invited Biden to join the picket lines after announcing an escalation of the union’s strike.
“We invite and encourage everyone who supports our cause to join us on the picket line from our friends and family families, all the way up to the president of the United States,” Fain said Friday at a press conference. “We invite you to join us in our fight. The way you can help is to build our movement and show the companies that the public stands with us.”
It’s unclear if Biden will actually walk the picket line with workers. When asked on Friday if he planned to visit a picket line, Biden responded to a CNN reporter by jokingly retorting: “Will you join me?”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was similarly cagey when asked about a potential trip earlier in the day at the press briefing.
“I don’t have any updates to the president’s schedule at this time – just don’t have anything to share,” Jean-Pierre told reporters. “But certainly the president appreciates Shawn Fain’s inviting him, including him, certainly with all the family and friends of the UAW.”
Some Democratic politicians have been urging Biden to do more. California Rep. Ro Khanna on Monday told CNN’s Vanessa Yurkevich that Biden and other Democrats should join the pickets.
“I’d love to see the president out here,” he said, arguing the Democratic Party needs to demonstrate it’s “the party of the working class.”
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
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