‘I demanded I be sent along as the token Irish person’ - CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan on Biden’s visit

CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan doesn’t usually cover the White House beat, more often reporting on online political movements, technology and misinformation.

But he insisted on coming along to cover US President Joe Biden’s four-day visit to Ireland as the ‘token Irish person’, he tells today’s In the News podcast.

Mr Biden’s visit begins today with a first stop in Northern Ireland to mark the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.

After that Mr Biden will spend most of his trip south of the border, with a State dinner in Dublin Castle, a Dáil address and visits to counties Louth and Mayo among planned engagements.

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Mr Biden, with his strongly Irish-American identity, is likely to have a more memorable trip than that of former president Donald Trump, whose 2019 visit was largely confined to his Doonbeg golf course.

But beyond the heritage, does Mr Biden’s trip have clear goals - and might it carry some political risks?

On the podcast Donie joins Bernice Harrison and Simon Carswell to help answer that question and to look at the presidential trip from its many angles - political, personal and poetic.