Air Force One was flying so fast that I was shaking in my seat. Less than 30 minutes ago, my colleagues in the White House press corps and I had received word – just before the rest of the world – that President Biden had been diagnosed with COVID.
Now we were joining him on a mad rush back from Las Vegas to the Bidens’ Rehoboth Beach getaway in Delaware. Moments after fastening my seatbelt, the massive engines of the presidential Boeing 747 roared to life. In their custom blue uniforms, the flight attendants stumbled in the aisles as the jet’s nose pointed skyward.
Tray tables shook. Reporters held up their water glasses so they wouldn’t spill. Most concerning, though, was that we had no idea what was happening. For security reasons, there is no Wi-Fi on Air Force One, so we were cut off from the outside world.
A doctor always travels with the President, but no word comes on the type of care he is receiving or how ill he was. Twice, we asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who was also on board, to give us an update on Biden’s condition. Twice, we were denied. Even if she had spoken to us, there would have been no way to know what was coming. That the president wouldn’t be seen again in public for nearly a week.
And that in less than four days’ time, his 52-year career in politics would come to a dramatic end. After all, Biden’s week had begun on a high note. On Monday, July 15, despite escalating calls from within the Democratic party for the president to quit the 2024 race, he appeared to be in a jovial mood when he arrived in the afternoon at Joint Base Andrews, outside of Washington DC.
I was standing with the press pool – reporters from more than a dozen media organizations – waiting for him on the tarmac. As he disembarked his helicopter, Marine One, I waved and beckoned for him to come take our questions.
To my surprise, he did, breaking into his characteristic, stiff half-jog. This would be the first time he’d spoken to us since the attempted assassination of Donald Trump two days prior.
‘What’s your question,’ Biden asked me.
‘Do you trust your Secret Service detail?’ I replied.
‘Yes, I do,’ he responded.
‘What’s your opinion of J.D. Vance,’ asked another.
A Trump ‘clone’, he said.
And with that, Biden walked off, boarding Air Force One for a flight to Vegas where he was due to address both the yearly civil rights NAACP National Convention — and the Hispanic UnidosUS conference. The next day (Tuesday), the President delivered one of his more impressive teleprompter speeches at the NAACP convention.
It was the type of event that, his supporters said, proved his capability to fight and win against Trump in November. But by Wednesday at noon, it was a dramatically different story. The President was running about an hour behind schedule.
This wasn’t unusual. He’s habitually late. Eventually, he departed the Waldorf Astoria hotel, where he had been staying, getting into his armored limousine, the Beast, in an underground garage and out of sight of reporters.
Vans carrying the press corps joined the president’s 20-plus car motorcade and we arrived at Lindo Michoacan, a famous Mexican restaurant in downtown Vegas. I checked my watch, it was 1.09 pm local time. We were then ushered inside ahead of the president to capture his arrival.
Biden would enter through the kitchen, we were told. Photographers had their cameras ready, wanting to capture a stylish photo of the president framed in the glass window of the door between the kitchen and dining room.
But suddenly, the Secret Service covered the window with a towel.
‘Hey,’ we yelled at the agents. But they didn’t listen. Why they wanted to block that specific shot, when Biden would be pictured moments later in the dining room regardless, we still don’t know.
When he finally stepped through the door, his appearance was shocking.
He looked pale, weak, exhausted, and shuffled slowly across the room.
‘He looks bad,’ one reporter muttered.
We all agreed.
Biden greeted the patrons, shaking hands with families at three different tables and posing for selfies. He then sat at a booth and chatted with a few customers.
Sensing an opening, reporters shouted questions about California Rep. Adam Schiff, a close ally of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the latest Democrat to call on Biden to exit the presidential race.
But White House staff immediately shouted us down. ‘Thank you, press,’ they yelled back, before shuffling us out of the room and back to our vans in the parking lot.
There we’d sit while Biden conducted a radio interview scheduled to take about 20 minutes. So, we got burritos and waited… and waited… and waited.
30 minutes passed. 60 minutes turned into 90.
Secret Service agents, afraid that our vans would overheat in the searing Vegas sun, popped open the hoods of our vehicles which were running the air conditioning on full blast.
We repeatedly asked about the delay – but received no updates.
It’s precisely this lack of communication that breeds suspicions among reporters — as well as wild conspiracies about the president’s health on social media and elsewhere.
Finally, a colleague got wind of a tip.
The president’s next scheduled event at UnidosUS had been canceled.
‘Biden has COVID,’ my colleague shouted.
Moments later, we could see Karine Jean-Pierre and other senior Biden staff piling into their vans.
But the Beast was sheltered under a giant tent – which is, to be totally transparent, normal protocol – meaning we couldn’t catch a glimpse of the sick president.
At 3.10 pm, the motorcade finally started rolling.
We weren’t told where we were going – but there was only one likely destination: the airport.
At 3.12 pm, an official statement from Jean-Pierre hit our inboxes.
