President Joe Biden is again spending the weekend in Delaware, but just how he spends his days of leisure are shrouded in mystery.
The White House has so far released very little information about what he does on Saturdays and Sundays, providing the public with scant details about whom he spends time or speaks to.
When he arrived at his Wilmington residence Friday afternoon, it marked his seventh trip home as president as the country returns to some semblance of normal amid the coronavirus pandemic and a day after he cleared his 100th in office.
100 DAYS: FACING UPHILL FIGHTS WITH CONGRESS, BIDEN EXPECTED TO TURN TO HIS PEN
Presidents never experience “a true weekend or true vacation,” according to Eric Schultz, a White House principal deputy press secretary for former President Barack Obama.
“The office and the responsibilities follow you wherever you go,” Schultz told the Washington Examiner. “Given the nature of the job, there’s no clean break from the work when President Biden is in White House residence or even back home in Delaware.”
But the descriptions the White House provides regarding Biden’s weekend schedule are becoming increasingly vague.
After Biden played his first round of golf as president in April with Ron Olivere, father-in-law to his late son Beau, and top adviser Steve Ricchetti, White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked about his weekend rituals. The president had been in Delaware for the confirmation of grandson, Hunter, Beau’s son.
Biden uses his weekends to “take a moment, to take a breath” since he has a “limited amount of free time” as the “leader of the free world,” Psaki told reporters.
“The president is very close with his family — not just Dr. Biden, of course, but his grandchildren. He has the opportunity to see them, at times, over the weekend and also see his kids,” she said of first lady Jill Biden. “That’s important to him and an important way of how he spends time. Like many Americans, of course, he enjoys movies. And he has two dogs he loves.“
Early in his presidency, the White House offered more details concerning Biden’s weekend plans.
“The president is meeting with advisers today at the White House on the latest efforts to move the American Rescue Plan through Congress and pass legislation that can get working families across the country the help they desperately need,” one official said of Biden’s first Saturday in office.
The source added: “He is also meeting with advisers on the next steps for COVID response and monitoring the approaching winter storm and ensuring his administration is coordinating with states on the response.”
That Sunday, the White House even updated the press corps.
“The president is meeting with advisers today on a range of issues, including the approaching winter storm, as well as the American Rescue Plan, which will deliver urgent economic relief to struggling Americans and speed up the rate of vaccinations,” an official said.
But recent White House statements have been scant in comparison.
“Today, the president is meeting with members of his senior team. The president has no public events scheduled,” an official said in April.
In defense of Biden’s weekends, Schultz was adamant it was important for the 78-year-old to “recharge.”
“None of us want the president running on empty — so the trick for every president is to find ways to clear their minds, release some tension, and stay well,” he said.
While they are not privy to what happens in the White House residence, reporters have gauged Biden’s weekends by joining the pool that trails him whenever he leaves the executive compound.
During his first weekend in Washington as president, Biden and son Hunter closed streets and created traffic chaos in Georgetown after attending a service at John F. Kennedy’s old Holy Trinity Catholic Church. It was also Biden’s church when he was vice president.
“POTUS directed the motorcade to stop so Hunter Biden could make a food run at Call Your Mother,” National Journal’s Tom DeFrank wrote at the time of the bagel shop financed by White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients. “Hunter Biden stood at the window several minutes for his takeout order but WH officials didn’t know exactly what he purchased.”
Biden has taken other weekend outings, including visiting former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole. “He’s doing well,” Biden told reporters. But his routine typically hangs on a Saturday church service, whether in the nation’s capital or in Delaware. Jill Biden does not typically accompany him, though a grandchild often does.
When in Delaware, Joe Biden worships at St. Joseph on the Brandywine in Wilmington. His first wife, Neilia, daughter Naomi, and son Beau are buried on the historic church’s grounds. And Beau’s son Hunter, who turns 15 this year, was confirmed there in April.
“They spent some minutes outside the doors for photos and chatting,” Agence France-Presse’s Sebastian Smith wrote. “Jill Biden then walked to her SUV and re-emerged with a bouquet of flowers that she took to the other side of the church, where the Biden family graves, including that of Beau, are located.”
Another trip had been scheduled for March 6, but pool reporters were turned around when they reached Baltimore because the White House decided he should address the passage of his $1.9 trillion coronavirus spending package from Washington.
Another three of the 14 weekends since his inauguration on Jan. 20 have been spent at Camp David. Biden spent both President’s Day and Easter at the country retreat in Maryland, northwest of Washington.
The trips at first conflicted with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance against unessential travel amid the coronavirus pandemic. But they do help identify Biden’s trusted advisers.
Frequent fliers on Marine One and Air Force One for weekend trips are Yohannes Abraham, the National Security Council’s chief of staff and executive secretary, and Anthony Bernal, assistant to the president and adviser to the first lady. Others include White House deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed, Oval Office operations director Annie Tomasini, scheduling and advance director Ryan Montoya, so-called “body man” Stephen Goepfert, as well as Ricchetti.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Biden told reporters he first flew in Air Force One as president to travel to Delaware for Super Bowl weekend to “see my grandchildren and hang out with Jill,” as well as move more of his belongings from his lakeside house to the White House. But he was also able to see his personal doctor on the trip after he hurt his foot playing with his 3-year-old German shepherd-mix rescue dog, Major.
