President Joe Biden's COVID-19 diagnosis sparked a mad dash to get him back to his Rehoboth Beach, Delaware residence, the UK Daily Mail reported. One of the news outlet's reporters who was onboard Air Force One described the ordeal.
Senior White House correspondent Emily Goodin was among reporters in the press pool who had accompanied the president to Las Vegas, Nevada. The reporter explained what led up to the moment when Air Force One abruptly left town with the press and president on board.
Biden spent Monday, July 15, campaigning as planned. Goodwin said that "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, D.C."
The next day was another successful stop, in which he delivered what the reporter called "one of his more impressive teleprompter speeches at the NAACP convention," Goodwin recalled. However, by that Wednesday, everything had changed.
Goodwin said that "by Wednesday at noon, it was a dramatically different story" from the rest of the trip. "The President was running about an hour behind schedule," which the reporter said "wasn't unusual" as Biden is "habitually late."
However, it was after the presidential motorcade and the press made their way to the next stop at a Mexican restaurant that Goodwin noticed a change. The Secret Service attempted to hide Biden from photographers as he entered Lindo Michoacan's dining room.
"When he finally stepped through the door, his appearance was shocking. He looked pale, weak, exhausted, and shuffled slowly across the room," Goodwin said. The reporters in the press pool "all agreed" that he looked unwell.
Afterward, Biden did some interviews while the press waited. However, after some hours of waiting on him without word on what would happen next, they finally got the email from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
"President Biden tested positive for COVID-19. He will be returning to Delaware where he will self-isolate and will continue to carry out all his duties fully during that time," the email said. This meant that the press was going along for the ride.
Goodwin described a hasty takeoff. "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," Goodin shared.
"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," Goodwin recalled.
Goodwin's account seems to hint that the return trip was more of an emergency situation than was previously reported to the public. "The flight attendants, in their custom blue uniforms, stumbled in the aisles as the jet's nose pointed skyward," Goodwin said.
"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 going on," she added. Then, "in less than four days' time, his 52-year career in politics would come to a dramatic end" when Biden stepped down from his reelection campaign, Goodwin later said.
There was much speculation about what happened between Biden's departure from Las Vegas and his announcement about backing out of his reelection campaign. Now, it appears the situation was more dire than the public was previously led to believe.
