WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) – On President Joe Biden’s weekend to-do list? Moving.
Biden flew aboard Air Force One for the first time as president on Friday, but not on a trip to sell his $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan or to confer with a U.S. ally .
He has just returned home, to Delaware, to help his wife, Jill, figure out what other “things” they need in their “other home,” that is, the White House.
“It’s a great honor,” Biden said of flying aboard Air Force One as president. “But I didn’t think about it, to tell you the truth. I was reading the newspaper. ”
He said he went to his house near Wilmington over the weekend “to see my grandchildren and spend some time with Jill to get the rest of the things we have to move from our house to the other house.” Biden’s son Hunter also turned 51 on Thursday.
Biden flew even when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that Americans avoid traveling because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The White House said the trip would be much less risky for Biden, who has a higher risk because he is 78, than the type of business trips he is urged to suspend.
“Any U.S. president, Democrat or Republican, obviously takes Air Force One, a private jet, when he travels,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said hours before Biden’s inaugural flight.
Biden told reporters shortly after landing in Delaware that the plane was very similar to what he flew as vice president for eight years, “it’s just so much nicer.”
Biden has made pandemic control the central focus of the early work of his presidency. His team has repeatedly stressed that it will model safe behavior for the nation.
Every time the president travels, an entourage of support staff, security personnel, and the media travel with him.
The orientation of the CDC notes that “traveling increases the chances of spreading and obtaining COVID-19” and that the agency “recommends not traveling at this time.” But he says people who have to travel first should complete COVID-19 vaccines, if they are eligible, and wait two weeks after getting the second dose before embarking on the trip.
Biden got his second dose of the coronavirus vaccine more than three weeks ago.
Biden and his aides have been thorough about how they do their business as they try to reduce the chances of infection among White House employees. Mask dress is mandatory throughout the White House complex, much of the administration works remotely and the duration and size of meetings have been limited.
Biden has also made few appearances outside the White House complex during the first few weeks of his presidency, all for official affairs or to attend church.
Biden’s trip, which spent decades in the Senate and eight years as vice president, marked his first time in Air Force One in more than 20 years. He flew to South America with President Bill Clinton in 2000 while Clinton announced $ 1.3 billion in aid to help Colombia fight drug traffickers.
For security reasons, the vice president travels separately from the president and relies on the more modest Air Force Two planes to travel out of town.
For the 25-minute flight from Maryland Joint Andrews Base to New Castle Air National Guard Base, Biden flew with the smallest C-32 model in the Air Force fleet.
It is a specially configured version of the Boeing 757-200 commercial intercontinental aircraft, compared to the iconic VC-25A, which is a modified Boeing 747.
Biden’s predecessor, former President Donald Trump, did not hide his affection for Air Force One, perhaps the biggest advantage of the job.
But Trump was not a fan of the Kennedy-era blue and white color scheme known around the world. Trump saw the design as outdated, too dull and insufficiently patriotic, and announced in 2019 plans to revise the color scheme using the colors of the American flag. He kept a model of his planned revision on display at the Oval Office.
Psaki has said a new Air Force One paint job is not on Biden’s priority list.
“Here I can confirm that the president has not spent a single moment thinking about the Air Force One color scheme,” he said from the meeting room.
___
Madhani reported from Chicago. Miller reported from Washington.