President Joe Biden left a week long California vacation Monday and headed back to the East Coast. His destination wasn't Washington D.C. or the White House. Instead, he's back in Delaware for an additional two weeks at the beach. His schedule remains blank after receiving the "president's daily brief."
Biden's schedule is absolutely blank. Meanwhile, Emily Goodin reports Biden was "visibly shaking" as he exited AF1 in CA on Tuesday morning, and needed a boost from Secret Service agents just to get into his SUV.
— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) August 26, 2024
Who is running the country? https://t.co/bZb8ZjfmpM pic.twitter.com/BrRVme9xCC
The call time for reporters in Rehoboth, where Biden is staying in his beach house, was pushed to 11 am Tuesday morning.
Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre is also missing in action and has no planned briefings on the schedule. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby held an on-the-record gaggle with reporters Monday, where he was press on Biden's whereabouts.
Q The President's public comportment and the paucity of events on his public schedule, as on this very day, have fostered a public perception that Mr. Biden is increasingly disengaged from the presidency. Time and again, the question I am hearing from members of the general public, and which I put to you here, Admiral, is: Who is running the country?
MR. KIRBY: President Joe Biden.
Q Is he a ceremonial figure in some sense at this point?
MR. KIRBY: James, now you know better than that. I mean, my goodness, he talked to Prime Minister Modi today. He had calls with leaders in the region and in Europe, President Zelenskyy, last week. He monitored in real time what was going on over the weekend. I mean, come on. The President is on vacation, but you can never unplug from a job like that, nor does he try to. He's very much in command of making sure we can continue to protect our national security interests here at home and certainly overseas.