Pool Reports of March 14, 2024

Travel pool report #1 - Pfister departure

Good morning pool report consumers.

After an unexplained delay, the pool gathered at the Pfister hotel and left in the motorcade at 11:54 am. No ghosts were observed by your pooler. Nor was POTUS.

We are en route to Milwaukee’s Mitchell International Airport, from which POTUS is scheduled to travel to Michigan for a campaign event planned for this afternoon in Saginaw. More information on travelers is for the coming once it is provided by the White House.

After yesterday’s postcard perfect day in Milwaukee, today it is dreary, raining and 44 degrees. So it goes during the upper Midwest spring.

Travel pool report #2 - airport arrival and departure

The motorcade traversed Milwaukee’s rainy streets and arrived at Mitchell Airport at 12:10 pm. The POTUS beast drove very close to the short stairs to Air Force One, but your pooler did not see POTUS climb them. It is quite rainy.

We are on board for the short flight from Milwaukee to the MBS International Airport in Michigan. The MBS stands for the tri-cities of Midland, Bay City and Saginaw, not the Saudi leader. The plane began rolling for departure at 12:17 pm.

The White House provided this list of travelers in the presidential motorcade:

Bruce Reed, Assistant to the President & Deputy Chief of Staff

Annie Tomasini, Assistant to the President & Deputy Chief of Staff

Karine Jean-Pierre, Assistant to the President & Press Secretary

Vinay Reddy, Assistant to the President & Director of Speechwriting

Ben LaBolt, Assistant to the President & Director of Communications

Ryan Montoya, Assistant to the President & Director of Scheduling & Advance

Ashley Williams, Deputy Assistant to the President & Senior Advisor to the President & Director of Strategic Outreach

Marc Gustafson, Special Assistant to the President & Senior Director for the White House Situation Room

Travel pool report #3 - Michigan arrival

Air Force One touched down at MBS International Airport in Tittabawassee Township, Mich., at 2:06 Eastern Time. It was a rather bumpy flight. There were no visitors to the press cabin.

POTUS disembarked on the short stairs at 2:19 pm. He was wearing a black baseball cap, grey pants, a light blue shirt, a dark blue blazer and no tie.

He was greeted on the tarmac by Representative Dan Kildee of Michigan and Mayor Brenda Moore of Saginaw.

The motorcade began its drive to Saginaw, at 2:23 pm. POTUS is expected to participate in campaign activity upon arrival. We expect a 25-minute drive.

The weather in Saginaw is not much better than in Milwaukee. Drizzly, grey skies and temperatures around 50F.

The White House provided this list of travelers on AF1:

Bruce Reed, Assistant to the President & Deputy Chief of Staff

Annie Tomasini, Assistant to the President & Deputy Chief of Staff

Karine Jean-Pierre, Assistant to the President & Press Secretary

Vinay Reddy, Assistant to the President & Director of Speechwriting

Ben LaBolt, Assistant to the President & Director of Communications

Ryan Montoya, Assistant to the President & Director of Scheduling & Advance

Ashley Williams, Deputy Assistant to the President & Senior Advisor to the President & Director of Strategic Outreach

Marc Gustafson, Special Assistant to the President & Senior Director for the White House Situation Room

Travel pool report #4 - Saginaw arrival

The motorcade traveled from MBS International Airport to the corner of Hoyt Ave and S Weadock Ave in Saginaw. We arrived at 3:01 pm. It was an uneventful ride.

The campaign event is at a private home in Saginaw’s Cathedral District neighborhood. The event is a campaign organizing meeting, according to the Biden campaign.

The home is owned by Bill Ostash, a Saginaw city council member.

POTUS is on a covered front porch. The pool is situated in the yard under a tent. More about the event TK.

Travel pool report. #5 - Saginaw event

Representative Dan Kildee of Michigan was speaking to the assembled crowd on the porch when the pool arrived at 3:06 pm. His remarks were inaudible to your pooler.

The house has four flags flying on its Hoyt Avenue side: The United States flag, a Michigan state flag, the rainbow flag denoting LGBT rights and the blue and gold flag with an equal sign that is the logo of the Human Rights Campaign. There is red-white-and-blue bunting across the top of the wraparound porch. The yard has a Biden-Harris campaign sign.

POTUS arrived on the porch at 3:08 pm. He shook some hands. Your pooler made out some of his signature lines - "not a joke!" - and laugher from the supporters. He and the Saginaw mayor shared a hug. To one person, POTUS quipped: "God made man, then man made firefighters."

The Biden campaign did not provide any audio amplification at this stop and the pool was held under a tent on a sidewalk about 20 feet from the porch. Thus, the pool has limited information about POTUS remarks.

As POTUS spoke, some of those in the crowd nodded their heads in agreement.

At 3:15pm, the crowd was told POTUS would take questions. At this moment, the pool was ushered away from the home without having heard much of POTUS remarks.

We are once again holding in the vans.

The White House shared this information about POTUS activities earlier today:

Today, President Biden called United Steelworkers (USW) International President David McCall to reiterate that he has the steel workers back. See this morning's statement from President Biden on US Steel: "It is important that we maintain strong American steel companies powered by American steel workers. I told our steel workers I have their backs, and I meant it. U.S. Steel has been an iconic American steel company for more than a century, and it is vital for it to remain an American steel company that is domestically owned and operated."

Travel pool report #6 - Saginaw movement, second stop

The motorcade began rolling from the house with the handsome porch at 4:08 pm. It was a short drive to the next stop.

The motorcade arrived at the Pleasant View golf course in Saginaw Charter Township at 4:21 pm. The pool was then situated on a flooded putting green behind what looked like it might be the golf course clubhouse. It remains raining here.

Potus emerged at 4:24 pm. He walked into the clubhouse after ignoring a shouted question about Senator Chuck Schumer's speech this morning on Israel.

The pool was then ushered through the rain back into the vans, which are parked in the golf course driveway. There we wait.

The Biden campaign provided the following information about what POTUS is doing at this stop:

The President is sitting down with a Michigan family for a conversation at a local public golf course.

Greeting the President upon arrival:

Hurley Coleman III
Hurley "HJ" Coleman IV

Travel pool report #7 - leaving the golf course

The motorcade departed the Pleasant View Golf Club at 5:38 pm. The vans held on Barnard Road during the POTUS engagement inside. Your pooler did not see POTUS leave the club or enter his vehicle.

We are now en route to MBS International Airport.

Travel pool report #8 - MBS airport departure

The POTUS motorcade arrived on the tarmac at MBS International Airport at 6:14 pm. It was an uneventful ride from Saginaw.

In Freeland, Mich., the pool passed a man standing by himself in the Michigan rain. The man had his left arm raised above his head and was showing the motorcade his middle finger aloft.

Once again, the Beast parked very close to the small stairs on Air Force One. POTUS boarded the plane while the pool remained in the vans.

Air Force One began rolling for departure back to Joint Base Andrews at 6:20 pm.

The Biden campaign provided the following information about the second Saginaw event that the pool was unable to witness:

Today, President Biden, sat down with Hurley Coleman III and his 13-year-old son, Hurley "HJ" Coleman IV, at a local public golf course in Saginaw, Michigan. Mr. Coleman was taught to golf by his father as a child because he believed the game teaches discipline, patience, and valuable social skills, and is now passing the game along to his son for the same reasons. President Biden and the Colemans putted together inside the clubhouse and talked about golf, faith, their family, and their hopes for the future. Both President Biden and HJ sunk their putts.

Travel pool report #9 - JBA arrival

It took Paul Simon four days to hitchhike from Saginaw, but Air Force One made the trip back to Joint Base Andrews from MBS International Airport in 75 minutes.

A handful of White House and Biden campaign officials made brief visits to the press cabin during the flight, but there was no news to report from them. They included Dan Kanninen, the campaign’s battleground states director, and Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary.

The plane touched down at 7:35 pm.

POTUS disembarked at 7:46 pm. He didn’t respond to shouted questions while he walked to Marine One.

Marine One lifted off for its trip back to the White House at 7:54 pm.

That’s all from here. Handing off to our friends in the in-town pool.

The White House provided this list of travelers with the president on Marine One:

Bruce Reed, Assistant to the President & Deputy Chief of Staff

Annie Tomasini, Assistant to the President & Deputy Chief of Staff

Karine Jean-Pierre, Assistant to the President & Press Secretary

The White House also provided this list of travelers on the flight back from Michigan:

Rep. Dan Kildee (MI-08)

Bruce Reed, Assistant to the President & Deputy Chief of Staff

Annie Tomasini, Assistant to the President & Deputy Chief of Staff

Karine Jean-Pierre, Assistant to the President & Press Secretary

Vinay Reddy, Assistant to the President & Director of Speechwriting

Ben LaBolt, Assistant to the President & Director of Communications

Ryan Montoya, Assistant to the President & Director of Scheduling & Advance

Ashley Williams, Deputy Assistant to the President & Senior Advisor to the President & Director of Strategic Outreach

Marc Gustafson, Special Assistant to the President & Senior Director for the White House Situation Room

Tori Taylor, Special Assistant to the President & Director of Political Outreach

In-town pool report #1: gather

The in-town pool is gathering for the president’s arrival from JBA.