Pool Reports of May 1, 2025

report 1 - today

Good morning from the White House.

The president has two press appearances at the White House today: the 1100 prayer day event and his 1700 departure to Alabama and Florida.

Note that he has a ceremonial swearing in for the AMB to Italy which current is closed press. These have however been opened to pool in the last.

There is also a briefing set to start at 0830 with press secretary Karoline Leavitt and featuring Stephen Miller. The announced topic is restoring common sense.

report 2- briefing delayed, now at 9

At 0833 the WH press office announced that the briefing will now start at 0900.

report 3 — two minute warning to briefing

The WH press office announced a 2-min warning for the start of the briefing at 0904.

report 4 -- briefing begins

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt and top immigration/deportation aide Stephen Miller entered the room at 0906.

report 5 -- briefing ends

The briefing ended at 0945.

Stephen Miller took nine questions after a 12 minute explanation of great the president is.

Karoline Leavitt took no questions.

report 6 — gather for prayer day

Pool and pre-approved press have been called to the Palm Room doors to go to the Rose Garden for the National Day of Prayer event.

This will be carried live by CSPAN and possibly others for your note-taking and quote-pulling convenience.

report 7 — Rose Garden

Pool was led out to the Rose Garden for the National Prayer Day event.

There are eight rows of white folding chairs, 18 seats per row divided on either side of an aisle. These are for invited guests, a cadre that includes Rep Marjorie Taylor Green and Mike Lindell. One gentleman is wearing a "Fight fight fight" yarmulke.

Four US flags are set up on the portico outside the Oval Office, directly behind a small stage on which there is a lectern bearing the presidential seal.

The president's remarks will be carried live on CSPAN.

report 8 — president arrives

The president emerged from the Oval Office at 1204 as the Marine Corps band finished an instrumental version of God Bless the USA.

He began speaking at 1205.

report 9 — Trump: No one of faith previously allowed in WH

The president said that his is the first WH where people of faith were allowed.

" People of faith have never been allowed in the White House."

He is still speaking, occasionally reading from remarks but mainly just talking.

report 10 — event over

At 1320 president signed an order regarding religious freedom after 45 minutes of remarks, followed by prayers by several of the invited religious leaders of the three Abrahamic faiths, plus House Speaker Mike Johnson.

report 11 — Trump leaves

At 1322, the president went back into the Oval Office.

report 12 — gathering for departure

The pool has been gathered for departure at the Palm Room doors.

The ceremonial swearing in of the ambassador to Italy, Tilman Fertitta, has taken place and remained closed press.

report 13 — Marine 1 aloft, no Q and A

The president emerged from the Oval Office at 1701, mouthed "thank you" several times and pumped his fist as he walked past the pool and assembled press.

He either ignored or didn't hear shouted questions about the departure of Mike Waltz from the national security adviser job.

He walked to the helicopter and climbed aboard at 1702. Susie Wiles and Karoline Leavitt were among a gaggle of staff who also boarded.

At 1706 Marine 1 was in the air and en route JBA.

Handing off to the travel pool for the trip to Alabama and Florida.

Travel note 1: JBA / no questions

Marine One was wheels down at JBA at approximately 1714, taxied and came to a stop at 1716.

POTUS disembarked at 1718, saluted the Marine sentries and walked towards the C-32 serving as Air Force One with an Air Force greeter, a female colonel whose name pool did not see.

He gave a thumbs up to pool and boarded via front stairs at 1719, followed by COS Susie Wiles and Karoline Leavitt.

We will be rolling shortly and signal is scarce so this will serve as de facto wheels up notice.

Travel note 2: more travelers

Pool spotted Walt Nauta and Boris Epshteyn in the staff cabin, with the latter coming back to briefly say hello.

A co-pooler reported to have seen Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville but your pooler was unable to confirm. Have asked White House for a list of travelers.

Travel note 3: Wheels down

Air Force One was wheels down at 1812 local time / 1912 ET.

Travel note 4: Deplaning/motorcade rolling/travelers

POTUS exited Air Force One at 1832 local time.

He waved, descended the front air stairs, saluted the Air Force and proceeded directly to the Beast followed by Walt Nauta.

Motorcade rolling to the University of Alabama commencement ceremony at 1834 local. Go Bama / Roll Tide, et cetera.

Official list of travelers from the White House follows:

Travel note 5: Arrival at U of A

Motorcade arrived at the University of Alabama's Coleman Coliseum at roughly 1853 local time after a roughly 20 minute trip, during which pool spotted at least one group of supporters lined up along the route waving Trump/Vance campaign signs, plus a supporter of POTUS wearing an inflatable dinosaur suit holding a sign.

POTUS is here to deliver an address at the university's commencement ceremony. Earlier he noted on Truth Social that the university had combined its normal nine separate ceremonies into a single one.

Pool did not see POTUS exit his vehicle.

We have now moved inside the arena and are setting up at a section reserved for White House press, which is something your pooler is certain did not exist at his own graduation from the illustrious University of Wisconsin (go Badgers).

Travel Note 6: Program beginning / note about travelers

The program has started and the university's president kicked things off by introducing what appears to be the warm-up act for POTUS, former Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban.

The crowd is roaring for Saban, who is entering to AC/DC's "Thunderstruck."

Notably, the scoreboards at this 15,383-seat arena have been programmed to real "45 47" in honor of POTUS.

Many of the seats are filled but there are several sections that are not. Pool will endeavor to get an accurate crowd count.

Program is being live streamed / broadcast so pool will not be sending detailed quotes absent news.

Additionally, your pooler is advised that the traveler list included in a prior report should not be considered "official."

Travel note 7: POTUS enters

After being introduced by Nick Saban, POTUS entered the arena at approximately 2028 to "Hail to the Chief" and chants of "USA," shook hands with the various university officials on stage, as well as Saban, and stepped up to the lectern to speak, congratulating the U of A class of 2025 and offering them a hearty "Roll Tide."

The crowd responded in kind, very loudly.

Speech is being broadcast and is ongoing.

Travel note 8: Tuberville booed

POTUS began thanking various Alabama officials and others, including Senator Tuberville, whose name elicited boos from some of the crowd, possibly due to Tuberville's history as a rival football coach.

Travel note 9: Remarks and reactions

After opening what appeared to be relatively topical remarks written for this event, POTUS segued into what may have been an off-prompter section that largely tracked his rally speech from his Michigan appearance the other day.

Lots of cheers from the crowd for the political remarks, attacks on the prior administration, complaints about judges.

POTUS appears to have gotten back to his prepared graduation remarks, which includes some kind words for the school's graduating journalism majors.

He is now sharing what he has described as "some of the biggest lessons I've learned from a lifetime spent building dreams and beating the odds."

Remarks are ongoing.

Travel Note 10: Advice from POTUS

POTUS tells the graduates the following:

"First, if you're here today and think that you're too young to do something great, let me tell you that you are wrong. You're not too young. You can have great success at a very young age. You grow very young in America when driving ambition, young people can do anything. I was 28 when I took my first big gamble to develop a hotel in Midtown ... and it worked out incredibly well. I was very young at the time. I was like a very young person. So then both businesses, Steve Jobs was 21 when he founded Apple. Walt, Disney was 21 when he founded Disney. James Madison, James Monroe, Alexander and Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, they were no older than 25 when they began their journeys ... So to everyone here today, don't waste your youth. Go out and fight right from the beginning, from the day you leave this incredible university, go out and fight, fight tough, fight fair, but go out and fight. You can be very successful, because now is the time to work harder than you've ever worked before. Push yourself further than you ever push yourself before. Find your limits in this smash through everything. Go ahead, smash through."

"Second ... you have to love what you do. I rarely see somebody that's successful that doesn't love what he or she does.

I had a lot of different careers, but I loved real estate so much, and I was very successful in real estate because I loved it."

"Third thing is to think big. You know, you gotta do something. You gotta slow, big, big, because it's just enough. You can think small. And a lot of people, they thought small and very smart. I know it doesn't work daily as small, but that a better picture of the big picture, because it's just as hard to solve a small problem, it's a big problem, and it's just as much energy everything else, except the result is going to be a smaller one. So love what you do. I think being good as possible now, but it's not possible. That's okay, too. You do something. You have to do something that you love. You will have all the same headaches and challenges, all the same delays and setbacks. You might as well do something that's just amazing."

Please check these quotes against your recordings of the broadcast because these are from Otter and the connectivity here isn't so great.

Travel Note 11: Trans tangent / more advice

At the urging of the crowd, POTUS went off-prompter again to deliver one of his standard rally bits about trans athletes.

He has returned to his prepared remarks, discussing "the power of positive thinking" and his former pastor, Norman Vincent Peale.

"Don't consider yourself a victim. Consider yourself a winner. In recent years, too many of our young people who really been taught to think of themselves as victims and lay people and be angry. Don't be angry. But in America, we reject that idea that anyone is born victim or heroes."

"Be yourself"

"Never, ever give up. Victory is right around the corner."

Travel note 12: Speech wraps

POTUS finished his remarks at 2024 local time. The closing lines of his speech closely tracked his familiar stump speech with local flourishes ("we believe in the SEC") and a crack about the "next chapter" for America being written by the "crimson tide" rather than the "Harvard crimson." They were met with loud applause from the crowd.

Pool was moved back to vans for the return to airport and is now holding there.

Travel note 13: Rolling

Motorcade rolling for airport as of 2030 local time

Travel note 14: Airport

Motorcade arrived at airport at 2048. POTUS was already boarding AF1 as pool exited the vans.

Pool boarding now. Consider this wheels up notice for PBI since no signal on small plane with doors closed.

Travel note 15: PBI

AF1 was wheels down in Palm Beach at 1125 ET.

No visitors to press cabin en route. Pool did spot several folders containing documents to sign be carried towards POTUS' cabin. It appears one of them purports to cut funding for PBS and NPR.

Pool currently waiting to unload.

Travel note 16: POTUS deplanes

POTUS exited Air Force One at 1139 ET.

He descended the front air stairs, saluted the Air Force sentries at the bottom and pumped his fist at pool twice before proceeding directly to the Beast.

Travel note 17: Rolling

Motorcade rolling for MAL at 1141 ET.

Travel note 18: MAL / lid

Motorcade dropped POTUS at Mar-a-Lago at 2350 ET after an uneventful journey at speed over the streets of West Palm Beach, the way lit by streetlights and the hypnotic dance of flashing emergency lights of the countless police vehicles charged with securing the route from the airport to the president's beachfront estate.

The lateness of the hour meant the causeway to Palm Beach proper was devoid of the usual gatherings of MAGA faithful.

The press office having declared a travel/photo lid, your pooler bids you goodnight until tomorrow.