Pool Reports by Philip Rucker, The Washington Post
| Sent: | Reports: |
| May 27, 2020 08:40 |
In-town pool report No. 1 — all quiet, no news yet Good morning from the White House. All is quiet for now. Both the in-town and out-of-town pools were tested for Covid-19 roughly an hour ago by White House doctors. According to his schedule, POTUS is in an 11 a.m. meeting with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, which is listed as closed press. Our first scheduled chance to see POTUS is his 12:20 p.m. departure to JBA for his trip to Florida. |
| May 27, 2020 11:35 |
In town pool report No 2: Gathering on South Lawn [APP Note: Report #2 was sent by the White House as identical to Report #1.] Good morning from the White House. All is quiet for now. Both the in-town and out-of-town pools were tested for Covid-19 roughly an hour ago by White House doctors. According to his schedule, POTUS is in an 11 a.m. meeting with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, which is listed as closed press. Our first scheduled chance to see POTUS is his 12:20 p.m. departure to JBA for his trip to Florida. |
| May 27, 2020 12:36 |
In town pool report No. 3 — no Q&A President Trump and Melania Trump walked out of the Oval Office at 12:30 p.m. to walk across the South Lawn. They held hands and neither wore a face mask. POTUS waved at your poolers but did not stop to answer questions that were shouted about Twitter, George Floyd and other topics. He was followed by Mark Meadows, Jared Kushner and Dan Scavino, who walked closely together without masks. At 12:35 p.m., Marine One lifted off en route JBA. Handing off to out of town pool. |
| May 27, 2020 19:03 |
In town pool report No. 4 — Trump arrives home, no Q&A Marine One touched down on the South Lawn of the White House at 6:56 p.m. on a beautiful, 79-degree evening in Washington. President Trump and Melania Trump stepped off the helicopter at 6:59 and held hands as they strode across the lawn and into the residence. POTUS did not respond to questions about Twitter, among other topics, though he did wave and smile at your poolers. Mark Meadows, Dan Scavino and Chris Liddell followed them off the helicopter and headed down the Colonnade to the West Wing. |
| May 27, 2020 19:06 |
In town pool report No. 5 — travel/photo lid Shortly after 7 p.m., the White House called a travel photo lid. Have a good night, everyone! |
Pool Reports below by Peter Baker, The New York Times
| Sent: | Reports: |
| May 27, 2020 12:56 |
Out of Town Pool Report #1 Marine One touched down at 12:45 pm. POTUS and FLOTUS boarded AF1 -- at the top of the stairs, POTUS stopped and gave a little fist pump before disappearing into the plane. They were followed by Mark Meadows, Jared Kushner and Dan Scavino, all maskless like the first couple. We're taxiing for takeoff at 12:55 pm. |
| May 27, 2020 14:59 |
Out of Town Pool Report #2 AF1 landed at 2:52 pm after circling around the cape, allowing a view of the launchpad out the windows. POTUS came back to the press cabin and spoke off the record to the pool for about 10 minutes. During the flight down, the TVs on the plane were tuned to Fox News's wall to wall coverage of the build up to the launch, showing among other things the astronauts being driven to the pad in a NASA branded Tesla and being strapped into the capsule. It also showed a chyron reporting a tornado warning. |
| May 27, 2020 15:37 |
Out of Town Pool Report #3 Pool now holding for crew quarters tour. Don Trump Jr., Kimberly Guilfoyle and Eric and Lara Trump are here along with some of their kids, none wearing masks. Ivanka Trump is here too, wearing a mask as are her two kids, but Jared Kushner is not. Addendum: During the flight, Kayleigh McEnany told the pool that during the meeting at the White House earlier, "Governor Cuomo said the president is doing a fantastic job." From the White House about the tarmac arrival: THE PRESIDENT and FIRST LADY are met by: Director Bob Cabana John Graves Jimmy Moffitt |
| May 27, 2020 15:46 |
Out of Town Pool Report #4 >From the White House: TOUR OF NASA CREW QUARTERS Today, President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will tour the NASA crew quarters beginning in the Suit Room at the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Facility (ONC), Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida. The following individuals are expected to attend: The White House Trump Administration TOUR OF ORION CAPSULES Today, President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will tour the Orion Capsules for the Artemis 1 and 2 Missions in the Orion Capsule Room at the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Facility (ONC), Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida. The following individuals are expected to attend: The White House Trump Administration External Participants ### SPACEX DEMONSTRATION MISSION 2 LAUNCH BRIEFING Today, President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will participate in a SpaceX Demonstration Mission 2 Launch Briefing at the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Facility (ONC), Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida. The following individuals are expected to attend: The White House Trump Administration External Participants |
| May 27, 2020 16:06 |
Out of Town Pool Report #5 POTUS along with FLOTUS, VPOTUS and Mrs. Pence toured the Orion capsules in a large hangar. POTUS responded to a couple shouted questions but his answers were hard to hear so please check transcript if possible. On Minnesota: "Very, very sad event." Asked it the officers should be charged he said they would "look at it." Asked if he had a message for the astronauts: "God be with you. It's a dangerous business, but they're the best there is." |
| May 27, 2020 16:28 |
Out of Town Pool report -- launch scrubbed NASA just said the launch has been scrubbed at minus 16 minutes. |
| May 27, 2020 16:38 |
Out of town pool Your pool had just arrived on the roof of a building to watch the launch when it was announced it was scrubbed. We're not with POTUS at the moment. Don't know if he is still going to do remarks. Don't know if he'll come back on Saturday, which will be the next time they try to launch. Will update as we learn. |
| May 27, 2020 16:39 |
Out of Town Pool Report #7 Motorcade is now moving at 4:34 p.m. No word yet on whether POTUS still will speak or if he'll return on Saturday when they will try to launch again. Your pool had just arrived on the roof of a building to watch the launch when it was announced over a loudspeaker that it had been scrubbed. This now feels moot, but between the Orion tour and rushing off to the roof for the non-launch, POTUS and VPOTUS joined Jim Bridenstine, Elon Musk, Bob Cabana and others in a conference room, sitting at a table with paper name plates and offered a few words. All that follow came from right BEFORE the scrub. POTUS congratulated Musk and called him "a friend of mine for a long time." He also praised Bridenstine, who he said had been with the project "from its infancy." and added: "They had grass growing in the runways between the cracks. Now we have the best, the best of the best." He also thanked VPOTUS. "He's worked so hard. It's been a labor of love." POTUS asked Bridenstine the status of the launch. "We are a go for launch right now," Bridenstine said (optimistically as it turned out). Bridenstine noted that it has been nine years since the space shuttles were retired. "And the United States of America since then had no access to space with humans," he said. He added: "And now we've got great support from the administration. NASA"s budgets in nominal dollars are as high as they've ever been. We're bringing America back as it relates to human spaceflight." He added: "Today's a big day for the nation." |
| May 27, 2020 16:51 |
Pool report -- we're outta here AF1 wheels up 4:49 pm, no remarks. |
| May 27, 2020 16:53 |
Out of town pool report 8 No remarks, it seems. We just arrived at AF1 and POTUS evidently got on before we could see him. |
| May 27, 2020 | [APP Note: Report #9 does not exist or was not received by the APP.] |
| May 27, 2020 18:22 |
Out of Town Pool Report #10 AF1 was wheels down at 6:19 p.m. Kayleigh McEnany came back just before landing to say that POTUS is signing an executive order today "pertaining to social media" but had no details on what it would do. She said it was not clear whether he is signing it while on the plane or when he gets back to the White House. She indicated that it would be released at some point this evening. Confirming POTUS tweet from the plane, Mark Meadows told the pool that POTUS will go back to Cape Canaveral on Saturday if the launch looks like it will take place at the next available window. Many apologies for the screwed up numbering on the pool reports today as we scrambled to get them out as fast as possible while on the run. But many thanks to Seung Min Kim for her invaluable and timely help on a crazy day. |
| May 27, 2020 18:26 |
Out of Town Pool Report #11 Update: just minutes later, pool was told that the social media executive order will actually be signed tomorrow not tonight, per Alyssa Farah. |
| May 27, 2020 18:50 |
Out of Town Pool Report #12 POTUS lingered on board for a bit before deplaning at 6:40 pm. followed by Mark Meadows and Robert O'Brien, among others. Eric and Lara Trump, DonAlf Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle plus one kid then came down the same stairs and went off to waiting vehicles. Deplaning from the back of the plane after Marine One rolled away were Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump along with two children, all four wearing masks unlike the rest of the family. Also spotted on the plane coming home was Secretary Ross, who got off the back with your pool. Marine One was wheels up at 6:47 pm. And with that, we hand it back over to our friends in the in-town pool. Good night and stay healthy. |
Donald J. Trump, Pool Reports of May 27, 2020 Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/336941