President Biden will return to the White House on Tuesday for the first time since announcing he was abandoning his reelection campaign and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris.
Biden is scheduled to leave his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where he has been recovering from COVID-19, in the afternoon and arrive at the Executive Office Building by 2:30 p.m.
The 81-year-old president had initially planned to leave the quarantined seaside town on Monday to embark on a campaign trip, but extended his stay after announcing the previous day that he was withdrawing from the 2024 presidential race.
Following Sunday’s shock announcement, Biden has canceled nine trips he had scheduled over the next two weeks, a White House source told The Washington Post.
The source said he was originally scheduled to visit California, Denver, Houston and Austin, but major changes saw all of those stops suddenly removed from the schedule.
“They started cancelling plans once Trump announced he wasn’t seeking reelection,” the source said, adding that the trip was a mix of campaign activity and an official presidential visit.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire had been scheduled to meet with the president Thursday to discuss the city’s recovery efforts following the damage caused by Hurricane Beryl, but said Biden’s visit was canceled at the last minute.
“I don’t know if the press knows this, but President Biden was scheduled to be here on Thursday to have him evaluate our preparations,” Whitmire said Sunday after the president dropped out of the race.
The commander in chief’s COVID-19 infection is not believed to be a factor in the cancellation, and his physician, Kevin O’Connor, said Monday that the president has largely recovered from the illness he tested positive for last Wednesday.
Harris, the presumed Democratic candidate to replace him, also said the former vice presidential candidate was in better form.
“He’s feeling much better, he’s recovering quickly and he’s looking forward to getting back on the road,” she said Monday during a White House speech announcing her presidential bid.
But when the president called his former campaign headquarters that same day to endorse the vice president, his voice was hoarse and slurred.
Biden is also scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday to discuss the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
Netanyahu officials initially said the meeting had been canceled because the octogenarian had contracted COVID-19, according to local reports, but those reports came before indications that Biden was scheduled to return to the White House on Tuesday.
It is unclear whether the meeting will resume.
Biden has not been seen in public since he was first diagnosed with the virus last Wednesday night, when he was last seen struggling to get off Air Force One and board a motorcade.
