7:00 am—the alarm rings, the President wakes,
and the shades pull back to reveal an unseasonably warm Monday morning in Washington DC. First up is a walk across the hall to the
dining room, where breakfast is served by a team led by long-time executive chef Cristeta
Comerford. Also provided are reading materials—a packet
known as the “bulletin,” which staffers curate to include the news that, these days,
Joe Biden wants to read—both as the President and as the person. In addition to the biggest national and international
stories, it’s known to disproportionately include those from his home state of Delaware. But minutes later, the President walks upstairs
to the White House’s rarely-pictured third floor. Nestled on its northeast corner is a small
workout room where he starts his days by working out with trainer Drew Conteras—one of the
many returnees from the Obama Administration. Quick shower, quick change, and it’s 9:00
am—time for the commute downstairs and across the West Colonnade to the fabled Oval Office.
$755,580,000 is dedicated to running the Presidency in 2023. Even excluding attributable costs borne by
other areas of government, and despite sitting at its lowest in years, this figure translates
to $2,070,079 a day, $86,254 an hour, or $3,593 per minute, meaning spread out evenly, before
the President even arrives for work, the American taxpayer has paid three-quarters of a millions
dollars for the job that day—an eye-popping sum, but one that could be worth it depending
on what happens with the rest of the day. 
 The most crucial role of the President
is as the go-to when big decisions need to happen quickly. Therefore, they have to already be informed
on just about anything that could boil over and reach their desk. That’s why almost every day starts with
the most important regular meeting: the Daily Briefing. On this Monday, the 13th of February 2023,
that starts exactly at 9:00 am and, considering she might need to stand in for Biden at moment’s
notice, Vice President Kamala Harris was also included, having made the far longer commute
down from her residence at the Naval Observatory. The central document of these meetings is
prepared by the major American intelligence agencies, summarizing what they think the
President should know, and so it’s been described as the “most highly sensitized
classified document in the government.” Clearly then, there is zero chance the public
can legally view any from any time recently, but the CIA did declassify some—the most
recent of which from January 20th, 1977: the final day of the Ford Administration. It starts with a summary of protests against
rising food prices in Egypt and the dramatic effect it was having on President Anwar Sadat’s
popularity—this intelligence proved accurate, he was assassinated four years later. Next is coverage of stalling peace talks on
Cyprus, a still-classified section about West Germany and France, news about an upcoming
visit by Soviet leader Podgorny to India, stalled price negotiations within OPEC, a
trip cut short by Yugoslavia’s president, and finally a status update on tensions in
Benin. The report’s short, the points brief, but
that’s the point: the President’s supposed to be the generalist, not the specialist. Next Biden meets with his brand-new Chief
of Staff, Jeff Zients. This role is tough to define because it’s
so all-encompassing, but at the simplest level, the Chief of Staff is essentially the manager
of the White House—they deal with coordinating all the operations of the President and their
office, even extending to developing policy, and therefore it tends to be one of the most
powerful positions in perhaps the most powerful nation on earth, and yet its holder is rarely
well-known outside Washington. But quickly, a minor crisis: Speaker of the
House Kevin McCarthy tweets that he’s lost confidence in Architect of the Capitol Brett
Blanton. This is an even less-known position leading
the agency that runs the Capitol complex—therefore, responsible for some 2,500 employees and an
$800 million annual budget. But Blanton was facing mounting pressure as
a recent Inspector General report highlighted a series of missteps—he had accrued 19,000
miles or 30,000 kilometers of prohibited personal use of his government-issued vehicle, even
driving it to Florida on vacation, costing the taxpayer an estimated $12,500 in additional
wear-and-tear. He also outfitted the vehicle with lights
and sirens, misrepresenting himself as a law enforcement officer; invited friends in for
so-called “patriot tours” while the Capitol was closed to visitors early in the pandemic;
and allegedly did not even show up to work on January 6th, 2021, as the building he oversaw
was invaded by a mob of election-denying rioters. McCarthy was the most powerful voice asking
for Blanton’s removal yet, and having done so in such a public manner, it was time for
Biden to act. Now, we don’t know the exact details of
how this particular decision was made because the minute-by-minute details of a President’s
day, at least within the White House, are not a matter of public record—we get what’s
called “the public schedule,” but that only includes what the White House wants us
to know about: usually events open to the public or press. Mondays include few of those. They tend to be fairly boring—nobody really
schedules events on the first day of the work-week, so no matter the administration, archives
of public schedules indicate that, unless traveling, Mondays overwhelmingly focus on
the kind of internal policy and planning work that we, the public, don’t get to know the
details of—at least, not for a while. You see, the White House Office of Appointments
and Scheduling does keep track, and like most non-classified government documents, eventually,
the public can get access through the rights granted by the Freedom of Information Act. Still, there's a FOIA exemption restricting
access to presidential records for five years, then there are months or years of processing
time on top of this, so the most recent minute-by-minute understanding we have of a President’s day
dates back to the Bush administration. On a similar, boring Monday in February, Bush,
a notoriously early riser, arrived at the Oval Office by 6:58 and immediately jumped
into a series of meetings with his inner circle before his 8:00 AM daily briefing. After was another quick huddle before loading
onto Marine One for a quick flight over the river to Mount Vernon for a ceremony commemorating
the 275th Birthday of George Washington, and then the President was back in the Oval Office
just 75 minutes after stepping out. The rest of the day was a continued cascade
of calls and conversations, the most exciting of which a 19-minute conference with the Prime
Minister of Australia—potentially in relation to the day’s announcement that the country
would send additional troops to Iraq. Finally, the Monday wrapped up with a small
event—a screening of the movie Amazing Grace to commemorate Black History Month—before
the President finished with dinner in the Diplomatic Reception Room at 6:37 PM. February 13th, 2023 likely looked rather similar
for Biden—just a succession of short, unscheduled meetings with key administration officials,
largely in preparation for the rest of the week, with the exception of making a decision
on what to do with the Architect of the Capitol. That clearly happens quickly because, by 3:00
PM, it’s announced: Biden fires Blanton. Finally, the last task the public knows about
is a 4:30 call to Colonel Paris D Davis informing him that, after decades of waiting, he would
be awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism in the Vietnam War. As usual, the President returned to the Residence
by 7:00 pm, finishing the day with dinner and a read of a collection of ten letters
his staff selected out of the countless more sent to him by the general public—an unexceptional
finish to an unexceptional Monday. The rest of the week, however, would lead
up to perhaps the most exceptional day of his Presidency. Tuesday: slightly busier. It begins with the Daily Briefing and a call
to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to celebrate the day’s announcement that flag
carrier Air India would purchase over 200 American-made Boeing aircraft. Elsewhere in the West Wing, press slowly amble
in. The White House originally told them to arrive
at 7:00 AM, but in the early hours of the morning their call-time was pushed to 9:30—while
we can only speculate, perhaps the administration wanted them on-hand when the month’s inflation
report released at 8:30, but then decided it unnecessary after a tip-off that the numbers
would prove rather negative for the President. Inflation wasn’t slowing as fast as they’d
hoped, so there was no reason to amplify the news with a surprise presidential statement,
for example. But there was still plenty for the press that
day, and considering the demand for access to one of the most powerful people on earth,
there’s quite a system to manage newsmaking at the White House. Three main areas are dedicated to the press:
the briefing room, the press corps offices behind, and the so-called pebble beach: this
is a section of the North Lawn where about two-dozen television networks have a near-permanent
setup for live shots. If you’ve seen a report from the building,
it was probably filmed here as the White House essentially requires it—no longer allowing
crews to trample the lawn as they did in decades before. Now, these journalists are collectively represented
by the White House Correspondents’ Association. While they have no codified rights, by tradition,
and in recognition of their power in shaping the public image of a president, the White
House awards the association the role of managing press access to the facility. But considering there are thousands of association
members, decisions need to be made as to who gets access to what based on the practical
limitations of space and time. For example, it would be entirely impractical
for the entire press corps to travel with the President at all times, but some of the
press needs to be with the President at all times: if not, we would not have as confident
an understanding about how unexpected events like 9/11 or the attempted assassination of
Ronald Reagan played out from Bush or Reagan’s perspectives. So, each day, top association members take
turns to compose a smaller 13-person press pool: typically composed of a collection of
a few wire reporters and photographers, a TV correspondent and crew, a radio reporter,
and a print journalist. The wire reporters and photographers provide
content for their subscribers—which, in the case of AP and Reuters, is essentially
every news organization—while the print journalist is tasked with writing pool reports
for the day which instantly go out to a massive email list. Tuesday’s designated pool reporter was Shirish
Date from the Huffington Post, who first informed everyone that the pool was in their vans at
12:26, waiting to roll out in the motorcade with the President. Waits in vans are a constant for the press
pool as motorcades assemble long before a President is ready to depart, and today’s
totaled almost an hour as the next report indicated the President walked into his limo
at 1:21 PM—with the knowledge of their departure, anyone at the destination knows to get ready
if they want to film the motorcade’s arrival. Further reports circulate who’s riding with
the President, who he took photos with, and then a two-minute warning informing recipients
to get ready for Biden’s remarks—be it a reporter watching back at the White House
briefing room, or a TV director waiting to cut to a live shot of the speech. Essentially the moment the speech ends, another
report goes out summarizing it, including one of the most crucial elements: color. The rest of the press corps can watch the
speech from the White House or online, getting an idea of its content, but it’s tougher
to interpret more subjective things like audience reaction: that’s why reports often include
notes on this, like the strong response to Biden’s remarks against assault rifles and
high-volume magazines. The corps even gets information on Biden’s
outfits, like this note that he was wearing his trademark Aviator sunglasses stepping
out of his limo upon return to the White House. But quickly, the travel pool scrambles to
the West Wing, as the day’s briefing is about to start. Now, given the question and answer format,
where reporters sit matters—the further forward, the more likely they’ll get called
on. The front seats also give a better shot talking
to the broadcast cameras at the back. Even just getting a seat at all is a big deal
in that it guarantees access to the room even on the busiest days, and bestows the right
to use the offices to the rear. That’s why the Correspondents Association
has to decide who most deserves one, and therefore the seating chart essentially acts as a year-by-year
ranking of the prominence of various media organizations. In 2008, city papers like the LA Times, Chicago
Tribune, and Houston Chronicle took up seats in the rear. As the economics of print grew more challenging,
and therefore budgets increasingly excluded a White House correspondent, these seats started
to get filled by digital outlets like the Daily Beast or Buzzfeed. Today’s chart includes more outlets than
ever as publications have begun the practice of splitting seats—allowing them to trade
off days. But the prime seats in the first and second
rows have stayed consistent through the years: still fully dedicated to legacy media organizations
like CBS, the AP, ABC, and NPR. Shortly after the briefing concludes, the
pool reporter calls a lid—essentially, communicating that the White House has no more planned public
appearances by the president or their representatives that day, and therefore that reporters can
head to the office or home without worry. Wednesday was more of the same—internal
work, a trip to Maryland for a speech on the economy, then an early 3:50 PM lid. Thursday, a little more: at 9:00 AM, the President
boards Marine One for a short 13-minute flight to Maryland’s Walter Reed medical center
for his annual physical. According to a letter released later that
day, Biden was recovering well from his COVID-infection in 2022, has occasional issues with gastroesophageal
reflux, exhibited a notably stiffened gait compared to before his foot fracture in 2020,
and had a few other minor issues, but in all was a “healthy, vigorous, 80-year-old male,
who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency.” The President returns to the White House at
12:26, and quickly after, a pool report goes out informing the Press that finally, after
days of pressure, he would address the spate of recent shoot-downs of unidentified aerial
objects above the US. Once that was done, at 5:15, the President
delivers remarks to open a screening of the movie “Till” in the White House’s theater,
in commemoration of Black History month, and with that, a lid was called at 5:30, finishing
a relatively busy day, leading up to an incredibly busy weekend. By Friday, February 17, the week was winding
down. Without any public availability on the docket
for the day, any news coming from the President’s office came in the form of press releases. Then, at 3:18 in the afternoon, a press lid. Oddly though, for a light day and a weekend
without work travel, the Bidens decide to stay in DC, rather than making their regular
weekend retreat to Delaware. In retrospect, though, we know it was due
to a quiet meeting held sometime during the day where advisors and Biden decided to add
an unannounced, perilous stop to his scheduled trip.   Despite an impending departure, the Bidens
made the most of their Saturday in the city: the two attend mass at Georgetown, then take
in the National Museum of American History. Closing the night, they head to dinner at
the Red Hen: a trendy restaurant in a trendy area, but the image effect they might have
hoped for was overshadowed by the internet debate they set off by both ordering the same
dish. By 8:00 PM, they’re back at the White House. For the president though, the night had just
begun.  It’s 3:30 AM—without any notice or fanfare,
a motorcade quietly rolls out of the White House, turning what had been a rather standard
week into a truly unprecedented one. Normally, when a president heads to Joint
Base Andrews to board Air Force One they do so by helicopter—it’s safer, it’s quicker,
and it’s less disruptive to motorcade-fatigued DC residents. But Biden’s not supposed to be traveling,
he’s supposed to be sound asleep in the residence, and a fleet of five Marine One
helicopters over downtown DC just sticks out. Within an hour, the President’s airborne. Accompanying him is an unusually small traveling
party composed of three aids and advisors, a security detail, a medical team, and just
two journalists. Â Not only is the press pool for the trip
unusually small—with only the Wall Street Journal’s Sabrina Siddiqui and the AP’s
Evan Vucci aboard—their reporting’s also on delay, as each handed over their cell phones
upon arrival. While abnormal, there is some precedent here. For the sake of image and morale, presidents
have often made trips to active war zones. Typically, these are kept under wraps. The planning of President Trump’s 2019 trip
to Afghanistan, for instance, was so quiet that when he left Mar-a-Lago some of his secret
service thought he was still on premise. On President Trump’s trip too, only a precious
few knew of his departure, press members forfeited phones, and plane windows were blacked out. Until Biden though, no American president
had visited an active conflict without an American troop presence, or even a safe air
base to land at. Slipping into war-torn Ukraine without the
presence of the planet’s most powerful fighting force, without direct American air support,
vehicles, or troops providing security is an extreme risk, but a risk deemed by the
President as worth it; and a risk, deemed by his security personnel, best minimized
by speed and secrecy rather than largess and brute force. This cloak-and-dagger planning extended to
what plane the president and traveling party flies, too. Normally, Air Force One—the call sign reserved
for whatever’s flying the president—is assigned to one of these easily distinguishable
VC-25s. But because these are exclusively used by
the president, they’re anything but stealthy. In fact, it was a photo of an airborne VC-25
by a British plane spotter that tipped off Trump’s secret trip to the Middle East in
2019. Learning from this slip up, Biden and team
boarded an C-32 for its relative anonymity. Unlike the VC-25, if a C-32 was spotted, it
could just as well be the first lady, the vice president, or a cabinet member, not necessarily
the president, as these often carry a host of high-ranking officials.    And it was spotted. Not long after the C-32 took off from Joint
Base Andrews and pointed toward Ramstein Air Base, this tweet surfaced. Innocuous enough, using FlightRadar24 and
publicly-available transponder data, the tweet had identified an irregularity—an oddity. And now, oddities were beginning to stack. After the trip to Poland was announced, press
members had asked whether the president would be visiting Ukraine. Biden had, afterall, visited Poland just eleven
months earlier and such a quick return seemed suspicious. And, zeroing in further, the Twitter user
who had spotted the C-32 initially had now dug deeper and posited that it very well could
be president Biden aboard the flight. For their part, though, the President and
company weren’t waiting for the rest of the world to catch on. Having landed here at 8:00 PM, a stealth motorcade
whisks the president to Przemyšl Główny train station. While the Ukrainian train's interior lent
it an air of stateliness fit for the office, these were not cars overhauled by Biden’s
team for Biden. It was simply a renovated luxury tourist train
now repurposed to sneak world leaders in and out of the country. Of all the high-risk maneuvers undertaken
on this trip, it’s likely that this is the most dangerous of all—as the idea of an
unarmoured train passing eastward, ever-nearer to the front lines, left American intelligence
navigating a minefield of uncontrollable variables. In the weeks and months prior, this discomfort
was made evident as White House planners pushed for safer, more predictable alternatives,
like Biden and Zelenskyy meeting somewhere along the border or in the western city of
Lviv, farther from active conflict, and nearer to potential intervention. While the exact security detail and contingency
planning is still unknown, we do know that the White House did communicate the trip to
Russia ahead of time and that three separate American surveillance aircraft tightly looped
overhead as the President crossed the border.     Sunday is now Monday, as the ten-hour, 400-mile,
650-kilometer journey comes to an end in Kyiv. After a briefing to refresh the President
on the city’s history, Biden steps aboard a modified white Toyota Land Cruiser. What was a secret is no more, as streets across
the heart of Kyiv close to traffic and speculation hits fever pitch. Some 30 hours since his last sighting by the
press, and after 24 hours of travel, the President pops up nearly 5,000 miles or 8,000 kilometers
away from the White House. All for this—a public embrace of president
Zelenskyy, a statement, a laying of a wreath at the Wall of Remembrance, and a quick stop
at the US embassy. Within five hours, he’s already back on
the train, headed towards the border, reading briefs, and preparing for tomorrow. Before even completing a trip that will be
remembered in history books centuries on, it’s already on to the next task—more
motorcades, more meetings, and more handshakes. The executive branch understands the power
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What's with the inclusion of footage of the East Palestine explosion at 6:05? It doesn't seem related - is it a mistake?