Pool Reports of February 29, 2020

In-town pool report #1

Good afternoon on this windy Leap Day from the White House. I'm your in-town pooler today. President Trump has tweeted that he will hold a press conference at 1:30pm on the coronavirus. Pool has asked for more details.

POTUS is scheduled to speak at CPAC at 3pm and is set to leave the White House at 2:15pm and return at 4:45pm.

Pool has not seen POTUS yet.

In town pool report #2 -- gathering for departure

Greetings from the White House on a windy Saturday afternoon. I'll be your print pooler handling the president's departure from and arrival to the White House this afternoon. The president exited the Oval Office at 2:47 pm, having just concluded his press conference on the coronavirus. He did not stop to talk to the press and swiftly boarded Marine One.

The president will speak at CPAC this afternoon at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center located at National Harbor.

Supplemental pool report #2 -- correction

I'm sending along a correction on my previous pool report, which should have been titled "Supplemental pool report #1." Apologies for the confusion.

In-town pool report #3

POTUS touched down in National Harbor at 3:00pm. He landed near a replica of Air Force One. We're heading to Gaylord convention center for his CPAC speech.

Supplemental pool report #3 -- arrival

Marine One touched down on the South Lawn of the White House at 5:18 p.m. President Trump entered the residence soon after. He waved but did not answer shouted questions from reporters.

In-town pool report 4

POTUS has arrived at Gaylord for his CPAC speech. Pool did not see him enter the building. We're holding.

In-town pool report #5

POTUS is expected to speak soon to large crowd at CPAC, we do not have an updated start time. Speech will be broadcast, pool will send a few quotes and color after.

In-town pool report #6

Trump finished speaking at 4:59 pm. We are heading back to the landing zone for his takeoff in Marine One back to the WH shortly.

Some notes from the speech, which lasted about an hour and a half. Check quotes:

"America vs. Socialism" appears to be a theme of CPAC this year. Crowd was packed.

On impeachment:

Gave a shout-out to Jeff Van Drew for leaving the Democratic Party to big applause from the crowd here.

Soleimani

"We knocked out Soleimani" — huge applause and chants of "USA! USA! USA!" Later, "We took that son of a bitch out. … Should have been done a long time ago."

ISIS map anecdote

POTUS told a story about being shown a map on which ISIS was represented in red. Since that's also the color of the GOP, Trump says he had them change the color to something else.

Coronavirus

Trump talks about his decision to limit travel to scattered shouts of "thank you!" from around the crowd, says "that decision has been now given very good grades like, An A+++."

"We will do everything in our power to keep the virus and those carrying the infections from entering our country."

2020 DEMS

"We'll probably end up with Crazy Bernie."

"We've got Mini Mike but I think he's out. … I would like to spend $700 million and end up with nothing. … Pocahontas destroyed him and look what I did to her. She choked. … She went out and got a test because I was killing her with the Pocahontas."

Trump bent down so just his head was visible above the lectern to mock Bloomberg's height (a reference to the meme he tweeted) touproarious applause, a standing ovation, and chants of "4 more years" from the crowd. Later, "You can't buy an election. That's a good thing, not a bad thing." Says there are a lot of campaign finance violations.

Talked about "Sleepy Joe" said Biden mixed up Ohio and Iowa 7 times. "I haven't done it once. If I did, you know what I'd do, I'd walk off the stage."

Took a CPAC poll (like last night in SC) for which Dem he should run against in the general: Biden or Sanders. Based on yelling, Bernie was clear the winner.

On Buttigieg: "To me, every time I look at that face, I see Alfred E. Newman."

On South Carolina primary:

Joe Biden, "He's going to have a very big win today. I think. Based on the polls. I don't know, how the hell does he have [unintel]?"

In-town pool report #7

POTUS took off in Marine One at 5:10 pm, heading from national harbor back to White House. Pool is driving separately. Your supplemental pool will catch arrival

In-town pool report #9: lid

A travel/photo lid was called at 5:45pm. Good night all