Pool Reports of September 3, 2020

In-town pool report #1 -- lunch lid

A lunch lid has been called until 1:00 p.m., when WH press secretary McEnany is scheduled to brief.

It's been a quiet morning so far at the White House, with nothing public on the president's schedule until a 7:00 p.m. event in Pennsylvania. Both in-town and travel pool were tested for Covid this morning.

In-town pool report #2

WH press secretary Kayleigh McEnany started the briefing at 1:11 p.m., which is being streamed online.

In-town pool report #3

In-town pool is handing off to travel pool for the remainder of the day.

The travel pool gathered and headed for the motorcade at 5:10 p.m. to accompany POTUS to JBA and on to Latrobe, PA. The president is scheduled to give remarks in Pennsylvania at 7:00 p.m., and return to the White House at 10:00 p.m.

WH travel pool report 1 -- Travel pool gathered

Travel pool was shepherded into the press vans on just off West Executive Drive, the driveway that separates the White House from the Eisenhower Building, at 1715.

It is still steamy and miserable out, and we are under a tornado watch. And thunder claps are getting more frequent. Just for context.

WH travel pool report 2 -- motorcade underway

We were underway at 1731, bound for Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. This is the full version of the motorcade, and we are traveling with lights and sirens, roads closed off.

WATCH YOUR TV ADVISORY: On the possibility that the president speaks to us beside the plane, please monitor your cable news stations, if you want to get his remarks as soon as possible. We will be hustled onto the plane with no cell service immediately after he stops speaking, so you will get sentence fragments, at best, until after we land in Pennsylvania.

WH travel pool report 3 -- arrival at Andrews

President Trump's motorcade arrived at Joint Base Andrews at 1754. He was already out of the limo and up the stairs as the press vans came to a stop.

We will be flying to Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, where Trump is scheduled to hold a campaign rally in a hanger.

We are boarding the smaller version of Air Force 1, the Boeing 757, tail number 90015 as the 8,224-foot runway in Latrobe is not long enough to accommodate normal flight operations of the larger plane. The flight should take less than an hour, and we should be airborne shortly.

WH travel pool report 4 -- Arrival in Latrobe

Air Force 1 set down at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport -- named for the golf legend who grew up here -- at 1855 after a 48-minute flight that passed by a towering thunderhead that cast a long, dark shadow to starboard.

The plane pulled up just behind a stage set up at the entrance to an open airplane hangar. Many hundreds, perhaps more, of the president's supporters are gathered inside, pressed together closely, the vast majority without masks.

The rally is being carried by C-Span among others, and is open to reporters who sought credentials in advance from the campaign. Your pooler is not planning to provide close coverage of this event, unless major news warrants.

WH travel pool report 5

The president emerged from Air Force 1 at 1908 to a recording of Lee Greenwood.

He took the stage at 1911.

WH travel pool report 6 -- one hour update

Color: A large hangar, fully open. Media camera riser in the center, with hundreds of seats arranged in front and the sides, extending out beyond the threshold onto the tarmac. A large US flag hanging from the extended boom on a bucket truck. A single, giant ceiling provided the only ventilation in the humid night.

Rough log with time codes

NB -- MANY OF THE ASSERTIONS NOTED BELOW ARE NOT TRUE

1913

Attacked Joe Biden

Attacked Hunter Biden

Economy was the best ever, now has to go to work

"We're rounding the turn on the pandemic."

Biden a puppet of Marxist, socialist cop haters

In some ways, not having rallies in arenas is okay because he can do airport rallies

I get off the plane, I make a speech, I get the hell out of here."

They're going to raise your taxes, they're going to take away your guns."

Suppression polls

We are leading everywhere."

1919

If China plague hadn't come in, would have been able to cancel all his rallies

China is ripping us off

Brought in billions from China, nobody had taken even 10 cents

Biden supporters rioters and looters

Taking away funding from cities that have anarchists

Imposed 10-year prison terms for people who damage buildings

1922

DA in Portland not prosecuting rioters (boos)

"You have somebody in Philadelphia who is worse."

Crazy Bernie, you know Crazy Bernie?"

Suggests Biden is incapable of understanding things now

Points out Rick Perry

Commonwealths are different from states

Q3 GDP are going to be great, just before the election

Joe Hiden

Taking an applause poll on which insult is better

But first a poll on which slogan is better, MAGA or --

But then veers off to thank someone for calling him a great Christian leaders on TV

But then veers off to Paris climate accord

Biden will reinstate

Taking advantage of the United States

1932

Back to Biden opposing fracking

He got much higher numbers for his convention than DNC

Made a Mt Rushmore speech, and his numbers when up like a rocket

You know they want to blow it up."

DC Democrats want to take rename Washington monument, maybe taking it down

Italians in NY defended Christopher Columbus statue

More about fracking

Tells crowd to sell their tickets on eBay and make a lot of money

People in Texas like oil, God and their second amendment

1937

I am standing between them and your second amendment."

Remember Beto? He was on the cover of a magazine. I won't mention the name of the magazine. It's a very phony magazine."

Says Dems in Massachusetts elected some guy no one heard of against a Kennedy because he wasn't radical enough, like this guy no one had ever heard of

I am truly an environmentalist."

Plastic straws

[ED NOTE: WE HAVE APPARENTLY FORGOT ABOUT THE POLL HE WAS GOING TO DO]

Insults Biden's masculinity for wearing a mask

I've never seen a man who likes to have a mask on."

Again explaining that he didn't have any mini-strokes

I did that part of the physical."

They want me to be at Biden's physical level."

Still talking about the Walter Reed visit

Says he got a call from Melania telling him that CNN reported he had a heart attack

1948

Claiming that the sudden unplanned visit was the doctor's idea, and that he now won't do it because the phony press will make a big deal of it

Introducing members of Congress there

And Lou Barletta, former congressman

Conner Lamb said he would support Trump, but then voted with Pelosi and for impeachment

Romney bad

Rick Perry

Hey, Rick, how are we doing in Texas?"

They said Georgia was in play, but Georgia was not in play

Reliving his election night

1959

Passed tax cuts, eliminated more regulations than any other administration

Withdrew from Trans-Pacific Partnership

Raised tariffs on aluminum and steel

Undoing Biden's job killing moves

China allowed into WTO

"They're not a devloping nation."

Replaced NAFTA with USMCA

America first

Bringing our soldiers home

Mexico will be paying for the wall, they don't want to say it, but they will

$2.5 trillion into the military

Space force

[MUCH OF THE CROWD, WHICH WAS STANDING AT THE START, ARE SEATED NOW. APPLAUSE IS ON THE TEPID SIDE, AND A LOT OF BORED EXPRESSIONS]

Israel. Embassy. Peace deal with UAE.

2008

Our military has never been stronger than it is now. It's new and it's beautiful."

I kept you out of wars."

If I get along with Russia, is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

Shifty-Schiff

I like peace. But if we ever do get into a war, I will know the hell out of them."

Removed troops from Germany because they "they're delinquent."2012

[HE IS STILL GOING]

WH travel pool report 6a -- 5 minute warning for departure

2013
China owns Sleepy Joe
Under God at the convention
They left those two words out."
These mail in ballots are a disgrace"
Solicited ballots okay
Dogs are getting ballots
80 million ballots
All they have to do is forge ballots."
Follow your ballot
Back to the China travel ban
2020
What she's doing to Michigan is sad"
People that are old, especially if they have
Remmber my original statement: the cure can't be
Cuomo,
I sent him a hospital ship
What a shame
Whats happening in NY is a terrible thing
Mortality rate is reduced 85 percent since april
EU case fatality rate is
‘No, we've done a great job, we haven't been credit for it."
Ventilaotrs. Now we're supplying them all over the world."
H1N1 virus, swine flu Biden always calling it H1n1
China virus, it's a disgrace
2027
Xenophobic
Nancy Pelosi dancing in Chinatown
Disaster by Cuomo
2032
Over next four years, will make America the manufacturing superpower
Blamed not getting down stuff on impeachment
2033
Pool gets word to wrap up

WH travel pool report 7 -- Trump wraps up

The president wrapped up 1 hour, 32 minutes of rally remarks, and The Village People's "YMCA" began playing at 2043.

We are now heading back to the plane for the flight back to Andrews and should be aloft within a few minutes.

WH travel pool 7a

The president is doing an interview with a local reporter on the tarmac out of earshot of pool.

WH travel pool report 7b

The president did a pair of interviews. One apparently print, the other TV.

The reporters had photos taken with him.

At 2108 he climbed aboard the plane. We should be underway soon.

WH travel pool 8 — return to Andrews, Meadows visit

Chief of staff Mark Meadows in a brief visit said Trump denied the claims in the Atlantic story.

"He denied them in very emphatic terms."

"He was more offended by them," he said of the allegations.

He said they could not fly because of the weather and tried for two hours to arrange a motorcade.

Meadows also said Trump was advocating people vote by mail, and then cast a provisional ballot if the mail ballot was not recorded.

He said he was urging voting twice.

Air Force 1 landed at 2155 following 35 minute flight.

More quotes ASAP on the motorcade back.

CORRECTION — report 8

Meadows said Trump was NOT urging voters to vote twice.

WH [APP Note: This is assumed to be Report #9.]

The president climbed down from Air Force 1 and gave 7 minutes of angry denials about the Atlantic story.

He called it "a disgrace" and the author and sources "animals." Called the Atlantic a "Never Trump" magazine.

He claimed he wanted to go to the cemetery but could not because of the heavy rain in Paris and the Secret Service would not let him motorcade to the ceremony.

LOOK FOR TV CLIPS.

Transcribing now.

In the motorcade back toward the Wh. Departed at 2220.

WH travel pool report 10 -- quotes from Trump

ON MCCAIN:

Said he disagreed with him, but approved the lowering of the flag and the use of an Air Force plane to get his casket from Arizona.

"I had to approve the funeral because he had a first class, triple-A funeral that lasted nine days, by the way. I had to approve it. All of that had to approved by the president, and I approved it without hesitation and without complaint."

I felt he deserved it."

It's a total lie. It's fake news. It's a disgrace, and frankly it's a disgrace to your profession."

ON NOT GOING TO THE WW1 CEREMONY IN FRANCE"

"The helicopter could not fly. The reason it couldn't fly, because it was raining as hard as I'd ever seen. And on top of that it was very, very foggy."

Tried to arrange a motorcade, but it would have meant going through busy parts of Paris and leave immediately.

"The Secret Service told me, you can't do it. I said I have to do it. They said you can't do it."

"Now somebody makes up this horrible story that I didn't want to go."

ON THE ATLANTIC STORY:

"If they really exist, if people really exist that would have said that, they're low lifes and they're liars. And I would be willing to swear on anything that I never said that about our fallen heroes. There is nobody that respects them more. So, I just think it's a horrible horrible thing. It made a great evening into frankly a very sad evening when I see a statement like that. No animal, nobody, what animal would say such a thing?"

WH travel pool report 11 -- return and lid

The motorcade returned to the White Complex at 1045.

A lid was given a few minutes later.

Co-pooler Peter Baker is nearly finished with a full transcript of the Trump statement, which will be coming within a few minutes.

WH travel pool report 12 -- some details of the president's remarks

He took no questions. He climbed down the stairs from the plane, and immediately launched into his remarks, which lasted seven minutes on the rain-slicked tarmac just ahead of the plane's port wing.

Your pooler shouted a question about why he had said he had been to receive "many, many" bodies at Dover AFB, when he had only been four times in his presidency, but he walked away and climbed into his limo for the ride back to the WH.

WH travel pool report 13 -- full JBA remarks of Trump

Via co-pooler Peter Baker, the full transcript of the president's under-the-wing remarks (an official transcript should be coming at some point, as well):

(If it seems like one long paragraph, well, that's because it was.)

POTUS: … thousands of people unable to get in. And I appreciate everybody being there. That was really a terrific moment, I think, coming off the plane. Doesn't get any bigger than that. I did hear, though, when re-entering the plane, I was told by Mark and Hope and some others that some horrible things were said, fake things, fake news, corrupt news, the kind of news that's ruining your profession, and everyone knows it's totally false. General Keith Kellogg, who's a highly respected man, couldn't believe when he heard it, and he knows everything about all of it. And to think that I would make statements negative to our military and our fallen heroes when nobody's done what I've done with the budgets, with the military budgets, with getting pay raises for our military. It's a disgraceful situation by a magazine that's a terrible magazine. I don't read it. I just heard about it. They made it up. And probably it's a couple of people that have been failures in the administration that I gotrid of. I couldn't get rid of them fast enough. Or it was just made up. But it's unthinkable. As far as John McCain is concerned, I was never a fan. I will admit that openly. I disagreed with him on the endless wars. I disagreed with him with respect to the vets and the taking care of the VA. I wanted to do it a much different way and I think it's proven to be a much more successful way when you look at the success we've had with the VA and with our vets, with choice and accountability and all the things I've got. So I disagreed with John McCain, but I still respected him. And I had to approve his funeral as president. We lowered the flags. I had to approve that, nobody else, I had to approve it. When you think – just thinking back, I had to approve either Air Force One or a military plane to go to Arizona to pick up his casket. And I approved it immediately. I had to approve the funeral because he had a first class triple-A funeral. It lasted for nine days, by the way. I had to approve it.
All of that had to be approved by the president. I approved it without hesitation, without complaint. And I felt he deserved it. I disagreed with him. He was a tough guy. But I felt he deserved it. For somebody to say the things that they say I said, it's a total lie, it's fake news, it's a disgrace. And frankly, it's a disgrace to your profession. Now, with all of that being said, you'll speak to Keith Kellogg, you'll speak to other people because many people knew. Let me just go into, if I might, into the trip to Europe and to France. I was ready to go to the ceremony. I had two of them, one the following day, it was pouring and I went to that. But the helicopter could not fly. The reason it couldn't fly – because it was raining about as hard as I've ever seen. And on top of that it was very, very foggy. And the helicopter was unable to fly. It was a fairly long helicopter flight, but it was a very long drive. In order for me to go we would have had to leave immediately and go throughvery busy area of, I guess, Paris, but a very, very heavily traveled area, big city. I think it was Paris. And the Secret Service told me, ‘You can't do it. I said I have to do it I want to be there, they said you can't do it. We'll give you confirmation of this. They said for you to do that, make that trip, not by helicopter flying over everything, we have to work with the police, we have to work with everything. And I think you'll find on record in the police force in the areas that we're talking about areas of Paris that we're talking about, I think you'll find on record requests. And we actually have Secret Service that I'm going to ask to give you details. They said, ‘You can't do it.' It was two and a half hours, two hours of driving. It's a long drive. They said, ‘You can't do it.' So I said, ‘I want to do it.' They said, ‘You can't.' There was no way I would have been able to do it. And they would never have been able to get the police and everybody else in line to have apresident, go through a very crowded, very congested area. So I went and I called home, I spoke to my wife, I said, ‘I hate this, I came here to go to that ceremony.' And for the one that was the following day, which I did go to. I said, ‘I feel terrible,' and that was the end of it. Now all of a sudden somebody makes up this horrible story that I didn't want to go, and then they make up an even worse story, an even worse story, calling certain names to our fallen heroes. It's a disgrace that a magazine is able to write it. And anybody that – if they really exist, if people really exist that would have said that, they're low lifes and they're liars. And I would be willing to swear on anything that I never said that about our fallen heroes. There is nobody that respects them more. So, I just think it's a horrible, horrible thing. It made a great evening into frankly a very sad evening when I see a statement like that. No animal, nobody, what animal would say such a thing? And especiallysince I've done more I think than almost anybody to help our military. To get the budgets of our military, to get the pay raises. So I just think it's a horrible thing that they're allowed to write that. And we can refute it. We have other people that will refute it. And one I would like you to speak to is General Keith Kellogg because he knows exactly the story. But you can also speak to the Secret Service, they wouldn't let me go no matter what happened because of security because of safety. So I want to thank you for being here. There's nothing much more that I can say. All they are trying to do is influence a presidential election where we've gone very high in the polls in the last short period of time, where we're doing very well, where we're going to win and they're going crazy. The magazine in question is a Never Trumper magazine, probably doing badly, I know nothing about it, I don't read it, I just heard about it now, about this story, but it's a total Never Trumper magazine, andother people that are trying to influence the outcome of a presidential election. And you know what, people are too smart for it and somebody has to make a stand. This fake press is a disgrace. Thank you very much.

Also, earlier, pool report 9 was mislabeled as "WH."

Pool regrets the confusion.

With that, good night.