WH Pool Report: Overly Detailed Edition
In this White House pool report, the president gets communion and our pooler gets wired on McDonald's coffee and casts aspersions on the president's alleged bicycle riding:
Your pooler did see two bikes being put into the motorcade and brought back into the White House later, but it's impossible to say for sure what POTUS did for the hour and 40 minutes in Quantico because your pool was nowhere within eyeshot of him. Biking does seem like a safe bet, though. Your pool passed the time in the police parking lot listening to rifle range fire, hoping the rain would hold off until we were back in the vans and enjoying McMuffins.
Full report after the jump.
Pool Report #1
7/18/04
POTUS attended the 8 a.m. service at Saint John's Church after an uneventful motorcade around the block. Motorcade used Suburbans, not a limo. POTUS sat alone in his pew wearing a brown-khaki jacket, blue shirt, maroon tie and dark brown pants. Readings at the service were from Genesis 18: 1-14, Psalm 15, Colossians 1:21-29 and the Gospel of Luke 10:38-42. The Rev. Spencer M. Rice gave the sermon, in which he mentioned the recent funeral for former President Reagan and "the magnificent addresses by our President and other luminaries of the republic."
Your pool left church at about 8: 35 a.m. after watching POTUS receive communion. POTUS left the building not long after and stopped to talk to two young-looking men and a young woman outside. He waved at your pool and yelled, "Good morning," our way before getting back in the motorcade but didn't stop to take questions.
After another uneventful motorcade around the White House grounds, your pool remained on the driveway for about five minutes while two bikes were loaded into one of the trucks in the motorcade. The motorcade left again at 8: 52 a.m. en route to the FBI academy in Quantico, Va. The trip down I-395 and I-95 was uneventful, though a few drivers who wandered in between the vehicles got some stern looks and siren blasts from the Secret Service.
We arrived at the FBI academy at 9: 41 a.m. POTUS and several other cars continued onto the academy's grounds while your pool enjoyed the hospitality of the FBI police's station outside the gates. Your pooler did see two bikes being put into the motorcade and brought back into the White House later, but it's impossible to say for sure what POTUS did for the hour and 40 minutes in Quantico because your pool was nowhere within eyeshot of him. Biking does seem like a safe bet, though. Your pool passed the time in the police parking lot listening to rifle range fire, hoping the rain would hold off until we were back in the vans and enjoying McMuffins.
Motorcade left Quantico at 11: 22 a.m. and drove through relatively light traffic back to Washington. A few more drivers got sirens and "move over" waves from the Secret Service. Otherwise the trip was uneventful.
Mike Madden
Gannett