NEWS'Logistical Nightmare': President Joe Biden's Surprise Vietnam Trip Flusters White House Press Corps: Report
President Joe Biden sent White House press staff into a frenzy when he announced that he would be taking a trip to Vietnam "shortly" while speaking at a fundraiser in August.
The White House Press Corps, a group of journalists that are assigned to cover all news related to the POTUS, had no idea that this would be happening, leaving them scrambling to adjust their travel arrangements.
President Joe Biden arrived in India for the G-20 Summit on Friday, September 8.
Prior to the trip — which was officially announced on August 28 — journalists who had been assigned to cover the G-20 conference in India faced a "logistical nightmare" in trying to determine when and where they needed to be in Vietnam and rushing to arrange an expensive charter flight.
Earlier this week, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked if the surprising decision to move the president's conference from New Delhi to Hanoi was a result of "issues around press freedom and press access" in India.
Karine Jean-Pierre regularly fields tough questions about President Biden's health, age, political leanings and travel plans.
"I wouldn’t go that far. I think it’s just that it was easier… it was a logistical piece," Jean-Pierre replied. "It’s easier to do, it was just easier to do it in Vietnam … these types of summits happen, the G20 summits happen, it is all-consuming, all hands on deck. And it was just logistically easier to do it there."
"It wouldn’t have changed anything because it would have just been the president doing a solo press conference," she added. "So, instead of doing it in India, he’s going to be doing it in Hanoi."
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President Biden is set to travel to Hanoi on September 10.
Jean-Pierre also confirmed that Biden still planned to return to the U.S. in time to mark the anniversary of the September 11th attacks, clarifying that he would be doing that in Alaska this year.
"He plans to honor the lives lost and the families and loved ones who still feel the pain of the terrible day," she continued. "This is something he feels is very important to do. We can only imagine the heartbreak and the pain that the 9/11 families have felt every day for the past 22 years."
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Politico reported the White House Press Corps concerns.
