President Biden will be back at the White House on Tuesday for the first time since he announced he was abandoning his re-election campaign and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris.
Biden is scheduled to leave his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware — where he had been recovering from COVID-19 — in the afternoon and arrive at the Executive Mansion by 2:30 p.m., according to his schedule.
The 81-year-old president was originally expected to leave the beach town, where he had been under quarantine, on Monday to hit the campaign trail, but he extended his stay after announcing that he was dropping out of the 2024 presidential race the day before.
Biden canceled nine trips he had lined up for the next two weeks following his stunning announcement Sunday, a White House source told The Post.
He was expected to visit California, Denver, Houston and Austin, but all of those stops were suddenly wiped off his schedule after the major switch-up, the source said.
“They started canceling stuff when he announced he wasn’t seeking reelection,” the source said, adding that the trips were a mix of campaign and official presidential stops.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire was expecting to meet with the president about Hurricane Beryl recovery efforts in his city on Thursday but said Biden’s visit was canceled at the last minute.
“I don’t know if the press knows it, but President Biden was going to be here Thursday to recognize our preparation,” Whitmire said Sunday after the president dropped out of the race.
The commander in chief’s bout with the coronavirus was not believed to be a factor in the cancellations as his physician Kevin O’Connor, on Monday, said that he had all but recovered from the illness, which he tested positive for last Wednesday.
Harris, Democrat’s likely replacement nominee, also said her former running mate was doing better.
“He is feeling much better and recovering fast, and he looks forward to getting back on the road,” she said in a speech addressing her run for president at the White House Monday.
But the president’s voice sounded raspy and slurred the same day when he called in to his former campaign headquarters to vouch for his veep.
Biden was also expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday to discuss the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
Netanyahu officials initially said the meeting had been called off due to the octogenarian’s COVID diagnosis, according to local reports from the country. But those reports came before Biden’s schedule showed he’d be returning to the White House Tuesday.
It’s unclear if the meeting is back on.
Biden hasn’t been seen in public since last Wednesday night when he was first diagnosed with the virus. He was last spotted struggling to get off Air Force One and into his motorcade that night.