Et doesn't look good on board Air Force One. As an inventory showed a few weeks ago, dishes and decorations for American President Joe Biden's plane are becoming rarer with each trip. The reason? Journalists from the so-called Press Pool who accompany Biden to appointments – and apparently have a penchant for souvenirs with a presidential seal. Glasses and porcelain with gold rims are particularly popular. Occasionally towels, napkins and pillowcases are also said to have made it into the briefcases or backpacks of up to 50 reporters.
The attrition aboard Air Force One has now reached a level that has prompted the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) to issue a warning to its members. As journalists from the website Politico confirmed, they received an email in the past few days asking them to return memorabilia that they had “accidentally” pocketed.
A quiet return, WHCA assured, could be arranged. A few days ago, a White House official reportedly arranged a meeting with a reporter in Lafayette Square in Washington to receive an embroidered pillowcase from Air Force One. The unusual get-together was reportedly the result of a complaint from the White House after Biden's trip to California, where journalists accessed it even more lavishly than usual in February.
The theft is said to be routine
Since the news of the return of the pillowcase, more and more accidental interventions in the inventory on board have become known. “On my first flight on Air Force One, the colleague next to me asked me to put the glass away,” a member of the press corps recalled anonymously to Politico. His experienced seatmate suggested that hunting for souvenirs on the presidential plane was routine.
Several journalists also reported to the website about a former colleague who worked for a well-known newspaper. When invited to dinner, the reporter is said to have regularly served his guests on gold-rimmed plates from Air Force One. Theft is a tradition. More than ten years ago, actress Allison Williams (“Girls”), a daughter of former host Brian Williams, recalled on a talk show how “a stolen napkin from Air Force One” helped her get a date when she was a teenager.
The head of the White House Correspondents' Association, Kelly O'Donnell, who, like Williams' father, worked at NBC, pointed colleagues to legal ways to obtain memorabilia with a presidential seal. Glasses, coffee mugs and towels modeled on the pieces on board Air Force One could also be ordered online – for a fee, of course.
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