President Joe Biden had welcomed home Americans freed from Russian prisons Thursday, and spoken and to the media about the dramatic swap – but he still had one more thing to attend to.
The president, 81, slowly climbed the steps of the jet that had ferried the group of prisoners from captivity, leaving Vice President Kamala Harris waiting behind on the tarmac at the night-time event.
The moment came after both Biden and Harris gave an emotional welcome to Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whalen, and Alsu Kurmasheva after their dramatic return from captivity. Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, hugged each of them upon his return.
The interlude for Biden lasted two minutes long after Biden left his VP behind. The president was out of view for about a minute and forty seconds while on board the plane.
‘President Biden wanted to personally thank the flight crew who brought these brave individuals home to their families,’ White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates told DailyMail.com when asked about what the president was doing on board the aircraft.
Harris, who has been shadowing Biden during key moments, remained below and did not step on board.
President Joe Biden boarded the aircraft that brought home Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva and Paul Whelan to Joint Base Andrews late Thursday
Biden had earlier posted an image of the freed prisoners aboard the aircraft as they made their way home. When he was done, he slowly walked down the jetway, with one hand on each railing, to rejoin Harris, then walked over toward Whelan.
Biden and Harris were on hand for the emotional nighttime arrival at Joint Base Andrews following their transatlantic flight, after Biden addressed reporters at the White House on the historic prisoner swap that freed them.
‘It feels wonderful. A long time in coming, but I was absolutely convinced we would get it done,’ Biden told reporters at the base, which he also uses when traveling aboard Air Force One.
After exchanging some words with Harris, Biden, 81, slowly climbed the jetway that had brought the prisoners to U.S. soil.
Harris, whose own role in the effort was being highlighted by White House officials, spoke to Biden’s role in her own comments.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris reacts as she meets Evan Gershkovich, who was released from detention in Russia
Harris and Biden each hugged Gershkovich upon his arrival
‘And I’m very thankful for our president and what he has done over his entire career but, in particular, as it relates to these families and these individuals; what he has been able to do to bring the allies together on many issues but, in particular, this one.
Online users who watched Biden’s trip to the aircraft online had their own theories, after Biden has been seen being guided by figures including Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and former President Barack Obama at public events.
‘No one is talking about how Biden climbed onto the jet after the Americans already got off. Did he think he was getting on Air Force One?’ asked one user.
‘Maybe he was using the bathroom!’ wrote another.
Biden took the successful negotiations as a vindication for his belief in the diplomatic value of personal relationships.
‘You’ve heard me kid with Barack — he’d kid me — all politics is personal. It matters. Other leaders trust you, you trust them, you get things done. And that’s how this got done: with a lot of — a lot of help.’
The RNC Research X account also posted the video of Biden and Harris. ‘Kamala watches Biden shuffle aimlessly across the tarmac and nearly trip up the stairs of the plane (from which the passengers had long disembarked). This is the obvious decline Kamala covered up in her thirst for power — the scandal of the century,’ went the tweet.
That prompted another ‘weird’ attack from Bates at the White House. ‘.@POTUS was personally thanking the flight crew who brought these brave individuals home to their families. Most Americans are putting partisanship aside to welcome this outstanding news for our country. Y’all should join them. Don’t be weird,’ he wrote.
