White House Changes Course, Biden Won’t Ditch D.C. For Delaware Friday

President Joe Biden will no longer travel to Delaware ahead of the weekend, the White House revealed Friday, the same day Biden was scheduled to retreat to his home state. 

The Delaware News Journal reported Friday morning that Biden was scheduled to speak about Afghanistan at 1 p.m., and then depart for Delaware just after 2 p.m. “Specifically, he is expected to highlight the evacuation of more than 9,000 American citizens, visa applicants and their families and vulnerable Afghans,” reported the news agency. 

But by early Friday afternoon, shortly before his scheduled remarks, the White House was saying that the president planned to stay in Washington, D.C., for the evening.   ​​

White House: The President will not travel to Wilmington, DE today. He will remain in Washington, DC tonight.

— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) August 20, 2021

The decision comes as Americans continue to be trapped in Afghanistan, which has been taken over by the Taliban. Afghanistan’s capital city, Kabul, is flooded with Taliban militants, and reports indicate that Americans and allies have been having trouble reaching the Hamid Karzai International Airport, which is currently under U.S. control. 

Despite the ongoing crisis, Biden has also so far refused to take questions from reporters, aside from a single sit-down interview with ABC News host George Stephanopolous, a former White House communications director to the Bill Clinton administration.