In-town pool report #10 - back at WH
- From
- John Bennett
- Sent
- Wednesday, August 13, 2025, 1:54 PM
The motorcade rolled from the Kennedy Center at 1:46 p.m. and arrived back at the White House at 1:53 p.m. along West Executive Avenue.
A very small number of protestors were along the streets around the performing arts center. Your pooler saw one Palestinian flag on a homemade banner that also had an Israeli flag. Other on-lookers watched us zoom by, some filming on their phones.
Pool did not see POTUS on our journey back, following our 72-minute hold in the vans.
Here is one last newsy quote from the Q&A after his Kennedy Center Honors remarks:
Trump was asked to respond to DC Mayor Bowser pushing for District statehood near the end of the exchange with reporters. He replied:
“Statehood is ridiculous. We want to straighten the place out. Statehood is ridiculous. It's unacceptable. It's the Democrats want it, because the Democrats have, you know, about 95 percent in this little area. I didn't get very much. They want that. They want to pick up two senators. And it's not going to happen. It's not going to happen. And that's the least of the reasons why, by the way, but that's one of the reasons why. What we want to do is make Washington, DC the greatest, most beautiful, safest capital anywhere in the world, and that's going to happen.”
**
John T. Bennett
White House Correspondent & Editor-at-Large
Roll Call & CQ | FiscalNote publications