In March, US President Joe Biden unwittingly shared a rundown of his daily routine, when he was filmed putting checkmarks on an index card. Now, current and former presidential advisers have revealed what Joe Biden's typical day at the White House looks like.
According to POTUS' aides, the 78-year-old begins his day with a training session. The workout includes lifting weights and standard exercises. The officials did not comment on whether the Democrat uses the controversial Peloton, a piece of electronic exercise equipment similar to a fitness cycle that features a tablet, which critics argued poses a cybersecurity threat.
During the workout, the president may watch morning shows such as CNN's "New Day" or MSNBC's "Morning Joe", the advisers said. Alongside TV programmes, POTUS is given a compilation of news clips called "The Bulletin" with an emphasis on his home states Delaware and Pennsylvania.
He then walks to the Oval Office carrying a brown leather briefcase. There the president receives a top-secret intelligence update together with Vice President Kamala Harris, the advisers said.
Many times during the week, the Democrat summons his brain trust, which includes his top advisers. The meetings rarely have a formal agenda, with the president reportedly beginning them, saying "Here's what I want to talk about", The Washington Post writes. Sometimes aides tell the president about the issues they previously discussed.
The newspaper writes that the Democrat often gets impatient with Washington jargon and admonishes his aides for making government policies too complex, noting that they should sound easy enough to explain to his former neighbours in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Both current and former officials defended the Democrat, who earlier this month was criticised by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy for the lack of stamina and energy his predecessor Donald Trump had. The aides dismissed the comparison, emphasising that Trump's chaotic hyperactivity is hardly preferable to Biden's steady guidance.
Family Comes First & Meetings With Ordinary Americans
According to a custom, established during when he worked with Barack Obama, Biden goes for lunch with Kamala Harris once a week. The Democrat has a sweet tooth and often brings his guilty pleasrures - peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chip ice cream - to work meetings. Unlike Donald Trump, who reportedly had a button to summon a Diet Coke, Biden is a fan of the sports drink Gatorade.
The Democrat's preferred lunch is a chopped salad with grilled chicken and a soup. Like many of his predecessors, the Democrat has a habit of going outside and playing with his dogs. He spends his free time mostly with his family. Biden's longtime confidant Sen. Christopher A. Coons told The Washington Post that the president never misses a call from a family member, interrupting anything that he is doing.
"In one fluid motion, he stands up, opens the phone and walks away. He will never say, 'I'm in the middle of something important right now — can I call you back?' He will never let it go to voice mail", Coons said.
The Democrat also borrowed a habit from Barack Obama, who exchanged letters with ordinary Americans. However, instead of exchanging correspondence the president meets with them, The Washington Post writes. According to the newspaper, Biden recently met with Amanda Pattillo, a court transcriptionist from Atlanta, who wrote him a letter, saying she was touched by the way he cares about individuals who died from COVID-19, by keeping a card with the death toll in his pocket.
"I lost someone very close to me, my uncle Bobby. He was 73 and very much like my father. All these lives mattered. And you caring about all these lives really means something", the woman wrote to Biden as cited by The Washington Post.
The president met with Pattillo and personally expressed condolences for her loss. According to Biden's aides, he goes to the residence portion of the White House at around 6-7 p.m. where he continues to work, with officials describing him as a "night owl". He often receives calls from advisers, who update him on news.
Every night before bedtime the Democrat reportedly calls his son Hunter Biden, who has struggled with alcohol and drug addiction. Advisers say that at the end of the day he reads his briefing book in order prepare himself for the next working day.
