‘Everyone Does It’: Politico Busts White House Press Corps Stealing Things From Air Force One
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
In what would have been a hilarious B-story on The West Wing, Politico Playbook reported on Thursday that members of the White House Press Corps have been stealing things from Air Force One. Why? Because apparently, despite it not being allowed, “Everyone does it.”
Tumblers, embroidered pillowcases, flatware, “everything not bolted down,” all etched with the Air Force One insignia that can only be found if one has personally boarded the presidential aircraft. It’s a rare experience, and some of the plane’s passengers merely want a keepsake. Unfortunately, they are committing theft. Politico reported on this “rampant thievery”:
“On my first flight, the person next to me was like, ‘You should take that glass,'” one current White House reporter told West Wing Playbook. “They were like: ‘Everyone does it.'”
And they do.
When we raised the subject with current and former White House correspondents, stories spilled forth. There’s one about the senator in the front of the plane who — as a chatty aide told reporters — was taking everything not bolted down. Several colleagues of one former White House correspondent for a major newspaper described them hosting a dinner party where all the food was served on gold-rimmed Air Force One plates, evidently taken bit by bit over the course of some time. Reporters recalled coming down the back stairs after returning to Joint Base Andrews in the evening with the sounds of clinking glassware or porcelain plates in their backpacks.
Given the story about Senator Stickyfingers, it’s apparent that this Air Force One bling ring is not limited to pilfery reporters. As Politico reminded its readers, “Washington is a town populated by a lot of ambitious, status-seeking dorks.” But NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell, the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, was alerted to this crime wave and forced to take action, issuing “a terse reminder to colleagues that taking items off the plane was not allowed and reflected poorly on the press corps as a whole, several individuals who saw the off-the-record email confirmed.”
The email was not “accusatory” in tone. It was described by someone with knowledge of the email as such:
It was like, “Hey, if you inadvertently wound up taking something off the plane by mistake, we can help facilitate a quiet return.”
Everyone has heard tell of all sorts of clandestine meetings that take place in Washington D.C., the discreet exchange of secret documents, off-the-record conversations that leave no paper trails, maybe even snipers hiding in bushes or treasure maps tucked away in the Library of Congress. And also the quiet return of stolen government property:
One individual who received the email had, in fact, gotten off the plane with an Air Force One embroidered pillowcase, and probably not by accident. When they wrote back admitting as much, arrangements were made for a discreet return.
The wrangler slipped out of the White House to meet the reporter by the statue of Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square, just across Pennsylvania Avenue from the north gates. The pillowcase changed hands, and that was that.
Reporters covering the White House are a privileged bunch, rubbing elbows with the most powerful people in the country, relaying some of the most important stories coming from the highest levels of America’s government with the utmost journalistic standards and ethics.
And they’re apparently a bunch of thieves. So if you ever meet a White House reporter, check your pockets before you part ways or get ready to meet someone by the Reflecting Pool in the middle of the night.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
