Recently unveiled recordings from the Las Vegas Metro Police Department have confirmed that President Joe Biden suffered a medical incident last month that the White House kept quiet at first.
On July 17, Biden unexpectedly cancelled an event he had planned with a Latino civil rights group in Nevada. Although kept quiet at the time, the president was being transported to the University Medical Center, as confirmed by the recordings from law enforcement, launching security to set a perimeter in place for when he arrived.
Local news reported that both medical and police teams were on scene at the entrance of the trauma room, prepared to receive and treat Biden if and when he showed up. According to the CEO of the hospital, Mason Van Houweling, the center was told about a potential health problem with the president shortly after two in the afternoon.
He said that there were little details provided at first, but his staff “stood ready” to serve as needed. The recordings—which were unsealed thanks to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request—reveal a police officer saying that the president and his security were planning to “meet behind the ER entrances,” noting that this is where ambulances pull up.
The officer is also heard saying that “any available units” were requested to arrive at the hospital “right now,” adding that he “need[ed] more” than the four units who responded that they were on their way.
The officer further instructed that every “major interaction” be “shut down,” including traffic lights, due to the transportation of the president. He also ordered that every officer responding to the incident be dressed in “readily identifiable police gear.”
In the end, Biden was not taken to the area hospital. Instead, he boarded Air Force One and traveled back to Delaware. Later that day, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement that the president had “tested positive for COVID-19.” She said he displayed “mild symptoms” and emphasized that he had received both vaccines and booster shots, adding that he would “self-isolate” in Delaware.
