When President Biden and First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden, arrived at the White House on Wednesday afternoon, there was no chief to greet them. He was fired around 11:30 am, half an hour before Biden took office as president, The New York Times reports. Former First Lady Melania Trump hired Chief Dresser, Timothy Harleth, of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC in 2017, after former Chief Dresser, Angella Reid, was fired a few months after Donald Trump’s term. .
The main concierge at the White House is in charge of the first family’s residence, overseeing everything from personnel issues to budgets. It is usually an apolitical job, and the ushers usually remain for several administrations. Reid, hired in 2011, was only the ninth housekeeper since 1885, although she was the first woman hired for the job. The Bidens informed the White House council that they intended to bring their own chief concierge, a person familiar with the process said. Times. A Biden White House official told CNN that Harleth “was dismissed before the Bidens arrived”, although CNN reports that it was the Bidens who gave him the ax.
Harleth was already in trouble with the Trump team, however. He “found himself in an untenable position” since the election, “trying to start preparations for a new White House resident, although his occupant refused to concede that he would be leaving the place,” the Times reports. And Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, was “unhappy” with Harleth “for trying to send briefings about the residence to Biden’s transition team in November.” Harleth “worked with Jill Biden’s team for weeks to organize moving household belongings”, The Washington Post he adds.
The absence of a chief porter was a manifestation of the chaotic transition period, but it does not fully explain the curious breach of protocol in which no one opened the door to BIdens when they arrived at the White House, the Times grades. The doors, which were awkwardly closed for about 10 long seconds while the Bidens watched, are usually opened by Navy guards.
As soon as the Bidens passed through the doors of the newly sanitized Casa Branca, things improved, the Post reports. “Waiting for Biden in a room adjacent to the Oval Office, there were two trays full of chocolate chip cookies, each in a plastic film with a golden presidential seal.”
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