Biden spends first weekend at Camp David as president

by Celine Castronuovo - 02/13/21 3:45 PM ET

President Biden is spending the weekend at Camp David for the first time in his presidency as the Senate wraps up its second impeachment trial of his predecessor, former President Trump.

A White House official confirmed to reporters that Biden and his family were spending the weekend at the mountain retreat in western Maryland that has become a traditional getaway destination for U.S. presidents.

The official added that Biden was scheduled to meet with his national security advisers on Saturday.

Reuters reported that Biden arrived at the heavily-guarded compound operated by the U.S. Navy on Friday, and was joined by national security adviser Jake Sullivan and deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed.

Biden initially announced his President’s Day weekend trip to reporters Friday as he surveyed first lady Jill Biden’s display of hearts with messages of “Love” and “Unity.”

“We’re going to be up at Camp David for Valentine’s Day,” Biden said, adding he planned to “just hang out with the family and do what we always do,” Bloomberg reported.

The trip marks a shift from Trump, who often instead opted to travel to his properties in New Jersey and Florida for weekend trips.

Camp David in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains has also served as the location for several high-pressure negotiations among diplomatic leaders.

President Carter in 1978 led the historic Camp David Accords, a pair of political agreements between Egypt and Israel, after a round of negotiations and talks at the presidential base.

President Clinton in 2000 attempted to broker a deal at Camp David between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, though they failed to reach any major breakthrough in the decade-long conflict.

As Biden remains in Maryland, all eyes are on Washington, D.C., as the Senate is moving closer to voting on whether to convict Trump with inciting the deadly Jan. 6 mob attack on the Capitol.

House impeachment managers and Trump’s defense team wrapped up the trial with closing arguments on Saturday. Democrats need 17 GOP senators to cross party lines in order to achieve the necessary supermajority to convict the former president, an outcome that is largely considered unlikely.