White House Reporters Are Looting Air Force One

Reporters are supposed to be honest to the core, presenting the news in an unbiased and unvarnished way.

But maybe that was in the old days. Now, members of the media might just be common thieves, at least according to The Washington Times citing a new report.

Journalists in the White House press corps on Air Force One during President Biden’s time in office are stealing everything that’s not bolted down. The items reportedly stolen include wine glasses, tumblers, gold-rimmed plates, and embroidered pillowcases, the West Wing Playbook reported over the weekend.

“For years, scores of journalists — and others — have quietly stuffed everything from engraved whiskey tumblers to wine glasses to pretty much anything with the Air Force One insignia on it into their bag before stepping off the plane,” West Wing Playbook reported.

“On my first flight, the person next to me was like, ‘You should take that glass,’” one current White House reporter told Playbook. “They were like: ‘Everyone does it.’”

“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.”

According to at least four people familiar with the situation, the issue escalated to the point where NBC correspondent Kelly O’Donnell, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, felt compelled to remind the press in a stern email that taking items from the presidential aircraft is unacceptable.

In the email, she said the crackdown is not meant to “embarrass individual reporters but to send a message that the thefts needed to stop.”

A specific incident was noted where an email asked reporters to return any items they might have “inadvertently” taken “by mistake.” After the email went out, one reporter allegedly conceded to having taken an embroidered pillowcase and arranged to return it.