Biden press plane delayed over 6 hours due to cicadas
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
A press charter plane for President Biden's first foreign trip abroad was held up for almost seven hours before finally departing on Wednesday — and it was all because of those pesky cicadas.
The press plane was set to leave Tuesday evening at around 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time, but CNN reports that a new plane needed to be dispatched "after airline officials informed White House travel aides that cicadas had invaded exterior sections of the plane late Tuesday afternoon."
The plane ended up leaving on Wednesday morning, which according to CNN was over six and a half hours behind schedule. It's just the press' latest cicada-related incident after video captured CNN's Manu Raju having one crawl on him during a live shot, and earlier this week, experts said a massive blot on a weather radar in Virginia was even thought to be because of the insects.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"I'm not surprised because the first thing I thought of: if it happened to me, it's gonna happen to you, too," Raju, who CNN has dubbed its "chief cicada correspondent," declared Wednesday in reaction to the news. "And it clearly did here with this press plane because those beasts are everywhere in Washington, D.C."
CNN's John Berman jokingly responded, "I don't know if these bugs have an issue with the First Amendment, but first to attack you, a congressional correspondent, and then to ground the White House press plane, certainly does raise questions."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
-
Touring the vineyards of southern BoliviaThe Week Recommends Strongly reminiscent of Andalusia, these vineyards cut deep into the country’s southwest
-
American empire: a history of US imperial expansionDonald Trump’s 21st century take on the Monroe Doctrine harks back to an earlier era of US interference in Latin America
-
Elon Musk’s starry mega-mergerTalking Point SpaceX founder is promising investors a rocket trip to the future – and a sprawling conglomerate to boot
-
Trump sues IRS for $10B over tax record leaksSpeed Read The president is claiming ‘reputational and financial harm’ from leaks of his tax information between 2018 and 2020
-
Trump, Senate Democrats reach DHS funding dealSpeed Read The deal will fund most of the government through September and the Department of Homeland Security for two weeks
-
Fed holds rates steady, bucking Trump pressureSpeed Read The Federal Reserve voted to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged
-
Judge slams ICE violations amid growing backlashSpeed Read ‘ICE is not a law unto itself,’ said a federal judge after the agency violated at least 96 court orders
-
Rep. Ilhan Omar attacked with unknown liquidSpeed Read This ‘small agitator isn’t going to intimidate me from doing my work’
-
Democrats pledge Noem impeachment if not firedSpeed Read Trump is publicly defending the Homeland Security secretary
-
The billionaires’ wealth tax: a catastrophe for California?Talking Point Peter Thiel and Larry Page preparing to change state residency
-
Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over videospeed read Retired Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly appeared in a video reminding military service members that they can ‘refuse illegal orders’
