President Donald Trump added an unexpected addition to his public schedule this week: a trip to Camp David.
Trump was poised to hold Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting at the presidential retreat and military installation in Catoctin Mountain Park in Maryland before traveling to New York.
But those plans were upended by the weather, with Trump canning them on Tuesday evening in a Truth Social post.
“Based on the possible bad weather conditions tomorrow, we will be having our Cabinet Meeting in the White House, and will be postponing the Cabinet trip to Camp David,” the president wrote.
The stop at the camp, which Trump once quipped was “rustic,” would have been unusual considering the president’s public preference for his private properties, such as his golf courses in Virginia, New Jersey, and Florida, or his club, Mar-a-Lago, in the Sunshine State’s Palm Beach.
“Yeah, Camp David is very rustic,” Trump told the Times and German Newspaper Bild in 2020. “It’s nice, you’d like it. You know how long you’d like it? For about 30 minutes.”
Trump has only been to Camp David one other time during his second administration: a one-night stay last June.
“The White House has organized what will become a regular off campus retreat of principals attended by the President and Vice President,” a White House official said at the time. “They will meet on a number of issues and topics.”
During that trip, Trump told reporters he appreciated the privacy provided by Camp David, where members of the press are only permitted with a special invitation.
Camp David “probably” has “better security … than any other place,” Trump said, according to the pool reporter. “We’ll be meeting with a lot of people, including generals, as you know, and admirals.”
A shooter died in the hospital on Sunday after opening fire at a Secret Service checkpoint near the White House the prior evening, one month after Cole Tomas Allen was charged with trying to kill Trump during the White House correspondents’ dinner.
Trump also did not spend much time at Camp David, code-named the Naval Support Facility Thurmont, during his first administration.
Trump was prepared to host the G7 leaders meeting at Camp David in 2020 before it was held via teleconference because of the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to a sit-down with Afghan and Taliban counterparts in 2019 before it was scrapped after a suicide car bomb killed a U.S. soldier and 11 other people in Kabul.
Presidents have used Camp David, previously known as the Shangri-La, to various degrees. Most notably, President George W. Bush went there after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks for a Cabinet meeting.
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Iran and the pre-midterm election economy are topics expected to dominate Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting, one of almost a dozen convened by Trump during his second administration and most of which have been open to the press corps.
All Cabinet members are due to attend, including Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who will depart her post on June 30 after her husband was diagnosed with bone cancer.