Biden is in charge of country on second straight vacation, White House insists

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The White House insisted again Monday that President Biden remains in charge of the country despite being on a second straight week of vacation. 

During a teleconference Monday, White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby recognized the three-year-anniversary of the Aug. 26, 2021, Abbey Gate suicide bombing that killed 13 U.S. service members and more than 100 Afghans outside Kabul Airport. 

Biden, who is at his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, for the week, notably remained out of public view on the anniversary of the deadly terrorist attack. Last week, Biden was vacationing in California, including when the Israeli military said they launched a preemptive strike destroying thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers in Lebanon, essentially deterring a major attack by the terrorist group intended for central Israel.  

A journalist noted Biden's public absence in a question to Kirby on Monday.

"The President’s public comportment and the paucity of events on his public schedule, as on this very day, have fostered a public perception that Mr. Biden is increasingly disengaged from the presidency," Newsmax's James Rosen said on the teleconference. "Time and again, the question I am hearing from members of the general public, and which I put to you here, Admiral, is: Who is running the country?"

BIDEN FLIES FROM ONE VACATION TO ANOTHER AFTER VOWING TO END GAZA WAR, WITH MIDDLE EAST ON THE BRINK

President Joe Biden walks to get into a vehicle upon arrival in Gordons Pond in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on August 25, 2024.  (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

"Is he a ceremonial figure in some sense at this point?" he added. 

"James, now you know better than that. I mean, my goodness, he talked to Prime Minister Modi today," Kirby said of Biden. "He had calls with leaders in the region and in Europe, President Zelenskyy, last week.  He monitored in real time what was going on over the weekend. I mean, come on." 

"The President is on vacation, but you can never unplug from a job like that, nor does he try to," Kirby added. "He’s very much in command of making sure we can continue to protect our national security interests here at home and certainly overseas." 

Former President Donald Trump stands alongside Misty Fuoco, whose sister Sgt. Nicole Gee died in the Abbey Gate bombing, at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on Aug. 26, 2024, in Arlington, Virginia.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Former President Trump participated in a wreath laying ceremony Monday with relatives of the 13 fallen at Arlington National Cemetery. Biden and Vice President Harris, the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, were both absent but released separate statements listing the names of the 13 U.S. service members killed. 

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Some of the relatives of the fallen took to the stage of the Republican National Convention last month to condemn Biden for never publicly stating their names, and the Trump campaign doubled down on their criticism of the Biden-Harris administration's Afghanistan withdrawal, noting that Harris had "bragged" about being the last person in the room with Biden before he made the decision.

National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby during a daily press briefing on July 31, 2024, at the White House. Kirby held a teleconference with media on the three-year anniversary of the Abbey Gate bombing Monday. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The Trump campaign on Monday also slammed how neither Biden nor Harris, despite their written statements, have ever said the names of the 13 Americans killed out loud publicly and stressed how their handling of the withdrawal "stranded thousands of American citizens and left billions of dollars worth of U.S. equipment behind for the Taliban." 

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The statements from Biden and Harris each noted that "America's longest war" was over and remembered the 2,461 U.S. service members killed and the 20,744 wounded during the two-decade-long conflict.