Former Vice President Joe Biden stepped out in public for the first time since mid-March on Monday to lay a wreath at a veterans’ memorial in Wilmington, Delaware. Both he and wife Jill wore black masks.
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee has, in recent months, made public statements from the basement of his home. Biden has hosted several virtual rallies, some of which went better than others. He has faced renewed accusations of sexual assault by former staffer Tara Reade, which the former VP denies. But he has not been seen in public.
According to the pool report, the 77-year-old Biden said, “It feels good to be out of my house.”
In contrast, a bare-faced President Trump attended a Memorial Day wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery. Neither he, nor Vice President Mike Pence, nor Defense Secretary Mark Esper, nor First Lady Melania Trump wore masks.
Some watching video of the event wondered at what they called the 73 year-old “Trump’s struggles to stand” as the ceremony wore on.
The president later traveled with the First Lady to the Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine in Baltimore. He did not wear a mask at that event, either.