Travel Pool Report No. 4 - wheels down
Sent: Friday, July 3, 2026 7:44 PM MDT
To: DL WHO Wranglers
Subject: Travel Pool Report No. 4 - wheels down
Air Force One was wheels up at 6:18 p.m. ET.
We were wheels down at Ellsworth Air Force Base at 7:43 p.m. after doing two flyovers of Mount Rushmore where the pool glimpsed the backs of the heads of the four presidents.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stopped in the press cabin and provided the pool with a statement on what to expect from the President’s Mount Rushmore speech.
“President Trump is set to give an inspiring and optimistic address tonight at Mt Rushmore, where he will answer the age old question, “what does it mean to be an American?” The speech will also serve as a fierce rebuke to Communism and defend the ideas that make America the greatest country in the history of the world.”
Additionally, Leavitt briefly previewed the President’s Fourth of July speech, saying he would use “people and stories to tell the story of America.”
Dinner consisted of a summer berry salad with grilled chicken and included a sugar cookie showing the new AF1 flying over Mount Rushmore - a moment later created by the real plane.