“The residence has life in it again,” a White House source told CNN about the energy inside. “This is the honeymoon period where everything feels new.”
In the White House cinema, there were night owls, complete with snacks from the White House kitchen cooks, and many of the Bidens’ five older grandchildren piled into the seats to watch, another source familiar with the activities said. The increased activity had pandemic precautions, including wearing a mask.
“Champ is enjoying his new dog bed by the fireplace and Major liked to run in the South Lawn,” the White House said in a press release early Monday morning. Champ lived in the Vice President’s residence during the Biden era, and Major was adopted by the family in 2018 from a Delaware pet rescue.
Biden’s visit to a DC eatery on Day 5 of his presidency already connects him to the number of local restaurants President Donald Trump has visited. In his four years in Washington, Trump rarely ate out, and when he did, he only did so in one place – the steakhouse at the Trump Hotel.
Yet all the new people in the residence in the White House meant tougher Covid-19 precautions, a strong reminder of the pandemic amid a week of festive events.
‘The family was good about it,’ says the White House’s source of compliance with wearing masks and being socially distant from staff.
“Every employee is masked, especially when he is close to the family,” added a longtime residence staff member who said the Biden family removed their masks once on the second floor of their private quarters. The staff member told CNN that the majority of the hostel workers – including practitioners, butchers, housekeepers and cooks – had at least the first round of the vaccination against Covid-19, and several received both shots.
The White House did not immediately respond to a CNN request for comment on the vaccinations.
The residence staff works ‘as usual’, the first White House source said, noting that Timothy Harleth, Trump’s chief shepherd and mercenary, took place on the inauguration day. The move was started by a senior Biden official before the first family arrived in the White House. Residence staff in the White House usually remain politically unrelated to presidents and first ladies through various administrations. But Harleth was hired by Melania Trump in 2017 at Trump’s Washington Hotel, where he was a manager. Over the past few weeks, he has staged a play to stay in the Biden White House, several sources say, in vain.
“He was not very sympathetic,” said a former White House official of Harleth’s reputation in the White House, adding that there was friction between Harleth and Trump’s social secretary.
The head guard office is currently run by Katie Hinson, who was under Trump’s deputy general manager, until the first lady introduces her choice to fulfill the role of chief.
Kate Anderson Brower contributed to this report.